I attended the discussion and several social games like ninja training, zombie ward, which are really fun.
The discussion is a group activity in which people has been divided into different teams and talk about ideas to make Pittsburgh a better place and more fun. We had a conclusion that waiting for the buses can be less boring through playing games, so we head to this direction and developed the idea further more. I came up with the idea that it should be group activity like the digital game Curiosity. It should be cooperative and bring people more chances to communicate. Then we keep digging on this idea, and came up with the bus waiting game as showed in the following picture.
The rules would be:
1. People waiting for the bus make the heat bar go higher by touching the heat-sensitive bus signpost. The more people get involved, the bar should go higher to trigger an event.
2. The heat bar has three phases, after reaches the second one, there gives “bee bee bee” sound and the camera will take a 360 degree picture. So people touches the signpost will all be included into the picture.
3. There will be a bigger digital screen aside on the wall records pictures has been taken. After reaching certain amount, the previous ones may be ripped to give space for new ones. People can check if their photos still there at the bus stop or not. If not, they would more likely to take pictures again.
4. After the bar line reaches the third phase, the slot machine works, and will rain coupons or bucks ($1) randomly, and the companies which the coupons belongs to, should be the main sponsors for the construction of the bus waiting game system.
Social games:
Ninja training should be my favorite, since I played before in the global game jam when it had 7 controllers ran in a wider space. But this time, due to some technical issues and the space limitation, they just provided 4 controllers and ran in a pretty small area. These limitations did affect the user experience in certain degree. Other than this, it is still an interesting game which attracted lots of people participated.
People getting crazy in Ninja training…
Zombie ward is a tag game with special items. We played in a group of more than 20 people. It is not that special, since we have played lots of tag games when we were young, but it was really fun to play with a bunch of grown-up strangers. Also with the items, and the randomness of the places and the orders we have to command, the fun increases.
Trying to find a place to play zombie ward.
Other games i played:
This game is about figuring out the unknown words on your cards by using the hints shows on other people’s cards. Then follow the command showed on cards. This game really need people to communicate, which brings lots of fun.
This game is about getting bricks of your own color without getting caught by the light. It is a cooperative game, and two people should work together to make the time as short as possible. I like this game, but i wish this could be played on table instead of the ground. That way might be more comfortable to play, so we can more concentrate on the game.
Things I got:
1) Two friends, each of whom has a broken leg and comes from totally different background
2) Great ideas about making the city a better place, and i am happy that i can participate in such activities to contribute something
3) Communication with strangers is not that hard, and playing games like a child is pretty enjoyable
4) A free T-shirt which is pretty ugly…
