Jam-O-Drum / CircleMaze

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Inhaltliche Beschreibung

Clifton Forlines conceived of the CircleMaze game as an example of a control device mapping position and movement of a circular disk to a corresponding circular ring projected on the tabletop. Each one of four color-coded turntables controls one of four matching colored virtual rings. Players work together to align the rings' pathways, allowing virtual balls to travel from the outer ring into the center of the concentric maze. The game starts with one ball and sixty seconds for the players to devise a group strategy. Once players get the first ball into the center, they advance to the next level of game play, the number of balls increases exponentially and a new set of musical backing tracks and sound effects are introduced. Visitors of all ages quickly learn that progressing to higher levels of the game cannot be achieved without communication and teamwork.

The high-level "goal" for the players of this experience is to collect all of the CircleMaze’s pieces in the middle of the game board. The game starts with one ball and sixty seconds for the players to devise a group strategy. Once players get the first ball into the center, they advance to the next level of game play, the number of balls increases exponentially and a new set of musical backing tracks and sound effects are introduced. Visitors of all ages quickly learn that progressing to higher levels of the game cannot be achieved without communication and teamwork.

Each of the four rings is filled with maze-like paths, some providing the pieces a route from one ring to another, some looping the pieces back into the ring from which they came. Each of the players is in control of the rotation of one ring. Players turn their ring by turning a turntable disk attached to the side of the Jam-O-Drum. The rings affect graphics and one of the musical tracks through their absolute rotation – as a player turns their ring, they mix their track from among several complementary loops.

At the beginning of the experience, a number of pieces are distributed throughout the outer ring of the maze. Each of the many pieces moves blindly through the maze, pulsing to the rhythm of the music. If the paths from one ring to another align, a piece will cross into the new ring; however, if a piece hits a wall, it will simply reverse its direction. When pieces enter the center circle, they cease moving but continue to pulse to the beat.

The action of turning the circles back and forth clearly lends itself to the scratching of a DJ’s record. The game’s music fits with this metaphor. Each player is in control one of four complementary tracks of music – the bass, the beat, the melody or a special effect. We chose techno music for this experience because it lends itself to looping and to the blending of multiple tracks. Its high energy and fast pace fit in nicely with several qualities of the experience.

Technische Beschreibung

The seven-foot diameter Jam-O-Drum table was built with 10î drum pads mounted directly onto the steel frame and speakers positioned in front of each station. The Jam-O-Drum's basic system architecture incorporates a combination of two input devices; a MIDI drum pad mounted inside a turntable ring. As the ring turns, an optical encoder relays its rotational position and speed to the computer. The CircleMaze exhibit includes a Windows-based PC with a 1 GHz Pentium III processor, a NVIDIA GeForce2 video card, two Audigy and SoundBlaster Live! sound cards, two Parasound amplifiers, four NHT speakers and NHT subwoofer. An LCD video projector projects images from the computer onto the table.

CircleMazeís graphics are generated using Java2D. Sound is played using Java JMF. A JNI wrapper provides communication with a C++ DirectInput library for handling input from the custom Jam-O-Drum hardware. ProTools, Emagic Logic, MetaSynth, and ReBirth were used for sound design, digital editing and original music composition.

Statement

Reaction to and evaluation of the project: In the Jam-O-Drum/CircleMaze installation, one of the most rewarding aspects of this work is the high level of social interaction and engagement among players. Gathering around a shared surface creates a context for bringing people together to play games and create music. Through the design of the aforementioned musical gaming experiences for public spaces, one of the most important elements appears to be the creation of goal-oriented structures that are counterbalanced by opportunities for free form play and improvisation. Regardless of differing objectives towards gaming or music making, the Jam-O-Drum installations have demonstrated that goal-oriented interaction makes it easier to communicate and engage with strangers in a public setting. People who might not ordinarily participate in music making activities approach the Jam-O-Drum because of its game-like attraction and appearance, and also find no musical knowledge is necessary. CircleMaze employs a consistent user interface: the same actions at every level of game play produce the same results. This "unity of design" principle makes for an intuitive and easy-to-learn game. Perhaps not surprisingly, parents often had more difficulty accessing the games than their children did.

Integration of a surround sound system coupled with speakers in the table and a darkened environment created a relaxed club-like atmosphere that inspired physical movement and fostered spontaneous interaction between the visitors.
Time constraints in the development of the Jam-O-Drum restricted the opportunities to more fully realize the musical capabilities of this system. Although the turntable disks proved to be a highly engaging and intuitive interface for the circular graphic projections, the audio mappings integrated with these continuous controllers were not as obvious to visitors and could be improved. Finally, regardless of the focus on music or games, implementing an easy to use, intuitive interface is one of the most important design elements of any interactive experience that invites novices to explore and learn.

We believe this kind of interaction has much wider implications that extend beyond the concept of "playing a game". It is our hope that visitors will sustain a willingness to engage with strangers and a feeling of openness in other social encounters that extend beyond the virtual space to the physical.

(Tine Blaine)

Theorie / Forschung

We view the Jam-O-Drum as a platform for continual research into community-oriented audiovisual experiences. Blaine and a new team of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center have created a musical DJ game inspired by Dance Dance Revolution called “DJSEZ“. Another multiplayer collaborative game is currently under development that also leverages the drumpad inputs and the physical spinning characteristics of the Jam-O-Drum's disks. Perfecting the appropriate levels of collaborative interaction versus the perceived affordance of musical interaction and complementing sound design, is an area ripe for further research with this development platform. Ultimately, we continue to explore interaction designs and input devices that integrate a variety of approaches to combining elements of motion in music and graphics. CircleMaze is one of the most popular experiences developed for the Jam-O-Drum platform to date.
(Tina Blaine)

Ausstellungen / Präsentationen

• The Jam-O-Drum is currently on exhibit at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, WA, Ars Electronica Center’s Museum of the Future and the Brand Experience Lab in New York, NY. The Jam-O-Drum and Jam-O-Drum:CircleMaze projects have also been exhibited at Siggraph’s Emerging Technology 2000 & 2001, and Zeum’s Youth Art & Technology Center in San Francisco, CA.