Indiecade 2011 Finalist: Black Bottom Parade
Black Bottom Parade is an experimental multiplayer game designed for the Hong Kong Campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design. BBP was selected as an IndieCade Finalist in 2011. The recently departed ride a tilting platform on a 1920's New Orleans version of the River Styx. Players control the Reapers disguised as jazz musicians with their custom controllers designed specifically for the game. The deceased dancers will follow the musicians like rats following the pied piper. If the Dancers fall off the platform their souls are forever lost to the abyss.
My Role on Black Bottom Parade:
Collaborated with college administrators, game design department head and animation department head to create an interactive art installation to amaze potential students at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hong Kong campus.Led team brainstorms to come up with theme, features, and user interface design.
Worked with our tech and art team to shape game mechanics to take advantage of a custom combination of technology and physical interface.
Used technical expertise to bridge the gap between art team and technology team by setting up rigs, prototypes, and test environments.
Tuned the balance of character movement, level design, obstacles, and custom physics to create a game that was easy to learn with no help and mind blowing to play for two to five minutes. The installation game was used as part of a guided tour strategy for potential students that would show off amazing works produced by different departments at the university.
Iterated on instructions mounted to the game to ensure the game was easy to understand and play. There were no tutorials, so the instructions had to convey everything about how to play.
IndieCade 2011 Finalist and exhibited onsite in LA.
Black Bottom Parade is on exhibition at the Savannah College of Art & Design: Hong Kong Campus
Won the Best of Show 2011 Entelechy award at the Savannah College of Art & Design Entelechy Competition
Won the Best Digital Game Prototype 2011 award at the Savannah College of Art & Design Entelechy Competition
Exhibited at Game Developers Exchange 2011
Celebrating our trip to Los Angeles as an IndieCade Finalist.
Pictured from left to right: Erin Hanlon, Jonathan Justice, Mattew Maloney, David Spencer, Daniel Plemmons, Charles Trippe.
Not pictured: Yuki Yamada, Bianca Gee, John Sharp
Black Bottom Parade on a test run just before its permanent installation at the Hong Kong Campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design.
The classroom turned workshop where we built the table.
All those dancers dressed in green are about to slip of the edge of the platform.
They're falling off!
Only one dancer remains on the table. All his compatriots are replaced by heavy coffins that slide across the platform making it more difficult to maneuver.
We're going over the design & construction of the table / projector rig and our progress on the game with some of the higher ups at the Hong Kong campus of SCAD.
The game runs off a laptop and is displayed on the table via a projector.
On top of the table are several custom controllers. Inside each one is an LED which can be triggered by a button on the top. Underneath the table a projector bounces the image off a mirror up onto the table. To the left is a much larger mirror that reflects the light from the LEDs into the view of a PSEYE camera. We use the light data from the PSEYE to track where players are moving their controllers.
One of the promo posters for the game.
One each side of the game table is a set of instructions for playing the game. You can check out the rules while other people are playing.