NOT SIMON is a play on the repetition game, Simon. This design aimed to combine a physical and digital user interface with audio and visual cues. This initiative was a university-level group project with 9 team members. Our final product was featured in the Digital Media Department Showcase.
Our Objective: Create a game
The purpose of this University level project was to create a game which included physical and digital aspects as well as create an interactable user interface. We wanted to develop a game that was playful, intuitive and able to be played with any amount of people.
My Roles: Physical UI and Virtual UI Designer
My roles in this project were Virtual UI and Physical UI designer. As a Virtual Designer, I created the first playable prototype to user-test our game. One other designer and I designed different layouts on Figma for possible game elements and game screens. As for physical design, we went for an intuitive arcade-style button layout. I was in charge of hand-building the button system and wiring all button modules to an Arduino circuit.
The Design Process
This project was completed and polished in a matter of 12 weeks. Our projected timeline included multiple stages including the ideation phase, basic prototype, user testing, creating the digital design and physical design and more. In order to reach our target deadline, we decided to break off into smaller groups and consolidate our work nearing completion.
After a few sessions of ideation and narrowing down our options, we decided on a game that was easy to play and straightforward to implement. I created a basic prototype that consisted of a randomizer to play three different sound effects in a short sequence. Afterwards, there were three buttons that were used to play back the sequence. This simple prototype was used to test out simple game mechanics as well as user test how well people were able to quickly learn and play the game with little to no instructions.
Each team split into groups consisting of digital design (Figma and Adobe Premiere), physical design, interface and input development (Max8 and Arduino) and game development (Processing). I mainly worked on the digital design team and interface development team and transitioned to the physical design after the digital team part was completed. Consolidating the results of each team resulted in a department showcase-worthy project that the group and I were happy with.
The Challenges
Our team ran into two challenges that ultimately did not impact the outcome of our project. The first challenge occurred during the ideation phase. Some members of the group wanted to create a more complicated and sophisticated game, while others were more realistic given the limited time and resources. Coming to a compromise, we started development with my idea of a simple but realistic, audio-visual repetition game and would implement more robust features if we had the time and resources. The second challenge involved extra meetings. Outside of scheduled class work sessions, the team found it difficult to meet in person due to other classes, part-time jobs and other commitments. We overcame this challenge with our regular communication on progress updates (Discord and Trello) and our exceptional organization (GitHub, Trello and Google Drive).
The Final Project
The outcome was an A+ worthy project that landed a spot in the department showcase. After 12 weeks of development, I learned about team development and communication. We received all positive reviews from the critics and players enjoyed the fun and playful design.
