Sonic Pong
2002 - 2006
Sonic Pong: Interactive Audio Game Platform Version 3
Pong was the first video game most people came in contact with. The directions were simple, the interface was intuitive, and yet game play was engaging enough to entertain people for hours.
In creating a sonic game platform for blind or visually impaired people I had to consider games that were easy to comprehend for first time players. Pong seemed like the obvious choice for this reason, and because of the limited cast of characters whose trajectories could be represented though the movement of sonic "pixels" that inhabit physical spaces surrounding the players.
I intend for the platform to provide a means for the recently impaired with an entertaining and rewarding means of improving their dexterity by coordinating hand movements with the physical locations of sounds. By challenging participants to rely on the hearing to succeed, sighted players have less of an advantage than they might with other games.
Version 1 Video
Documentation:
MedRes 7.0Mb
Photo Documentation:
Flickr Slide
show
(allow a few seconds to load)
Up late working on the structure of the first version.
The Game
The original Atari Pong inspired the creation of this game. Pong is an electronic version of table tennis where a ball is passed back and forth between two players. Players use paddles to hit the ball. Missing the ball scores a point for the other player.
In this audio/mechanical version the playing field is rotated in to a vertical position, and the two edges are combined to form a cylinder around the player. (see illustration) The Pong "ball" now travels around the user in a spiral a bit like a tetherball [off-site Flash animation].
Each player has their own game platform. They are at the bottom of the court and the other player is in a virtual space overhead. Their paddle travels in a virtual circle around them at about waist height. As they hear the ball spiral down from the ceiling they rotate their paddle to the spot where they thing the ball will land. If they succeed the ball bounces back up towards the ceiling where the other player will attempt to return it.
This court design was chosen to take advantage of our greater ability to resolve the spatial position of sounds in the left-right (stereo) axis. By placing the instruments in a circle around the player's head we can create a "POP" anywhere around them in a cylindrical space. See the video (MedRes 7.0Mb) for a demonstration of this effect.
Atari's Pong from the early 80's:
Production
The proof of concept was constructed from a large (borrowed) bicycle rim hung from the ceiling with pulleys. This floating platform is the structure that holds and transports the the sound instruments which are arranged in a circle around the rim. Each instrument consists of a 3oz plastic cup and a solenoid (an electromagnetic piston). As the solenoid contracts it pulls a small hammer (a loop in the wire) into the bottom of the cup creating a popping sound anywhere in the circle. Once installed they could all be raised and lowered to create the hight axis of game play.
This first version was a rotary switch with one contact for each instrument. As the user rotates the switch contact is made through the copper brush and the pennies... turning the handle to 12 o'clock triggered the solenoid/plastic cup instrument at 12 o'clock. As you can see in the video I moved the ring up and down manually for this prototype.
It was not Pong yet, but proved that the platform was able to create the right sound and could be produced quickly on a limited budget.
Proof of concept video documentation:
Med Res 7.0Mb
Large bicycle rim hanging from ceiling.
Rotary switch made from copper pennies, copper pot scrubber pad, plywood,
and 1/4" headphone jack.
User testing and prototyping
The proof of concept established that we the platform would create an engaging user experience, however we needed a larger ring for better sound localization, and could get by with half as many instruments.
The next prototypes were created as a pair. Each was installed at the ends of two adjacent hallways. The two prototypes would establish an internet connection and then player one's platform sends the ball position and retrieves the paddle location information for player two.
The new podium was radially symmetrical which allowed the user to approach from any direction.
It lacks some of the charm of the rotary penny switch, but it provides a cleaner and more stable means of input to the microcontroller.
Second prototype podium.
How this project came to be..
The first and second prototypes were created for Professor Ben Rubin's Sonic Design course at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. It was created in collaboration with two other students at the time, Meredith Finkelstein and Antje Pfannkuchen. We began by discovering opportunities where sound might used to create a sonic interface for a visually impaired person.
Our research indicated people with limited vision tend to limit themselves to places they have been before. By creating an on-line interactive audio game the project hopes to provide them with an opportunity to escape the confines of their known universe and build a gaming community from a platform which allows them to challenge the sighted to a match on even ground.
Given the size of the game it would most likely be installed in places people go to play like amusement parks and arcades, or public institutions where recently visually impaired go to gain skills to overcome their loss of sight.
I have continued production on the third prototype on my own with some advice from engineers and artists I've collaborated with in the past, but it is currently a solo project.
For further documentation on the new Version 3 see the Flickr Slide show
-Andrew
Photo by Mathilde µP
Sonic Pong V3 in Leipzig at GC-Germany August 24th - 27th 2006