SpecialEffect's accessible GameBase

PC Windows and Mac - Tuke Interactives (prototypes)

Some months back, SpecialEffect were invited to a fantastic workshop in London, commissioned by the charity 'Sound and Music'. Organised by Will Pearson, the aim was to generate some PC and Mac based interactive software to test in a new special school being in Peckham: The Tuke School.

Six prototypes have resulted from the Tuke Sprint team's solid work, that are fun, and highly accessible. Some need a little tweaking to get the best out of them via the stop-gap menu system, but there's no denying, that these are a fascinating bunch. So what have we got...

1. Baroque (Mac or PC)



Providing you have a web-cam attached and working, Baroque will place a random Baroque style mask over your face. Look down, then look back up again and it will draw a new one. Move around, and the mask will stay attached to your head. It can also cope with more than one person being in the view of the camera.

Reminiscent of Bjork's "Hunter" video, but happening in real-time on a normal computer. Fun!

Controls: Face movement tracking by a web-cam. "F" toggles between full-screen and windowed mode.

2. Death Box (Mac or PC)



Death Box. Catchy name! This title is controlled by sound. Coughs, whispers, whistles, taps, claps. Any sound can make the balls shift around. I personally found attaching a sensitive microphone made the Death Box react much more effectively.

You can fiddle with some of the colours, and some of the physics involved. A bit like a ball-pool crossed with a lava lamp that gets excited when you shout at it.

Controls: "Death Box" responds to sound. Use the SPACE BAR and Mouse to access the game menu system. "F" toggles full-screen or windowed mode.


3. Drawing Cross (Mac or PC)

This title allows for two methods of interaction. One way is with your hand, picked up by a web-cam, that gives control over an on-screen cross-hair. By moving your hand around, you can guide your cross around the screen, and if you wish, use it to split up large yellow targets.

Simultaneously, you can use a mouse compatible controller to throw small purple balls around. As the balls hit the edges of the screen, they make various discordant sounds. This requires left-clicks, or for the left-click to be held down constantly (e.g. with a "Drag" option on a dwell-clicker). 


4. Fluids (Mac or PC)



Absolutely love this one, which the photo above does little justice to.  You can control swooshing, sparking effects from your finger tips, or anything else you can get to move infront of your web-cam. You can also adjust the settings to allow for mouse compatible controls. It's incredibly sensitive and compelling when set-up well.

Controls: Movement picked up by a web-cam, or Mouse movement. Use the SPACE BAR and Mouse to access the game menu system. I recommend taking a screen shot of good set-ups, so you can more easily re-create them.

5. Sound Shake (Mac or PC)

A hugely effective interactive musical and graphical toy. Glide your hand (or anything the camera can track) up and down the screen to trigger musical notes on a scale and some lovely visual effects.

Definitely worth taking time to tinker with the various settings. You can have trigger huge visual responses to your movements with the right settings, adjust the colours and choose how many notes and what kind of instrument. Brilliantly done.

Controls: Use the SPACE BAR and Mouse to access the game menu system. "F" toggles between fullscreen and windowed mode. You can also use a Mouse compatible device and left-click to play notes.


6. Video Sampler (Mac or PC)



Video Sampler is slightly bonkers. Set the cam-corder on you, then make noise, to be recorded. Do this nine times, then use a mouse compatible controller to interact with the nine versions of you.

Noisey and slightly mad. I can see a lot of people enjoying this up on a huge interactive white-board.


This project is hopefully going to continue, so please leave any feedback below, which we will forward to the team.

Download from TukeSprint Project Home.