Escape Room Navigator
Description
Our idea was to have the ‘micro:bit’ functioning as an interactive toolkit or puzzle in an escape room game set. During the game, different gestures upon the micro:bit will trigger activities that produce instructions. A player will find information that either suggests the triggering methods of micro:bit or can be put together into a final message.
The player in the escape room will first have to find the micro: bit and receive a welcoming message when the light sensor of the micro:bit senses a higher light level upon discovery. Physical notes will guide the player to activate a series of challenges such as ghost blowing, easter egg, and code entering.
For ghost blowing, the player needs to blow at the ghost icon three seconds within its appearance; for an easter egg, the player follows a found note and drops the micro: bit; for code entering, the player will need to enter a two-part code right. The player can repeat any
activity until success, and the coding makes sure accidental gestures during any ongoing activity will not interrupt that activity and introduce a new one. The player will gain a new message upon each success that leads forward the game. Finally, the player will solve all the puzzles and succeed in escaping the room.
As two designers completely new to programming, we indeed came across difficulties and abandoned plans. We had an idea of using the radio transmitter to include the role of a game guide. He or she can send out a direction to the micro:bit of the player or answer a help request from the player. However, we decided to cancel this function, because it is too independent of the rest of the game and lacks complexity. We also abandoned the compass function for its inaccuracy during practical experiments. Last but not least, we tried to add a timer that reminds the player every 20 minutes and ends the game in an hour. But we had not yet figured out how to address situations such as when the reminder conflicts with ongoing activity.
Demonstration Video
_____________________________________________________
Marginalized Groups in Cinema
A Zoomable Treemap
Description
We have designed this zoomable treemap to showcase the representation of marginalized groups in cinema. Using data from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, this chart separates the 11,118 entries by their focus category (the marginalized population in question) and then displays all of the Academy's index terms found under each category.
This chart sizes its boxes by the number of entries in each category, showing the viewer a visual representation of how frequently each group has highlighted in films. Using this chart, an individual can gain a better understanding not only of how a specific group has been showcased within films, but also how frequently that group is referenced when compared to other groups.
For example, if I wanted to compare the representation of blind or deaf individuals in movies, I'd first navigate to the "People with Disabilities" tab. Then, after clicking on that tab to see all 921 results, I could find that there have been 72 movies tagged with the "blind" index term, and only 29 tagged with "deaf". From this, I have learned that blind individuals are showcased in films more than twice as often as deaf individuals. This chart opens possibilities to explore many of these questions regarding representation.
Now try it out yourself and enjoy!
_Link_
_____________________________________________________
Weather Interactive Website
Description
We settled to create a straightforward interface that shows the weather of any chosen city, with the option to access the user's geolocation. Then, the app will show the weather in Celsius (because both of us use C rather than F) along with the "Feels like"
temperature feature and the percentage of humidity. We also included visuals in addition to a descriptive fragment to give more information to the user about the weather. We used the Open Weather Map as our API.