I’m currently enrolled in a class called “Playful Prototypes” (taught by Jason Li) at Parsons. Each week we’re expected to create an interactive prototype based on a mystery theme. I’ll update this page with each week’s prototype as the semester progresses.

The theme for the first week was “push and pull.” I based this prototype off of a photo I had taken previously, which became the background. I created a wacky shrimp globe - it’s a snow globe, but shrimp. This was my first time working with Unity.

Imagine you’re trying to make a fancy shrimp h’ors douevre, but your shrimp get trapped inside a shrimp globe. You can push the button to make the shrimp jump, you can pull the lever to make the shrimp float, you can even click on individual shrimp to make them jump, but you can’t have your shrimp. I used a shrimp model licensed from Sketchfab.

You can play with this prototype on itch.io.

This week, we followed the theme of the concurrently-occuring Global Game Jam: roots. I liked the idea of the game taking place at the level of a tree’s roots, and everything occurring at a tiny scale.

Here’s the premise of this prototype: you are four (4) shrimp on the diving board at the local puddle. Don’t miss! 

The theme for the week was “instrument,” and I wanted to experiment with more tactile/gestural inputs in Unity. I was inspired by soundscape creation experiences such as in Laurie Anderson’s Chalkroom, and wanted to create a touch-triggered “instrument” with accompanying visuals. The result: a nighttime soundscape generator with multi-touch input which generates a chime and a firefly for each touch.

The multi-touch input was made possible on a Mac trackpad by this plugin. This prototype is best viewed with sound on!