Whack-a-Mole for the Visually Impaired Luv Kohli COMP April 20, 2004

Images and sounds by Pat Friedl

Motivation Lack of fun games for visually impaired childrenLack of fun games for visually impaired children Children need exercise for muscle toneChildren need exercise for muscle tone Educational – spatial reasoningEducational – spatial reasoning

The Game Furry woodland creatures appear at random to pester the playerFurry woodland creatures appear at random to pester the player Based on the location creature sounds are coming from, the player hits the creature back into its holeBased on the location creature sounds are coming from, the player hits the creature back into its hole

Goals Fun and enjoyable gameFun and enjoyable game Physical activityPhysical activity Inexpensive equipmentInexpensive equipment

The system (1) 4 USB mice that represent moles, connected to a PC via a USB hub4 USB mice that represent moles, connected to a PC via a USB hub 2 speakers, one behind the leftmost mole, and one behind the rightmost mole2 speakers, one behind the leftmost mole, and one behind the rightmost mole –Panning is used to interpolate positions of other moles

The system (2) Written in C#Written in C# Using Single Display Groupware Toolkit (SDGT) from University of Calgary for multiple mouse inputUsing Single Display Groupware Toolkit (SDGT) from University of Calgary for multiple mouse input – DirectSound for sound outputDirectSound for sound output

Why mice? Curiosity, as well as desire to evaluate the interface Seems to give a natural, inexpensive solution

But there are issues… Issues with the mice Issues with getting multiple device input Issues with using USB Issues with using audio panning

Issues: Mice Buttons on mice can be difficult to hit with a bat Solution is fairly simple –Put something on top of the buttons to give the user a larger target

Issues: Multiple Mice Mouse is already a major input device for PCs –Having multiple mice can lead to problems in controlling the system –SDGT addresses some problems but still difficult to reconcile “system mouse” vs. other mice

Issues: USB USB devices are plug-n-play; no guarantee on the order in which mice are attached to the system Implication: explicit calibration needed to determine relative order of mice (moles) –Makes accessibility difficult

Issues: Audio Panning Sometimes difficult to differentiate between 4 panning positions –3 is easy –System currently set up with 4 Difficult to distinguish between locations of more than one sound: hard left and hard right at the same time sound like middle Full spatial audio and mole placement might be better –Stomp-a-Mole with a DDR pad

Evaluation Multiple-mouse interface is not ideal; webcam solution might be better Multiple-mouse interface might be well suited to other types of games where each user has direct access to their own input device –Hungry hungry hippos! (maybe.)

Enough negativity! Despite all the issues, it still works Focus on making gameplay accessible, rather than calibration interface which is assumed to be done by someone else

Game Flow First, calibrate system mouse and mole mice Calibrate speaker panning positions Train player through instructions (if required) Currently 4 levels, with moles disappearing at increasingly faster rates Only one mole at a time for now

Demo