The patented CINEMATRIX Interactive Entertainment Systems gives each person in an audience the real time capability to interact with images on a screen and thus play games together, answer questions, create patterns and make decisions about adventures in a collective virtual world. This invention grew from the innovative world of computer graphics along with advances in computer hardware enabling new forms of interactivity to arise. Up to now, this system has always been done indoors with people in their seats. We propose a unique experience for Linz, to set up the experience outdoors for a standing crowd. We also intend to push the boundaries of what is possible in the experience itself. Necessarily, the games have been fairly simple up until now. We think that it is possible for groups to interact and cooperate to create forms using genetic algorithms. Linz is the perfect place to try this out.
Communication with Humans
Communication is unpredictable at the best of times. The more people you try to
communicate with just accentuates the possibilities for misunderstanding and
confusion. Having a few calibrating exercises at the beginning helps people to
know that the system is working and that they are being represented. Before
giving explanations, it is important for the audience to experiment with the
wands, this can produce some fun surprises. Then the group can be asked to show
one color and they can see it up on the screen. When the group changes the
color they are showing, it changes correspondingly on the screen. The
participants can then be divided into groups and reproduce the exercise to get
an even better idea of where their position is on the screen and to get a
feeling for the system working.
Using passive reflectors as an interface allows the freedom of no wires and
immediate feedback. People can respond without complicated button-pushing or
the moving of levers. It helps for people to have a familiarity with the
concept of the game and for the goal to be simple. Large crowds do not want to
listen to a lot of rules. The games need to be visually understandable with the
right mix of action and challenge.
The Games
It is important to establish that people are having real time input as
described in the introduction. Each game requires a small explanation. We try
to emphasize games where people work together either in teams or with the
entire group. One two-team game has a "paddle" on each side of the screen to
hit a conference logo or whatever is appropriate for the event. Green makes the
team's paddle move up and red makes it go down. If one side sees that their
paddle needs to move up, they start to show the green side of their reflector
to the cameras and lights. If everyone on their side showed green, the paddle
goes up too far, so people need to moderate the signal by a few people showing
red or putting their paddle down. These decisions have to be made quickly and
become intuitive producing a state of flow, which ends up being very exciting.
New variations of this game are being created continually.
The rotating cube is an exercise that requires the entire audience to
cooperate. A multicolored cube is rotated on two axes, each controlled by
one-half of the audience. Red rotates the cube one way and green rotates it the
opposite way. The trick is to stop the cube with the blue side showing. It is a
difficult problem, but an audience that is warmed up can quickly maneuver the
cube into the required position.
Flying an airplane requires very fine skills from the entire group of
participants. One side controls pitch, the other yaw. This game has been
undergoing rewrites to make it more exciting for groups to play.
The feedback on these games has given us ideas to keep in mind when developing
new games. People really need to know where they are and how their reflector
relates to the action. Asking questions with binary decisions may produce
answers, but that process does not excite the crowd unless they are really
interested in the subject matter and it is a competition. Sometimes groups
divided up into competing teams can get very excited by true/ false questions,
because they can see instant results.
