!!Con 2020 - We used a MIDI CONTROLLER to tune our GAMEFEEL! by Em Lazer Walker

We used a MIDI CONTROLLER to tune our GAMEFEEL! by Em Lazer Walker My game designer partner and I had a seemingly-impossible challenge: we needed to take the traditionally-arduous process of fine-tuning the way a game ““feels””, and short-circuit that feedback cycle so it could happen in hours or days rather than weeks. Our solution: a physical MIDI controller! We wired up the sliders and knobs wired up to control the various ““gamefeel”” variables in our prototypes: things like how quickly you can turn, how powerful gravity is, how big explosions are when you hit something. This talk will dive into the design philosophy of why being able to tune and tweak our games kinaesthetically with chunky physical knobs was so much more effective than changing numbers in a text file, explain how you too can use cheap MIDI controllers for unintended productive purposes, and above all emphasize the importance of designing tools that foster creativity and play rather than simply optimizing for effectiveness. Em is a Toronto-based artist, engineer, and game designer! Most of her work focuses on using nontraditional interfaces to reframe everyday objects and spaces as playful experiences, and to inspire people to become self-motivated learners. She currently works as a cloud advocate at Microsoft focused on spatial computing.