Design Methods
- Persona and senario building
- Usability testing (think-alouds, rapid concept building, and user observation)
- Iteration (paper prototyping, participatory design sessions)
- Generated wireframes, prototypes and design documents
Project Summary
The goal of Project iMobile was to create social experiences that would bring people together like never before. Using the recently released software development kit for the iPhone, we created a social game that brings two or more people around a single iPhone to play a suite of 12 micro-games and puzzles.
Playable Prototype
Game Examples (click each image to enlarge)
Mouse Maze
I designed a game that requires the user to manipulate the space around a stationary object. The iPhone generates a maze around a cheese-seeking mouse. Instead of navigating the mouse through the maze, the user drags the maze around the mouse in a fun and different kind of interaction. The difficulty of the maze and distance from the cheese would be adjusted according to the skill level of the user.
Slime!
I imagined a game where the user would move crosshairs around the floor of a science classroom to zap an escaped slime creature. As in Mouse Maze, the user drags the background, but in Slime, the intention is to locate a moving target. The speed of the slime creature adjusted based on the difficulty level the user had achieved.
Cell Spin
The goal for this interaction was to present the user with a task using limited verbal cues. We designed and play-tested several versions to make sure that users could understand what to do right away. Cell Spin requires the player to spin the concentric rings of the cell until they snap into place and complete the whole.
Showdown
When all but two players have been eliminated, the screen splits and the showdown begins. The players compete to smack the aliens but not hit the scientists. This design lets both users hold the phone with two hands and use their thumbs, or hold the phone with one hand and use the other to smack the aliens.Game Play
The phone calls out players to compete in each social micro-game. The player could choose to have multiple lives, so that if they were too young or unable to understand, they weren't immediately eliminated. The last one standing is the winner. This style of play combines natural human competiveness with a social atmosphere that brings people closer together.
