Project Description
Zenboo creates a space for the user to relax, placing the user in the middle of the mountains and free to play with bamboo. The user is able to water the bamboo using a watering can and watch it grow in a unique way, use the watering can to bounce around different parts of the bamboo, and make parts of the bamboo disappear with a sickle. Surrounding the user is a mountain range, a circle of floating rocks, and a tree stump to place the watering can and sickle on. Rather than being a game or a narrative, Zenboo’s purpose is to make the user feel relaxed and playful.
Process and Implementation
I was mainly responsible for creating the physical environment the user is placed in. This involved a lot of playing around with different aspects as well as going through cycles of feedback from the rest of the team. When we were storyboarding, we had a general idea of what the environment would look like:
The user would stand within a circle of rocks (to indicate a sort of barrier that the user would have to stay within), which was surrounded by a circle of mountains. A group of bamboo would be directly in front of the user, with a tree stump containing the watering can and sickle beside them.
When I set out to create the environment, I initially stuck to this design. I created mountains using the terrain tool, using the Yellow Mountains as inspiration:
The reason for this inspiration is they are very mystical and calming, which would help contribute to the relaxation aspect of Zenboo. However, when placing the user in the middle of these mountains, it was a bit overbearing so I created a platform mountain for the user to stand in. This way, it feels like the user is more in the mountains rather than standing below and looking up at them, adding a more mystical effect.
The circle of rocks was another thing implemented into the environment. When receiving feedback, however, it was suggested that the rocks be larger and floating around the user rather than the initial plan to have them resting on the ground. This turned out to have a pretty cool effect, adding another layer of mystique.
One thing that changed from our initial plan was the location of the bamboo. Since space is a limitation, having the clump of bamboo in front of the user all spaced out would have been problematic, or perhaps not as intuitive that the user had to go over to it and water it. Instead, we decided to place the bamboo in a semi-circle close to and around the user. This way, the user does not have to walk very much in order to water all of the bamboo. The final environment looks like this from afar:
Reflection and Evaluation
I think we successfully created an environment that is peaceful for the user to be in. The surroundings are green and full of nature, the background music is calming, and the main movements the user can do to interact with the environment, pouring and cutting, require gentle motions. I think something unexpected that was added was the added interaction the user can do outside of our initial planning, which slightly transforms the space. For instance, the way the bamboo grows is not how bamboo normally grows, and you can play with the bamboo pieces by bouncing them up and down with the watering can, kind of like a volleyball. I’ve found that this is my favorite activity to do when I’m testing out the space, which is perhaps more playful than it is relaxing. However, I don’t think this is a negative thing; I think the added playfulness fits nicely. But, if we did want to keep Zenboo a strictly relaxing space, then it would perhaps have been constructed differently. The bamboo could float away gently, for example. The sickle could be more low poly. More allowed movement, like a big open space the user could walk around in, would also perhaps be more relaxing.