Joypult

Concept

2007-01-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

I conceptualized a haptic gaming interface- Joypult.

Joypult is a slightly futuristic approach to gaming in a ubiquitous, pervasive computing gaming world, where the gaming environment can be anywhere and anything, including the window of your room, the console of your monitor, car wind shield, or your Television screen.

Joypult is an analog stress relieving (both mental and physical stress ) gaming interface for short breaks can be utilized for playing quick access, quick start up and short term, non-strategic games, direction and pressure based games.Can be easily used to play bowling,bow and arrow and clickomania.

It has got a self attaching wireless connectivity to any gaming console around (pairs automatically), and gives the user the freedom to play whenever he is free.

Unlike other gaming consoles and devices, it has got zero start up time and is very easy to operate.

Its Intuitive and fun.

Research

2007-01-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

To know the possibilities and existence of such a device where the analogue user inputs can be used to send signals to the output devices.I also wanted to know which technology to be used for wireless connectivity, Wifi, Bluetooth or Ultra Wide Band, etc.

I also checked on how other inputs are being given, because I wanted to give input to the gaming console through something which was not a software game interface but a hardware game interface for a software based cosole.

I wanted to understand how do I measure pressure and direction through input devices, and what all technologies were incorporated.

GAME CONTROLLERS

Game controllers consist of game pads, joysticks, gloves, steering wheels, trackballs, etc. I have grouped them together mainly because they are a distinct segment of the controller market, and most manufacturers make a range of different technologies. Some of the devices are cross-listed in other categories, but most are not. However, if this area interests you, you should at least look under the Foot Controllers, Gloves, Joysticks, Miscellaneousand Trackballs headings.

http://www.billbuxton.com/InputSources.html

Some Ideas

2007-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

A simple touch me not plant on the doctors table. You touch it once and it closes it leaves, it’s a simple gaming feel.
Hammering and breaking something, but that would be for extremely stressed conditions :D
Their habit of fiddling with something, clicking pens and tapping on the desk, gave me the idea of having a rubber-band interface for them to fiddle with.
I wanted the gaming device to get attached to the gaming screen all on its own, wirelessly, so that there are no hassles on the part of connectivity.

Ideation

2007-01-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

Now the challenge was to bring together the different parts of the process to come up with a design idea which could fulfill all of the following:

Initial Brief, Group One-Liner, and user requirements and constraints

The final idea should encompass doctors and hospital staff, but should also be able to find its application elsewhere too.

Requirements:

The following Requirements emerged for the game:

Single Click Gaming Interface
to build a simple short term stress busting game/gaming interface
Short Term
Non-Strategy based
Quickly accessible
Quick Start,
No starting or end point
Not Timed
Not scoring
Should Give Instant Gratification. Hit me-Break me Kind of a game.
No Start up time.
‘Smart’ Gaming background architecture which takes care of user priorities.
Switching between the game and the normal mode should be swift.
The motto is to give the user a totally free mind to have fun, and leave the rest to the game, such that it takes care of the user priorities and switches him back to normal, as and when required.
The typical Gaming slots for anyone in such an environment can be

Short breaks while on work, stretching etc.
Waiting for the lift
Waiting in the car for the traffic lights for some minutes, when you do nothing at all.
standing in the queue for billing at the super market while returning home.
Advertisements on the television while watching a TV show.

Persona Development

2007-01-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

Name:Mr. Praveen Shetty

Profession:Doctor

Age : 30 Years

Family : Parents, Wife and small child

Loves: Cricket, Bowling

Gets no dedicated leisure time

Would love to play games but has no time

User Requirements

2007-01-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

If there has to be a game to be played by this user group it has to be played in the short time intervals which the doctor gets in between his work.
The game should be non-strategy based, because strategies would increase the stress levels.
The game should be quickly accessible, quick start, with no starting or end point, not timed, not scoring, but still should give instant gratification.
The typical waiting slots for anyone in such an environment can be

Short breaks while on work, stretching etc.
Waiting for the lift
Waiting in the car for the traffic lights for some minutes, when you do nothing at all.
Standing in the queue for billing at the super market while returning home.
Advertisements on the television while watching a TV show.

Desktop stress busting applications are almost all the “destructive ones”. Break the things around, kill the boss, hit me.
The game should be such that it requires almost no start up time, because we already have very less time to have a break.
There is also a constraint that such breaks have abrupt endings, it cannot be defined by a static function at what point of time, the doctor would get an emergency call, or after how many advertisements the TV show would resume, etc.
The game should be such that it takes care of the various channels and gives them way according to priority order being set by the user.
The typical user group is high class, or upper middle class of the society and hence cost of the product is not a big factor to get rid of stress.
Switching between the game and the normal mode should be swift.
The motto is to give the user a totally free mind to have fun, and leave the rest to the game, such that it takes care of the user priorities and switches him back to normal, as and when required.
Can be 4000Rs+ in its cost.
The stress levels in considered cases are not too high that they cause any physical damage to objects around or cause changes in the person’s behavior.In most of the cases, the person himself/herself does not know that he/she is stressed and doesn’t even think that is suffering from a problem. But is actually suffering from balding and other side effects of stress.
Users have a general habit of playing and fiddling with things like clicking their pen continuously, shaking their legs for no reason, tapping on the desk and so on.

Analysis: Contextual Inquiry

2007-01-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

They were stressed, which showed in their behavior and certain traits..
The users were in their work environment from morning 9 till at least 7 in the evening with no breaks for refreshing themselves from the continuous stress
The various channels which were building high stress levels were of work, patients, phone calls ( landline, intercom and personal cell phones ), attendees, nurses, emergency cases ,un-called for night shifts etc. and life does not end here, it starts again when they go home.
Most of the doctors, and hospital people were suffering from balding and severe hair loss.
Especially doctors have the stress related problems since their 10th standard, when every mark they gain is important for them to score high and maintain their position.
They do meditation to do away with stress at some points of time.

Sample Form

2007-01-20T07:59:00.002-08:00

Here is a copy of the filled form.

User Studies

2007-01-20T07:59:00.001-08:00

As we went in groups of two, one of us would ask the questions and the other would write down the answers, at the same time doing the ethnographic analysis of the surroundings, i.e. to how many channels (media like phone, people etc ) is the person exposed to at a time, How does he react to questions like “ Are you stressed?” etc.
We came back with the understanding of the user group: Doctors and hospital staff.

Questionnaire

2007-01-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

A Questionnaire was prepared to understand the general details, traits and requirements of our user group doctors. The purpose was to qualitatively analyze them.
The Questionnaire included the questions:

Demographic Details:

Name:
Age:
Marital Status:
Family:
Designation:
Location:
Phone number:

How long have you been in this profession
How many (maximum) number of hours have you worked at stretch and when
How many shifts do you do
How often do you take breaks in your shifts
What do you do in such breaks
What do you generally do in free time
What types of games do you play ( console and non console based )
Which is/was your favourite game
Do you like handheld gaming
Which mobile games do you play

How do you deal with stress at workplace.
How do you deal with stress at home
What would you prescribe to a patient who has stress problems
What problems arise due to stress
How much do you spend on entertainment (per month)
How much does a stress treatment cost
Describe a typical day in your life

Initial Brief

2007-01-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

The initial brief which was given to us was to design a single click gaming interface.
Whatever was to follow, ( Brainstorming, User Group Selection, Contextual Inquiry )should take care that it does not put the initial brief aside.

Objective

2007-01-20T05:10:00.000-08:00

The objective of the course(User Interface Design) was to sensitize us towards the accessibility issues, and then to introduce us to the overall design process which is followed in the development of a product.
One interesting part of this whole exercise was that it was RAPID prototyping, where a long process of brainstorming, user studies, ideation, form exploration and prototyping was covered just in 8 days.

Purpose

2007-01-20T03:21:00.000-08:00

Well, the purpose of this blog is to take you through the process which was followed in the conceptualization of "Joypult- a conceptual haptic gaming interface."