Decision-Making for Full Body Interactive Experiences

YOU the designer make your own rules that govern the choices that you make. Whether you are making a experience / game for yourself alone to play (which probably isn't the case), to be installed in a public library, or for spoiled sweet-sixteeners and their entourage to play on an exclusive party yacht, similar thought processes are likely to occur.

What rules? What does this entail? This means everything from defining the logic of game-play and the virtual world you will be creating to how much time, money, and resources you will have available to you. In essence, you are creating constraints which will allow you focus when it comes time to start production. Constraints, planning and organization will set you free.

Set Constraints by Problem Solving
Parallel process all aspects that have to do with the project at hand. Spread all the variables out on the floor so to say, to allow relationships and potential problems to stand out. Strike a balance that works for you, based on your approach. Every constraint that you set will make it easier to sort through the rest of the items and set further constraints.

Define the Variables
There are many types of variables to consider. Some variables are already defined, say, the ceiling height of the room where the interactive will live, or say, who the audience will be. Some variables might be a little fuzzy...like, is there direct sunlight during a point in the day that will mess up the camera calibration? Will an abundance of the color red make the inmates more violent? What is the likely-hood of repeat players over the course of the day....the week...the year? Some aren't defined at all -what is the nature of the game? What is the interaction? Should it be fun or serious...or both?

First, consult everything you have ever learned about anything that relates to the project at hand. If there are important knowledge gaps to be filled, do the research. Go to those who know and ask questions.

Think about what would be the best for the experience, including the players and then make sure that they are in the realm of the possibility space meaning, your programs and your programmers (unless you are wearing both hats). This means knowing how to program and being able to communicate your thoughts in a way that makes sense to them. If you're lucky, you'll be working with programmers who can speak your language too. Know their limits, know your limits and underestimate your time frame. Know your budget and be resourceful. After you have worked with the same group of people for a while the process of tweaking and filtering of the idea to match your team's ability will become more immediate.

Know your audience.

Keep a grip on the reality of the situation and test against every detail, including the physical installation.

What is the experience about? What do you hope to achieve? What are you trying to communicate? Answering this question honestly and at the beginning of a project will help keep all the pieces in-tact in development, and help prevent taking tempting short cuts that turn out to be a disaster in that they compromise the core of the experience.

On this note, know what lives at the core of the game/interactive so you know what is ok to shave off and still keep the core intact. With a strong sense of what it is that makes the game, when crunch time comes you can say with confidence, "no, we can't get rid of that...it's the thing makes the game fun" or, "that's the whole point of the game". This might sound like common sense, but after many hours of little to no sleep, hacking up the game so it's finished faster sounds like a pretty good idea .

Role-play constantly and ask others' opinions. Don't worry about making it seem like you don't know which is best. You have already made up your mind, now be open to others ideas and trash your own when necessary. Remember you aren't designing for yourself, unless the purpose of the experience is to communicate your ideas and aesthetic.