Zooba Battle

Playful Communication for Serious Research
Research / Unity / Arduino / Fabrication
Spring 2022, New York.


Role:
Researcher, Illustrator, Physical Computing

Collaborator:
Jinny Kang, Ijon Hsieh & Stephanie Chen

OVERVIEW

Zooba is a competitive and educational 2 player rhythm arcade game that is based on studies and hypotheses of the link between vocal learning and vocal entrainment (dance) in various species.

You are given a selection of animals to choose from based on 6 categories: speed, vocal, power, auditory, beauty, and vision—with the prompt: “be the next dance champion”. Each animal will activate its own unique game pattern and all animals are ranked based on quantitative datasets from 0 to 5, with 5 being best, and 0 being worst.

The game includes 2 distinct stages within a song: Stage 1, both players are given the same rhythm game (beats) that are created to match the rhythm of the song perfectly. Stage 2, based on which animal a player chose, beats are presented based on how animals would dance to a rhythm. By playing the rhythm game as if being the animal, players can sense and experience how the selected animal perceives and reacts to rhythm and beats.

CONCEPT AND SCHEMATICS

Conceptual Package ︎︎︎

Schemetic Package ︎︎︎

RESEARCH AND PROCESS

Tools Used:

• RFID Sensor/Reader
• Fabrication (Vertical Saw, Corn hole Saw, Laser Cutter, Wiring & Soldering)

Applications Used:

• Sketch
• Adobe (After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop)
• Unity
• Arduino

Skills Used:

• Research
• Coding (C#, JavaScript, C++)

ZOOBA BATTLE PRESENTATION & INSTALLATION

Zooba Battle was presented at the ITP 2022 Spring Showcase as well as presented virtually at the Jarvis Lab at the Rockefeller University.

Presentation ︎︎︎

Live Play ︎︎︎