Veronique: If you want to release it you can use processing or open frameworks. It’s up to you, but if you want to make it a commercial product, otherwise you are tied to microsoft. OpenFrameworks is C. I would set it up with wherever you set it up, just target and put yellow tape to demarcate the space. As they are pushing each other they will see the boundaries of the space. It would be part of the fun of the game. Sound effects are super important. whatever appears to have a noted reaction. If I have my eye on the opponent, to have an audio signal that level has changed.

Carlos: So have you heard of the open kinect group in NY? Went to one of the meetings, discovered there are group of people who meet every other month or so, writing a book on how to program with the Kinect. you should go to the next meet up and see what they’re doing.

Veronique: You could trick it the same way you calibrate the room – have people walk to the four corners and use that to define the space.

Carlos: Simple rules, but you could show a three second animation to get across the rules.

Veronique: You can fix that rather than a skeleton, you can use the circle on the top of their head and make that shrink or grow.

Carlos: impressive! Pretty good for a “do-what-you-want” project! Form factor looks better in the illustrations, but you may want to look at a couple of alternatives to arduino, smaller, but with the same programming environment – boarduino, or the lilypad, can shrink the footprint of the electronics. Did you do any testing with other people? What was your process like? I wanted to make it narrower, but the LED needs a heat sink, and if the LED was too close to the acrylic, it wouldn’t provide a spread of lighting.

Veronique: the size to me is perfect, but you should provide an AC/DC outlet, so you don’t drain the battery if you are home.

Carlos: But maybe you have a rechargable battery and a solar panel.

Veronique: stability seems to be an issue. I would buy something like this if the same components were the same blond wood – I know you want the lighting unit to stand out, but it’s an aesthetic choice.

Carlos: reminds me of the 7 segment LEDs, where you can make any number with it. Doesn’t give that much light. couple of tricks – what if the whole thing was light emitting? Sometimes when lighting in overhead lamps they put silver reflecting coating onto the side. where the lamp hits the ceiling, so it reflects even more. Otherwise the light gets absorbed by the wood, so you can put reflective materials internal to the unit. I’ve seen projects like this on kickstarter they raise a lot of money.

Veronique: I like the fact that you can take it with you.

Carlos: You could take it with you camping. Add a solar light.

Carlos: Very mobile cause what you are doing. Very interested in this topic due to personal reasons. Not entirely sure though what you are trying to achieve with the website. Sees the posters and there is a strong message, but are you trying to start a non-profit or build as service? So are you doing a lot of outreach – twitter account and facebook – outreach is necessary. There is a moment of truth you are dealing with, when that kid is in front of the vending machine, you want to affect that decision, so what do you think you can do to affect that choice – can you overlay information over the vending machine before the purchase? How do you make kids actually listen? Overcome peer pressure, or other environmental stress? One last point, I like the comparisons you are doing, but there might be a way to affect purchasing decisions. Don’t just stop with criticizing but give options.

Veronique: It’s a great topic, very necessary. Two parts to the issue – raise awareness, and then to provide alternatives. The stolen poster is part of the inbetween – on the website provide a document that lets them track what they eat – not public, but as a tool for kids. Most of us don’t remember what we eat from one day to the next, maybe take them home to their families – maybe print 50 of them and tell them to take them home to their families. It might be embarrassing. Contact the school district – ask why you can’t have an alternate to junk food?

Carlos: Great little project. Why did you decide on the phone when the projection was in the space? Or was there something in particular you were trying to say with the phone? Was there a script you could follow, or how did you cue people to interact wit the avatar?

Veronique: Question, first of all you speak very good English. One thing I did not understand was that do they speak to you, or to an avatar? What is the point then, to learn the language you would use, if you don’t speak English, or was it to learn certain facial cues? Or was it a performance project? You have a language of expression, nodding, rolling eyes, ecetera. Did you think about using question marks or icons? Or dig you choose to go with the face expression? You know that this phone is actually sold for iPhones now?

Carlos: Are you done with this research or will you keep working on it? When you first started showing the sketches I though the avatar was going to be the interrogator, but it’s the other way around. Have you thought about flipping that around?

Veronique: Very interested in the topic but developing an app. looking at green markets. Great idea. Distinguishing between type of stores is important. Less clear how expensive things were. The part about the history was interesting. Not sure how it ties into your point – poor people don’t have access to food. Not sure how to convey this differently. Have you looked at CSAs? Started in the 70s in all the 5 boroughs – so when you sign up for a CSA, you pay $300 up front. In exchange you get a basket of produce each week. When I did my research there were a lot of CSAs particularly in the Bronx. So that even though there are not a lot of stores, there is still availability of food. Even if they don’t have the money up front people pool together.

Carlos: re-evaluation of what you originally said. Interesting in how you approached it, but in an urban setting, it’s not necessarily that there are food deserts, but that the food is of a certain quality and that economics play a factor. Almost like another problem that we are talking about. It’s not that there isn’t food, it’s that the quality promotes malnourishment or poor diet. Example from Carlos’ neighborhood – franchises with soda and fast food being the only option for many people. Is this something you should be looking at, what are people eating if they can’t afford to buy at supermarkets.

Veronique: I’m not sure that politicians actually know what food stamps can buy. Start the application with an explanation of what food stamps can buy, or compare data between the area showing what stores accept food stamps and which ones don’t.

Carlos: Snapshot of the food basket, what you spend per day to feed a family. Staples, milk, bread, fruit, and to compare them. For someone to feed themselves in this deli per week = $80 vs. $60 in another one. Maybe it’s just part of your study, at least during the project phase of your study, you can get a snapshot of that. Ask people how much food they buy vs. how much it would actually cost in certain areas.

Veronique: so this uses GPS, so this is for the phone? Would be interesting to have a low-tech text based way to use this application.

Carlos: What is your goal with this project? What would you tell a politician with this data?

Carlos: you should explain some of the global rules for the game. Communicate high level game mechanics. Needed to present divergence from regular COD.

Veronique: If this were a commercial product I would buy it because I am a gamer, but I don’t like video games. I like board games. Wanted to know more about the strategy. Great execution. Would place the cards on a stand. Can probably buy stands and plug them in. Would introduce the point system – like maybe a currency or coin so you have the sense of collecting. Would like more digital going to physical games. Continuing with an interactive board would be good to see.

Carlos: very interesting finding when you decided to go from card game to board game – so what is it exactly that makes that game so fun and engaging and how are you achieving this is in a board game. Looks fun, but not sure “how.” Be able to point out the stickiness.

Vero: Chess is actually a very violent game – doesn’t look like it, to observers, but if you can recreate that combative feeling in your game that will be very useful.

Carlos: Does the board need to be that small? If you were to go the commercial route, the board might need to be bigger. Does the landscape change?

Vero: Could you have several boards, or three different terrains to establish levels?

Carlos: used to play advanced wars, and remembered each square could have different turf – can terrain effect gameplay? Something to think about, can you introduce something into the board? Can think of add-on packs.