The document describes a redesigned version of the classic snake game that could be played on an interactive tabletop by elderly users. The tabletop would detect the movement of a virtual snake controlled by handles on the edge of the table as well as a ball rolled across the surface. The game is designed to encourage social interaction, exercise fine motor skills, and provide an enjoyable activity for elderly users to engage in.

1. GROUP: 1
LECTURER’S NAME: MADAM AZRINA BINTI
KAMARUDDIN
MEMBERS:
1. SHAFEKA BINTI TUKIMAN 161940
2. NOR AMALINA BINTI MOHD YUNUS 163589
1

2.  PC
2

3.  HAND PHONE
3

4.  interface design for snake game in hand
phone is smaller than interface design in PC
 colour of design interface in PC is more
attractive than colour of design interface in
hand phone
 Play snake game in PC is more challenge than
in hand phone but for hand phone is easier to
carry compare to PC.
4

5. PC Phone
Pros: - Develops fine wrist motor - Develops fine thumb motor
skills. skills.
- Readily available: Free. - Readily available.
- Develops high achievers - - Develops high achievers- high
high score based score based competition.
competition. – Portable.
- Easily understood and - Easily understood and
recognizable. recognizable
- Alleviates boredom. - Alleviates boredom.
- Appeals to large - Appeals to large proportion of
proportion of population, population, due to heavy
due to heavy reliance on reliance on phones for
computers for work & communication and time-filler.
leisure.
5

6. PC Phone
Cons: - Could be considered anti- - Research has potential
social. to lead to repetitive.
- Potentially addictive (whether - Stress Injury (RSI) as
this is a negative is debatable). well as eye strain.
- Does not encourage exercise. - Could be considered
- After prolonged use, can cause anti-social.
eye and - Potentially addictive
(whether this is a
negative is debatable).
- Does not encourage
exercise.
6

7. 7

8. How the game will be play:
 It requires a minimum of four players, two players control the movement of a virtual
snake, two or more players simply hit a small ball around on the table surface. For
standard play, the players how roll the ball will try to work in tandem with the snake-
controllers to try to hit the snake's head. This represents the snake capturing its prey. The
game ends when the snake hits its own tail.
Redesigned:
 High score will be digitally displayed in large font either on 'game arena' or bench of the
game table, to visible from any angle.
 The table, similar to the Tangible interface design, is touch-sensitive, but necessarily more
so. As the small ball rolls along the table's horizontal surface, the sensors must detect that
slight pressure of the ball. The table also acts as a screen, showing the movement of the
virtual snake, and so the graphics must be quite detailed and real-time.
 The handle-wheels on the edge of the table convert mechanical energy into electronic
signals which then correspond to a left or right movement of the virtual snake. A key
design point for these handles is providing variable resistance, acknowledging varying
strength capacities of users. Also note that the 2 handles each only turn in one direction.
 The table needs to be able to compare the pressure coordinate point of the ball with the
virtual coordinate point of the snake's head.
User group being targeted: Elderly people.
8

9. Affective of the game:
 Elderly would particularly enjoy this team-based game and would
not mind that it is not as a high score focused.
 Customized difficulty for handle-wheel configuration provides
continuous challenge.
 Fun way of practicing otherwise tedious physiotherapy/OT
exercises.
 Develops/maintains elderly people's manual dexterity & strength.
 Encourages team work & lends itself to meta-gaming.
 Safe.
Hypothetical scenario:
 A small virtual snake starts to crawl around game arena, whose
motion is controlled by 2 players.
 The other 2 or more players begin to roll the small ball across the
screen; either competitively to avoid the snake's head, or
working with the snake team to hit the snake's head.
 Once the snake's head is hit, its body gains a kink and further
lengthens.
 Eventually, the snake's body takes up a large amount of the
screen and it becomes more difficult to avoid a collision with tail
or the arena's barrier. Thus, a collision occurs and the game ends,
with high score being highlighted.
9

10. Design issue:
 Affordance
 The 2 handle-wheels each turn in only one direction.
To make usage explicit, place a large arrow indicating
direction around wheel.
 Probably, the largest initial hurdle for elderly with
poor eyesight is seeing the virtual snake on the game
arena. One solution could be to design the table on a
low level, with controls being a 0.5-1ft higher than
the table. Additionally, depending on the quality of
eyesight of users, the relative size of the snake to
game arena could be manually modified by a control
panel.
 Feedback
 When game ends, it might be interesting for the
elderly to view personalized statistics based on their
contribution to the game. This would be particularly
relevant for the players at the handle-wheels. As for
the ball throwers, the game arena sensors would need
to make estimations on players' individual
contributions, which may be hard to compile.
10

11. 11

12. How the game will be play:
 Child moves snake toy around a designated mat area, to
reach shapes on the mat which have lit up. An audible
jingle sound is played when child reaches shape with the
snake. If the child reaches the shape without the snake,
then a different outcome occurs. This version of the game,
then, is not really competitive but exportable in nature.
There is no winner. The goal is to explore and have fun.
Redesigned:
 The toy snake could have magnets in it which are detected
by sensors in the mat, to ensure toy has been brought to
shape.
 The mat itself will need to be pressure sensitive for when
the child presses the shapes.
 Further development: have various settings which can be
selected by teacher (e.g. Color of lights, different sounds).
User group being targeted: Estimated 4 years.
12

13. Affective of the game:
 Provides maximum sensory feedback, with babies being able to touch, taste,
smell, listen & see interactive surface.
 Fun world for child to learn.
 Differing textures on mat for child to explore.
 Stress-free environment to learn; not competitive or fast-paced.
 Provides appealing sounds, colors and shape representations for child to
experiment with exploration-based, thus child may not perform proper actions
(pulling snake to alighted shape) yet still have a meaningful, enjoyable
experience.
Design issue:
 Affordance:
 Will the child realize that the snake needs to be dragged along to each shape to
progress to the next shape? Not necessarily. So one way of giving a hint to the
child that this is desirable is to make a snake pattern linking each shape to each
other. The child will then ideally move the snake along the pattern. For further
development, small LEDs could be placed along the snake patterns which light
up, leading to the target shape from the current one. (cf. wearable & shareable
design issues)
 User frustration would also be a factor in this design if, for example, nothing
happened if the 'correct' action of moving the snake to the shape was not
performed. Instead, this is avoided by redesigning the interface so that a different
outcome occurs when shapes are touched without the snake (e.g. shapes could flash
colors rather than play sound.)
 Consistency:
 Critical: ensuring it is obvious to child that the flashing shape is the area to touch.
13

14. Hypothetical scenario:
 The corresponding sounds to similar shapes being touched
are in a family of related sounds (e.g. Drum beat piano
tune, guitar; rather than very different sounds (e.g. Car's
engine, piano tune, school alarm)
1. The lower age boundary young child of about 6-9months is at
an age of developing basic motor skills and understanding
cause-and-effect (Smith, 1993; Shaffer, 1999). Around this age,
children typically begin to crawl, which makes this a perfect
target age group for a mat touch interface.
2. Also, this corresponds with an enormous growth
in intermodal perception, phonemes recognition,
understanding kinetic cues as well as development of steropsis
(Shaffer, 1999). Through the use of appealing visual and audio
feedback, the child is encouraged to explore the play area and
improve motor skills.
3. Also potentially relevant is the sequence of cognition
(Wheeler, 2006). The principle if simple: humans recognise
shape, then colour, then language content in logos & designs
(in that order). This could be considered if for this user group
the mat could also be used to teach spelling of the shapes.
14

15. Tangible Shareable
Pros: - User is more engaged - Encourages group interaction
(Up to 5 senses) - Able to be modified so
- Excellent for kinaesthetic interactive table can be used
learners for 'smart board', etc.
- Good for developing basic (?) - Develops/maintains elderly
motor skills people's manual dexterity &
- Encourages exploration and strength
exercise - Encourages team work
- Teaches young kids 'cause-and- - Has potential to be also be
effect' concept played competitively
- Most natural interface for Safe
developing a child's intermodal - Appeals more to elderly users
perception due to social component
- Modifiable for multiple babies
to use simultaneously
- Reasonably transportable safe
15

16. Tangible Shareable
Cons: - Reasonably expensive - Possibly prohibitively
- Not readily available expensive
- Possibly low commercial - May be difficult for elderly
demand to see clearly what is
happening, since snake is 2D.
16

17. 17