BATTLE OF KINGS

In fall of 2020, four classmates and I created an Arduino-coded game for students to enjoy during finals week. Since the game was to be played publicly during the Covid-19 pandemic, we were challenged to make the game controls entirely handsfree and without breaking social distancing requirements. 

Our solution was a game in which the player controls the Monkey King - of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West - to defeat the Dragon King. To ensure our game provided stress relief for students studying for finals, we chose to let the character be controlled by players screaming as loudly as they could. The player needed to match the height of the randomly moving Dragon King in order to attack it, by screaming to adjust the height of the Monkey King as it "levitates" in the air. The player must then defeat the Dragon King before time runs out to win.

I took a leadership position within the team to ensure each part of the game came together successfully, including stepping up to challenges such as wiring the entirety of the electrical components of the game and modifying the sound detector component in order to make its receiver provide usable data to the Arduino board, which was then followed up with hours of play-testing and adjustment. Our hard work paid off, as Battle of Kings was enjoyed by over 100 students with a satisfaction rating of over 85%.