SamPL

oggle

2012-01-07T00:00:00-08:00

There are lots of Boggle-inspired word games for iPhone. Imitators like Qwordy and Wurdle have complex score boards, novel word challenges, and eye-catching graphics. Electronic Arts has posted an official Boggle iPhone app with a wide feature set and impressive 3d dice-tossing effect. All of these games are entertaining, usable, full-featured, and popular.

But none of them are fun like Boggle.

I don't think these games don't recreate a Boggle "experience", and it's not because they're trapped behind a screen (so to speak). Their creators weren't really actually trying to duplicate the original game, or maybe they simply misunderstood the point of Boggle.

The point of Boggle is not to find jumbled words on a grid. The point of Boggle is to share a fun, stimulating challenge with friends.

The difference may seem finicky or obvious, but it's not. Generally speaking, single-player games have to engage a user with a limited attention span, but group games need to foster interaction between players.

This has some interesting design consequences:

In solitary play, it's easiest to hold your device in one hand, so graphics are displayed with a single orientation. In group board game play, however, players gather around a board laying flat, so graphics are orientation-agnostic.
In solitary play, the goal is to win or score points. Scores are tracked so you can compete against other players, game AI, or old high scores. In group play, scoring is secondary. You can track score on paper if you want to, but it distracts players and arrests game flow.
In solitary play, players often want to minimize outside environmental distraction and become immersed in the game. 3D animations, bright colors, and sound effects keep their focus on the screen. In group play, players want to discuss and share their work as much as possible, so the game should demand attention only when absolutely necessary.

Essentially, single-player games seek to monopolize your attention, and those that are harder to ignore are the most successful. Group games (like the original Boggle) serve as platforms on which interactions with other players can take place—and a game's merit is determined by many actors.

The game designers of the original box game could have marketed Boggle as a solitaire game, but they didn't. The truth is, Boggle isn't quite as much fun without other people to play with.

So, I built a different kind of Boggle app. It's a simple replacement for the physical boggle tray and dice, not the entire game (paper, pencils, and other players are not included). Hopefully, it will encourage games whenever friends meet. Anyone can play for free on their iPhone.

Oggle includes just the few features I thought were essential—namely, a three minute timer and a built-in dictionary to settle player spelling disputes. Also, like a physical Boggle board, letters are randomly rotated so the board is equally readable from any angle. I've left out distracting animations and bright colors wherever they did not serve an important function, and scorekeeping has been removed entirely.

The project represents a piece of my hope for our inevitable future of digital gaming. Today, mobile interactive tech tends to isolate users into attention silos—but it doesn't have to be that way! Consumers still have control over their time and money, and they should have high expectations of the tools they invite into their lives—not just the mechanics and visual design, but the broader effects a product has on one's health, thinking, and relationships. In an age of increasing cheap distraction, I'd love to see users consciously vetting and curating their interactive experiences.

Designers and developers, hopefully, will continue to recognize that creating a healthy, stimulating, and enduring interactive experience is not about adding features and glitter. It's done by understanding the core of the human problem at hand, then artfully engineering a reliable solution in the simplest way possible.

Oggle was built without Flash or images using only javascript, HTML5, and CSS3. Play at oggle.sampl.us!

Life of Dots

2012-01-02T00:00:00-08:00

Life of Dots is a very simple, one-page visualization that shows a single dark pixel for each day in the statistically-average modern human life. The opacity of the pixels degrades along with life expectancy.

Life of Dots was built with javascript and the html5 canvas. View it here →.

Typewriter

2011-12-10T00:00:00-08:00

Typewriter is a web-based typewriter emulator. It was works best on a laptop running a modern web browser in fullscreen mode with the sound on.

Typewriter tries to save your work so you can stop by later and pick up where you left off. To start a brand new document, press "ESC" or click "clear page".

Like manual typewriters, Typewriter doesn't have formatting, backspace, or undo. Try it out, and see if it doesn't change the way you type.

Try it out

Note: Typewriter is still under active development (and it works best on Mac with Chrome)

Typewriter works best on Mac with Chrome and was written with javascript, jQuery, html5 audio. It uses sounds from FreeSound members fastson and Koops. (Thanks!)

KINETIX Game

2010-03-10T00:00:00-08:00

KINETIX is a colorful, fast-paced casual game that uses only a webcam for input. A computer vision algorithm detects motion and alternatively rewards and punishes players for moving. Originally conceptualized as a children's toy to encourage physical activity, the game's simplicity allows it to be be played by anyone, either alone, competitively, or collaboratively--with any number of players.

This version was built in Processing, with help from the OpenCV library, Andy Best's introduction to the same, The Very Best (no relation), and WhoopAss.

Potato Cannon

2009-08-21T00:00:00-07:00

We built a combustion PVC potato cannon (or spud gun) and named her Charlotte.

Controller Music Scripting

2009-08-21T00:00:00-07:00

For an Independent Study this past summer semester, I set out to tackle some novel approaches to controlling music. I ended up writing patches for the graphical programming language MAX/MSP that allowed me to receive signals from game controllers and convert them to MIDI signals, which were then received in my favorite music software: Ableton Live.

After composing a track with digital instruments and samples, the setup allowed me to control any music parameters I wanted by pressing buttons, moving joysticks and whammy bars--even tilting a Guitar Hero controller (with an accelerometer inside).

Astronaut Costume

2008-11-10T00:00:00-08:00

...I made an Apollo astronaut suit.