A Very MAD Blog

I decided to use the Picaxe as it has more analog inputs than the Arduino. Furthermore, it is smaller and cheaper. The Picaxe also has the ability to output sound and with some extra circuitry MIDI as well.

The model I chose to use is the 14M2 which I mainly chose because it’s what I have laying around, ideally, the 28M2 or 40M2 would have been better but due to shipping times, I chose to just use 2 14M2′s to get the desired inputs. I plan for 12 inputs to give the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and all the flat/sharp keys.

I made a prototype of all the wiring on a breadboard to test it. I finished the wiring today so tomorrow I need to finish the programming giving me the weekend to test and fine tune as well as soldering it to PCB.

Today I worked on my idea and planned how it would work. I plan to use Arduino and make a capacitive touch sensor. However, I can only use analog inputs not digital; limiting me to 5 inputs per Arduino. To solve this I think I’ll just use 2 Arduino’s to get 10 notes. I also need a way to ground the user so to do this I plan to use an anti-static wrist strap (usually used for working on sensitive electronics like computers). The next step is how the program and circuit will work. I compiled a list of components I will likely need and I will get them tomorrow. I also had the idea to also power it off lemons but time for this project is limited.

Here is my raw scribble pad:

The Brief is “To build your own sound generating instrument. The constructed instrument can be acoustic, electronic or both made with a wide range of materials.” I did research into electronic instruments; from guitars to capacitive touch. What I found was the easiest route to choose with the time available was an electrotonic instrument.

My end idea was to go completely outside the normal instrument spectrum and make something completely bizarre. My idea is a device that turns almost anything into a piano. For testing, I’m thinking of using wet paper towels.

https://soundcloud.com/user-580224853/onsen-by-caleb-mcivor/s-YtF9o

My finished soundscape ‘onsen’ following a trip to an onsen. it wasn’t the plan from the beginning but it ended up sounding that way. Also, it seems the embed function on SoundCloud or Tumblr isn’t working as I can not get it to save.

I set up 5 cameras for my Vlog because I wanted my Vlog to be different and I don’t think anyone else would use 5 cameras… For those saying “I don't own 5 cameras” I used my Laptops built in webcam, a USB webcam, my phone, my mum’s phone, and an old phone; all linked to my laptop via different mediums. the phones were streaming over the internet and the webcam was plugged in directly. Am I crazy? Probably. What did I learn? sometimes you need to go over the top because it was fun to switch between all the cameras once they were set up. My phone was standing up with pens and blue tac, same with my old phone, mum’s phone was on a phone to tripod mount but I couldn't find my tripod so I blue tacked it to the top of one of my raspberry pi’s case, and the USB webcam was blue tacked to my draws. For audio, I shoved a headset into my jacket with the mic sticking out the top. #problemsolving

Overall it was a fun experience and I learned a bit about streaming to recording software as well as how quickly the software uses the phone’s battery life.

Today I did a large amount of research for my Vlog; Probably around 5 to 7 hours. I found articles on Google Scholar and also articles online. Furthermore, I wrote down my own ideas on what Creative Technologies is and a basic outline of what I’m going to say.

Today I finished my Soundscape, however, I realized something. It was 5 minutes and 40 seconds long and the limit is 3 minutes long. I then had to basically rearrange everything to fit the limit. Here I learned the importance of actually reading the brief and not just skimming it before starting not after I’m almost done.

Released on Thursday: https://youtu.be/0opdMAieZ0A By Element 14′s The Ben Hack Show

Today I made my experiment actually sound like some sort of soundscape before asking people for feedback. I also listened to other people’s soundscapes to give them feedback and also compare it to mine seeing how I can add to it.

Today I installed Ableton Live and played around with adding my sound files in and learning how to use the software. I was amazed how the sounds sounded without video. It is so easy to use the sounds in ways that if you saw the video would surprise you. for example, a digger moving gravel sounded like a hi-hat .

Today I took the recordings from yesterday and made a usable library of sounds for my soundscape. I did this in Audacity. I didn't know much about the program, up until now I had only used it to record audio so it was interesting to expand my knowledge.

Today I went to town to record sounds from the city for my soundscape project using the zoom audio recorder. My favorite recording was in Wynyard Quarter by the wharf. It was of water crashing to shore and made a relaxing trickling sound. In total, I currently have 63 recordings ranging from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. I found that the batteries in the audio recorder went flat quite quickly and I went through 2 sets. I also found that the wind was a problem and was difficult to remove even with a high-quality recorder. If I could I would have used a fur windscreen with the microphone to remove the wind sound.

The Final cards:

External Description: The aim of this project was to facilitate play in the electronics classroom by making a game based on creating circuits with logic gates to solve challenges.

Play experience Image from Tabletop Prototyping Meetup:

Logic Cards is aimed at people 13+ wanting to learn about electronics in a fun way. This game teaches about logic gates and how to use them.

Reflective Statement:

This project had many challenges and problems, from complicated rules to the first player consistently winning. The game started as an electronic game and ended in a card game as it was easier with the time restraints and resources available. Through testing I made many iterations on the rules, adding things to make the game more fun to play as well as making it fair. One major problem was the first player winning 90% of the time. This was pointed out to me at the tabletop prototyping meetup that I attended and I solved it by adding a point based system rather than first to finish. To help make my game work I needed to do a lot of research on other games and what makes people enjoy a game. I learned many things through designing this game; not just about games but also the psychology of games and how they are played. as well as, what makes games enjoyable. If I were to do this project again I would start with research earlier, to get a better idea of the games already existing and how they work.

Play Experience:

The play experience starts a little complicated and the first few rounds are usually quite slow. However, after that, the game becomes very entertaining and fun at the same time as speeding up your arithmetic calculation speeds, spatial thinking, and problem-solving skills. During the initial learning of the game, the player’s knowledge of Logic Gates can go from 0 to being able to design a fairly complex circuit in a matter of rounds and each round that is played speeds up this process, training it like muscle memory. The player is sometimes frustrated at first when it seems complicated but once it is understood most people really enjoy the game.

Hero Image:

Twitter Friendly Tag-line:

Logic Cards is a card game designed to facilitate play in the electronics classroom; Making learning about logic gates fun.

Rules of play

Two to Four Players. Each player draws 5 logic cards at random and 1 challenge card. Logic cards are added to the Centre Piece, input to output. In each turn, you can place one card, skip a turn to discard hand or all of your cards on the board. Pick up a card from the deck each time you place a card on the board. you can only progress a number if you placed a card that turn. The aim of the game is to complete a binary sequence on the challenge card by adding logic gates. By adding a logic gate, it can change the output. At the end of each turn, you can choose whether to submit your value if you think it is correct, by pressing the send button. On completing a sequence, you move on to the next round by drawing another challenge card and adding up your points for that round. You can choose to wipe the board on completion or keep it if you can keep it for next round then you will get all the cards point added like normal. How to use each card is written on the cards. If you submit a value that is wrong the player who first spotted it gets 2 bonus points.

Here is a video of a round of the game:

https://youtu.be/F2F6P5ceXEg

Today I was still sick and didn’t make it to the studio but I did work on a pamphlet to explain how to play. It is laid out as a double-sided bi-fold pamphlet, which seems like a fairly common format for game instructions from games I have seen, for example, a deck of standard playing cards I purchased came with a bi-fold pamphlet with how to play blackjack. I also learned just today how to format a bi-fold pamphlet in word and the best writing style for game rules. I look at many examples of other game rules and instructions. What I found was the best writing style that was easy to read and read aloud was a present tense active voice in the second person. I also look at similar games to see how mine compared and found that putting some learning into the instructions would help learn the concepts and the game which I did(Understanding Binary and Logic Gates) I also gave real world examples.

I had a friend read through the pamphlet and they said it was easy to understand with some minor mistakes that I will need to fix tomorrow; such as grouping ideas better and laying it out more clearly, as well as, the possible addition of pictures to help break up the text to make it easier to read.

There is, however, a problem with the pamphlet; It goes over the 2056 character limit for the final submission. Therefore, I will need to make a shorter less descriptive version for the final blog post and remove the learning section. 

In Conclusion, today I made a pamphlet to explain how to play my game with some minor issues. However, this goes over the final submission character count and therefore, I need to make a shorter version for tomorrow. Also, I learned a lot about writing game instructions/rules as well as formatting in Word. Finally, Tomorrow I need to play test the game again to check that the game meets the brief. 

The code that produced this image drew a line from where the mouse was last left clicked to where the mouse pointer is. Each time the right mouse button is pressed the colour changes to a random RGB colour. I produced this image by holding down right click and drawing down the side of the screen then left clicking and going back up the other side.

Here is the code:

I tested the addition of a point system and it seemed to solve my first player advantage problem. However, the number of points per each type of card needs to be adjusted. I like how the points add an uncertainty to the game as to who will win. Furthermore, I need to decide on how many points will be given per correct number and also whether there will be a deduction for more turns. I also need to Simplify the instructions and add challenge cards to simplify the setup process of the game; these cards could also have point bonuses on completion. in conclusion, the addition of points solved a huge problem in my game. However, it also raised some more problems.

The game now has a point system where each card is worth a different number of points; the harder to use cards have a higher point value than the easy ones adding strategy and hopefully solving my first player advantage problem. The current points per card are as follows: 

These values were decided based on both how many turns each card takes to achieve an outcome and how many different outcomes are possible as well as the complexity of a card. Cards that start as a One also have lower points as that is an advantage.