Brief 3

Module: Design for Interaction

Brief 3: UCI visit

Date: 11/10/06

Exhibit Chosen: Dancing Stage Euromix

Like most of the other arcade games observed in the UCI complex the Dance Stage game requires the user to enter the required money before the instructions for play are clearly explained. In order to attract users the device relies heavily on the flashing lights and loud music that emanates from the unit, observations suggest that the target audience falls mainly as teenagers and younger children.

The premise of the device is that the user is to replicate the dancing movements which are shown on the screen in the form of animated arrows which correspond with footpad arrows on the base unit of the device. The user has to step on the correct arrow as it reaches its matching arrow at the top of the screen. Feedback for the user is given onscreen (e.g. “excellent” if the user hits the correct arrow at the exact moment varying to “boo” if the user misses the arrow within the timeframe allowed- this is when the arrow representing the foot is within the perimeter of the arrow at the top of the screen).

Example of Feedback

The base unit utilises a raised floor, a metaphorical representation of a raised dancefloor in a nightclub/disco. As mentioned previously there are arrows (up, down, left, right) on the floor, these are coupled with buttons under the screen (including a flashing green “start” button and yellow arrow keys which allow the user to choose the song they wish to attempt) which would suggest that the game was designed using the usability principle of affordance by implying functionality (Norman, 1988).

An Example of the buttons

The majority of the target audience would have a familiarity with similar interfaces, for example using the arrow buttons to scroll through the menu systems on digital tv therefore the game should not be too difficult to pick up in theory. Upon using the device however it became clear that the interface often appears to be quite confusing, the use of an animated character at the bottom of the screen can draw the eye away from the movement of the arrows momentarily but for long enough to miss the arrow as it reaches the top of the screen and therefore miss the correct footing on the pad. This seemed to affect younger users in particular. Users also had trouble with the plain centre box, presumably a resting place while the other foot is on an arrow which caused them to become disorientated and miss an arrow if they had not returned their foot to this box correctly.

The differences between the exhibits at Techniquest and in the UCI complex would mainly lie in the playability, the games are designed to be competitive in UCI (either between 1 player vs. the computer or multiple users in the arcade) in order to part customers with their money. In order to achieve this the design of the games in UCI rely heavily on gimmicks such as lighting effects, advertising the competitive nature of the games or even offering prizes for successful completion on certain games. Techniquest does not need to use this method as the exhibits are mainly geared to have an educational purpose.

References:

Norman’s Principle of Affordance-

Online at:

http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html

Brief 1

Module: Design for Interaction

Brief One: Techniquest Visit

Date: 04/09/06

Exhibit Chosen: Dancing Feet

The aim of this device is to teach the user some basic facts about electrical signals in digital electronics through using a similar format to the dance mat games for consoles like the PS2. A video of a girl dancing is shown on the screen and the idea is to learn the dance moves, which are illustrated through 5 sets of still screen shots (Fig. 2), then dance along to the full dance, aided by coloured light-up footprints on the base of the device (Fig. 3).

Dancing Feet would be suitable for all ages from an entertainment point of view, with the science theory behind it being aimed probably at a post-primary level (based on a hazy memory from the Irish school system and when we started doing electrical currents (!) and the fact that it was in the MusicQuest section which is aimed at older children/teenagers). The design of the device incorporates a screen to show the video (Fig. 4), a touch screen for the instructions and the science info, the base of the unit contains the 12 light-up footprints and obviously there was a speaker for the music. The unit itself was brightly coloured which, coupled with the flashing lights, would attract younger children to try it out.

While we were observing 10 children (and us!) had a go on the exhibit with only one reading through the instructions and all skipping the explanations of the reasoning behind the music and science involved. Dr Sue Cavell, the Head of Research and Evaluation at Techniquest gave us a talk during the visit, explaining that their aim was not to teach science but to illustrate it, I feel the exhibit does this quite well having read through the touch-screen information but there’s no way to ensure users, especially younger children, will read this. Even printing “start” on the button that leads to the images of the dance moves used might have made a difference to how the users interacted with the device.

From observing the children interacting with the dancing feet exhibit it became apparent that they weren’t very interested in reading instructions on screen and preferred to just jump on and try to figure it out from there. I felt the device was a little unclear on how it should be used as there were no printed instructions, with the main problem being that when the exhibit was in standby mode the lights were still flashing. This caused some confusion, as the children would follow the lights but get bored easily as they couldn’t see any interaction with the video on screen. As most of the children we saw using the device would be familiar with the dance mat games the exhibit is based on they would more than likely have been expecting some kind of feedback on-screen, myself being used to getting frequent “Bad!” messages on the PS2 found myself losing interest as the user interaction was limited. If the computer can’t tell you’re doing it wrong you may as well just leap about trying to follow the lights!

Now all I have to do is hope that UCI (the location for Brief 3) still has the Dance Stage arcade game so I can waste some money pretending I can dance!



Fig. 1: Dancing feet!

Fig. 2: The still screen shots of the moves

Fig. 3: The footprints

Fig.4: The instructions touch screen