I had the great opportunity to take my project to Edinburgh maker faire. It was set up for one day and was used by visitors from 10 till 5. There was a large range of feedback given as there was a diverse crowd. Ranging from children to elderly users, people skilled in coding and people with no digital background, all finding different points of interest or questions about the project .
It was great to see children engaging with the piece, you could see there interest and they would often stop for a few minutes and experiment with it. When told that the location of the islands was important they would make giant clusters of islands or spread them out.
There were many users that found interest in the hand outlining effect. This often lead to the idea that your hand could also be an island. This was unintended and I was thinking of removing the effect although now I have seen that it adds a level of engagement, incorporating the user in the enviroment.
Is it a game?
It was a common question for people to ask if it was a game. I can understand why they would think this as I sourced a number of games in my research and have based a large part of the physical design on the idea of a god simulator, putting the user above the enviroment with control. The answer however is no, there isn't a score or goal to be archived. I would like to have the time to develop more game elements into the project but this is not my main focus at the moment.
How random is it?
This was a question that interested me and is very valid. The answer is only a small portion, the wind and tide flow field are the only "random" element to the movement of the boats. The issue is that this one rule has a powerful effect on all other rules and the final outcome. Ultimately it is the positions of the islands that controls the piece putting the user in control.
What does it do? How can it be used? Where can it be applied?
This was a question that came up quite a lot and is a question I found both difficult and frustrating to answer. The simple answer is that it is art, it provokes a question rather than providing an answer. In this case the questions revolve around the concept of networks, connections and communities.