A video game that allows visitors to experience a twilight reef like a scientific deep diver.

 

My Role: I defined the project direction and led the game design, and I collaborated on the interface and physical controller design. I also wrote all content, conducted and analyzed the user research, and assisted with the 3D modeling for the game.

Who I worked with: Exhibits Project Manager, Digital Project Manager, 3D Designer, Graphic Designer, Visual UI Designer, Software Developer, Audio Visual Engineers, Preparator, Fabricator, Scientific Advisors, Director of Exhibit Development.

Design and Development

Concept

We wanted to create an immersive game where visitors collect fish from a twilight reef. Players must control their exertion/respiration while collecting fish, otherwise they lose exploration time, matching the real experience of the scientific divers. In the first version of the game, we planned to use real biofeedback as a part of the gameplay.

+ Concept Inspiration

The concept was inspired by competitive relaxation games I'd come across in the past (one example of this kind of game is Race and Relax by Galvanic Ltd, which utilizes a PiP sensor to gauge physiological arousal). Because heart rate is tied to respiration, and respiration is the key aspect that divers must control, we planned to use heart rate as the biofeedback input for our game.

+ (Why does respiration matter?)

Scientific deep divers breathe a mixture of compressed helium and oxygen while exploring twilight reefs, which is absorbed into their tissues. When the divers return to the surface, that absorbed gas has to be allowed to come out of their bodies very slowly—exploring for 10-15 minutes at 400 ft often requires a 6-8 hour return journey to be done safely.

If divers ascend faster than the gas can safely be expelled from their bodies, it could easily kill them. The harder you breathe at depth, the more compressed gas you absorb, and the longer it takes for it to come out of your body. So, if divers overexert themselves, they may need to spend fewer minutes researching in order to have enough gas to last them until its safe to resurface.

Validation Prototyping

We began by exploring one aspect of the original concept: using heart rate biofeedback in the gameplay. We conducted early validation tests on how video games impact heart rates, and found that the effect of emotion was unreliable.

+ Methods

We recruited 8 different people for this quick exploration. We recorded each volunteer wearing a pulse oximeter as they played video games on an iPad. The two games used in this experiment were Simon Says and Temple Run (chosen for their fast pace and time pressure).

+ Observations

In reviewing the recordings of the video games, we noted successes and failures as they occured in the game and observed the corresponding heart rates of our volunteers; we saw that the impact of gameplay wasn't particularly consistent—some people's heart rate jumped when they achieved something in the game, while other people's heart rate dropped under similar circumstances.

UX Refinement

In light of our findings on the inconsistent impact of emotion on heart rate, and in order to more closely match the real challenge that scientific deep divers face, we modified our design plans to include a physical controller to help drive heart rate changes during gameplay.

+ Physical Controller

The controller had to require some exertion on the part of the player in order to impact heart rate, but less than 5 lbs of pressure to operate, as ADA guidelines dictate.

+ Heart rate challenges

We planned to have the game temporarily lock out players if their heart rate increased notably from their individual baseline; gameplay would resume once they brought their heart rate back down. However, subsequent user testing showed us that this was too challenging for many visitors to do in a reasonable timeframe, so we dropped this aspect of the game. An additional challenge we encountered was that the amount that heart rate increased from an individual's baseline when using the controller vigorously was quite variable among people.

Concept Modification

The variability of real heart rates was problematic for our game logic, but there was also the challenge of creating a custom heart rate sensing game controller robust enough to handle up to ~1.4 million visitors a year. We did a qualitative A/B test to see if real heart rate data was crucial to visitor engagement with the game—the answer was no. So, we moved forward with a design that used the speed of the controller’s movement to generate a proxy heart rate for gameplay, and not real biofeedback.

Game Environment Creation

Our software developer built the game using the Unity game engine, and he used a pre-made coral reef software pack as a jumping off point. To more closely match a real twilight reef environment, I assisted the developer by building additional 3D elements and animals in Rhino, which the developer then incorporated into the game world. A scientific diver worked with us to provide ongoing feedback until a good facsimile of a twilight reef was achieved.

 

Final Design

Final Design

A glimpse into the remote and breathtaking world of twilight reefs

The visual look and feel of the game world was created in collaboration with a scientific diver to provide as realistic a representation of these ecosystems as possible. We matched the type and abundance of organisms, as well as light levels and seabed appearance to create a realistic twilight reef.

An engaging and challenging game

The game logic was designed to be responsive to performance: each type of fish is programmed with a different degree of difficulty to catch, and the more fish a player catches, the more challenging the balance of available fish becomes. Final testing of the game indicated that visitors enjoyed the game and it conveyed our content and experience goals.

 

+ Photo Credit Info

Full bleed interactive - © Scott Ross
Full bleed twilight zone camera still - Elliot Jessup © California Academy of Scieces
Twilight Zone exhibit installation photo - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Scieces
Screen caps of video game tests - © California Academy of Sciecnes
Twilight zone camera still - Elliot Jessup © California Academy of Sciences
User research - Sarah Goodin © California Academy of Sciences
Full bleed interactive - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Scieces
Kids playing game - Joshua Ause © California Academy of Scieces

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