Claw Machine
Experiencing how it feels like from a Toy’s perspective at a Game Arcade
In 2019 Spring, I attended a course named Immersive Experience at NYU| IMA and began my journey of designing in AR/VR. Since I was a filmmaker before, I decided to utilize my storytelling skill for my final coursework along with Ruojin.
Claw Machine is a VR game/Interactive animation in which the user becomes a toy inside the claw machine and experiences life from a toy’s perceptive: listening to peer’s stories, watching humans come and go… However, the player will be the only toy who can move hands and take action to fight against destiny for themselves or peer toy friends.
This game was exhibited in the ITP/IMA Spring Show 2019, as well as NY Town Hall immersive experience selection.
PROJECT TYPE
Academic Coursework, Exhibition Selection
TOOL
Unity3D, C#, Maya, Medium VR, Oculus
DURATION
Spring 2019, 5 Weeks from idea to develop
MY ROLE
I initiated the game concept, drew out the storyboard and wrote the script. I was also in charge of the overall visual and interaction design in the game, including 3D Modeling, designing environments in Unity, Animating Characters, and designing final physical exhibition.
“Is the claw good or bad? If I only have 10 balls left, should I save my friends, or should I save myself? It is a story of choice and is a metaphoric piece to reflect on concentration camps in WWII. Every one of the toys has a story to tell. What will you do when facing the claw?”
TRAILER OF “CLAW MACHINE“
ITP/IMA Spring Show Selection | NY Town Hall Exhibition
Environmental Design
1. Young children & teenagers (8-20) that are curious about new technology and animation, wanting to have fun.
2. Adults with higher education and critical thinking that could understand art concept and dig deeper.
TARGET AUDIENCE
RESEARCH & INSPIRATION
New England Holocaust Memorial
“ THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
….
THEN THEY CAME for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up. ”
—— Martin Niemoller
We want to tell a story about choice, about standing up for others.
"But what is the best medium for this story?" "Why VR?"
"How can we put our users into a specific situation where they have to make choices?"
"How can we let adults understand but at the same time make it playful for kids?"
"How can we make it happen in an unrealistic world while still have its meaning?"
CLAW MACHINE's concept is inspired by the New England Holocaust Memorial and #MeToo movement, but the way of storytelling is influenced by Wolves in the Walls and Toy Story.
IDEATION
Mood board
Storyboarding
Character & Environment Design Experiments
USERFLOW
USER TESTING & FEEDBACK
We tested upon 5 users and gathered the feedback below:
– Keep in mind to set up the rules. The user will never do what you want them to do (they will start to play with whatever they can play with). Therefore it is important to tell them what to do and what not, and build up the rules with narration/ UI/ bounding box/ rewards & punishment.
– Convey instructions clearly. The most questions we received is “What are the balls doing here? How can I interact with it? why do i need to throw it?” It is always important to let the user know clearly what their functions are. (Use some UI interface)
1. Users cannot relate the pink dreamy organic environment with claw machine in the game arcade, which does not make sense for the story.
2. In the scene1 when the toys start to talk in the dark environment, the user cannot tell which one is talking. They feel very confused.
3. User gets distracted by the model: the hand of the model is not teddy bear's hand, but instead, the VR traditional hand. The teddy bear's head is too big compared to user's body.
4. The weapon appears at the very beginning in the scene1 and user does not know what it is. They will start playing and throwing the balls when the game has not begun, leading to waste of the balls.
5. Some mono-lines could be too long, needs to be simplified.
We made changes based upon the user feedback:
1. Choice the version of a more realistic claw machine.
2. Every time a toy is talking, his/her tie will shine in the dark and he/she will move back & forth.
3. Made changes to the toy model: Delete extra and distracting parts and scale the size
4. Let the weapon ball appear at scene2 when the balls are actually needed. Also adds in a narration (in this case is the claw machine's advertising sound) to inform the user their task.
5. Made changes to the dialogue and re-ordered the sequence of each toy's narration.
6. We were choosing the pinkish and childish color theme for two reasons: children-friendly & make this sad story ironic and raise more thoughts.
ITERATION & DESIGN DETAILS
ITP/IMA SPRING SHOW 2019
TAKEAWAYS
– KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY WANT:
Since everything is based on fixed storyline, nothing will really change no matter what the user is doing – therefore it cannot trigger the feeling of “I have the power to change the story/I can make the choice”. So here are some choices for the next step of the story:
If we want the user to feel they have impact in the world and their choices makes a difference: then change it into multi storylines and let the toys have different reactions toward different user makes.
if we want the user to feel the hopeless in “concentration camp”. Then just make it helpless and impact-less. But also in order to better convey the theme, we will need to re-write the script and probably find stories from real people.
if we want it to be purely playful, we can set it to be multi-player, in which one of them is the toy in the claw machine, the other player is controlling the claw outside the machine. The one as toy can do whatever he can to fight back against the claw.
- Consider more possibilities: What if I find another way out?What if I throw the ball at the window to escape? Consider all the elements in the scene and always be surprising.