Curiosity
Exploratory Making: Project 2
In our prioritization exercise, much of my priorities fell in the middle. I was interested in exploring both sides of each spectrum, but if my intuition leaned even a little bit in one direction, that was what I decided to prioritize. The three categories I decided to focus on were using tools on the floor, my experience as a maker/learner, and fun!
Though using tools available anywhere would help me get situated for the remote semesters, I wanted to really take advantage of the tools on the floor and experiment with what I could make. I had also had conversations with people, and I came to realize that I really enjoy making things that resonate with or bring joy to other people. But that also meant that I had not made anything purely for myself. Going hand in hand with that, I often reigned in my creative freedom to make things that were portfolio or share-worthy. So I really wanted prioritize my own experience and to have fun with this project.
I was ambitious with my exploration, building off a circuit I had made for Interface Lab. I had a lot of plans that I definitely had to scope down during the actual making. Ultimately, knowing I wanted to play with the tools on the floor, allowed me to focus on 3D printing and refining my circuit.
In my previous iteration of this project, I used light sensors, which was kind of finicky, so I spend a good amount of time learning about hall effect sensors. The response was a lot cleaner. I also made my first 3D print, which I spent a lot of time trying to model from scratch, ultimately giving up and found a model online. Calibrating it for the printer took some tweaking, but to cut down on time, I sacrificed the supports. It was a good first draft, but definitely something I want to polish and tailor to work with my electrical components.
I made a glowing “diamond ore block” that dims as the player “mines” it. Since hall effect sensors work with magnets, I later made a pickaxe where I attached the magnet, but in the video below, the magnet is just attached to a phototransistor that’s magnetic.
As I mentioned, I was inspired by the diamond block in Minecraft. Minecraft is known to be a children’s game, but having not played as a child, I became really immersed in the game during the pandemic. I wanted to be open with my love for the game and celebrate fun! In my game, I also downloaded shaders, which changes the texture or look of the game. My shaders make my diamond blocks glow, so I was inspired to recreate the stunning glow! As I’ve worked on it and received feedback, I added the mining component for more interaction. Still, I mostly wanted to focus on the satisfying interactions that I love about the game to stay true to my intention in creating something for myself.
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With more time, I definitely want to expand on the interactions, and add small touches that give the player feedback on what different interactions do. I’d mostly like to add audio feedback, but I’m going to be exploring p5 so that physical inputs into the block, show up in a digital interface.
