*other* Ephemerisle idea fleshed out

[mattbell]

Here's a mockup for the floating game table. 



This 8'x8' platform is designed to hold up to 2 people and allow them to tilt the platform and thus roll a ball by moving around.  There are lots of interesting interfaces you could get out of having one or more people control a ball in this manner.  It would be a chance for people to hone their sea legs in a game of balance. The platform could be reconfigurable, with different surfaces added or removed to switch games.

Here are a couple of possible configurations:

- Competitive balance game. (shown above)  There are two players, one red and one blue.  The players compete to tilt the board in a direction to get a ball to roll into a hole of their color.  Players may touch each other, but not the ball.  Players score a point every time they get the ball into a hole of their color, and lose a point if they touch the ball.  The first player to 10 points wins.

- Minigolf labyrinth.  The platform has some walls and some holes, along with ramps, hills, and whatnot. The player has to tilt the platform to get a ball from the starting point to the finishing point in as little time as possible.  If the player touches the ball or drops the ball in a hole, they have to start over.

----

Here's how I did a quick proof-of-concept.  If it's *even possible at all* to do what I tried with an iphone, the Labyrinth app, some tape, and a balance board, then controlling the ball should be relatively easy in the full scale version.

 

Comments

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

You could integrate the work from your startup and mount a projector at the top of a pyramid frame. Then make the projected display show something like the Labyrinth app... although involves power and may make things too annoying.

Sticking with the physical ball idea: I think you'd want to use sliced long-ways foam-noodles or something as the barriers to prevent the ball from always landing in the water and/or create a interesting maze to navigate around. Foam noodles would be good because people will inevitably fall over and wooden/solid/sharp walls could be owie.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

The foam noodle barrier is a good idea. It is likely the noodles would get destroyed if people trip on them too much though.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Foam rollers would probably be more durable...but substantially more expensive.

[proctologiste.livejournal.com]

Rather than a ball you probably want to use a large-ish disk/puck of some sort.

I imagine the surface will be slippery and fairly unstable. A ball would afford almost no control, with a puck you can tune the friction to the point where it slides smoothly, but with a greater "activation energy". It's probably also easier to build a barrier that will prevent a puck from sliding off than a ball.

Perhaps the biggest balance of smooth motion with control is a "sphere inside a puck".

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I hope the surface won't be slippery. People will be standing on it! I'm hoping to find a low-elasticity ball to reduce the chance of it bouncing out. The puck-ball mix sounds like a good backup plan if a straight ball moves too fast. A partially deflated four-square ball or a rigid hollow ball with sand inside could work well too.

[sarcazm.livejournal.com]

i really like the floating island game idea, but i think you need to integrate some sort of raised wood pieces to channel the ball better.

[eccentrific.livejournal.com]

I think you need to add a lip around the edge of the platform. Otherwise, until people get the hang of it, it will be an exercise in fishing the ball out of the water.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I intend to have a lip. I was just too lazy to draw it.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

This has disaster writ large upon it. The trouble I see comes from players overwhelming the board in competitive play and clocking themselves on the way down. Think of a log roll, but with sharp edges. Heck, just mounting the board would be a challenge in cooperative balance.

A single person board, yes, but only if the edges are foamed. At one of our boat jobs, we used the industrial equivalent of foam noodles, but they were pre-slit, designed to cover piping. This would work on the edges as ferrouswheel suggests.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm thinking some ways of mitigating your issues would be:

- Defining a painted boundary line about a foot inside the actual boundary that users will not be allowed to cross. This will prevent people from going right to the edge in order to control the ball. (Players will need to be roughly matched in weight or one will have a very significant advantage)
- Big foam bumpers (the pre-slit piping kind) on the edges and corners of the board.
- Given the 8'x8' size of the board and the use of around 800 pounds of flotation, the degree to which the board can be destabilized by two people is fairly limited. The biggest rapid change in platform position that can occur is probably when two people are at opposite sides of the platform and one jumps up to avoid the ball. This would propel the other side of the board downward relatively quickly. However, it seems that the size of this movement is relatively limited, at least based on the dynamics of a similar platform shown in this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDcBUuRhtzE around 1:40)

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Those are good mitigations, but I still have concerns. I've been on platforms just as you describe (dock sections being floated into place, small dock sections used for storage).

There's also one crucial difference between the video and what you describe --

==============
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
==============

In the light saber battle configuration, the participants cannot throw off the side-to-side buoyancy of the platform much at all. The wide wings provide greatest stability side-to-side, and the narrowness of the walkway restricts those on the walkway from destabilizing the platform as a whole without dumping themselves in. Notice in the video, however, that side-to-side motion was still sufficient to throw someone over (albeit, I admit, someone in heels).

When you center the platform without wings, you will lose the added support. I expect that platform will be capable of 45 degree tilts or better should both participants choose the same sudden shift in position. Getting wet won't be the problem; the slide into the drink will, almost by necessity, mean a slide along the ply. This kind of failure has the added disadvantage of taking off the protection noodle on the way.

What about a pole in the center, onto which players must grab hold and not let go? This would give them more shifting force, but also force them to stick to the more stable center and give them a safety handhold. Furthermore, drive that pole all the way through and ballast the base. String underwater cables from that ballast to the corners to provide more support. Perhaps one could also apply added wings similar to your light saber walk? Perhaps extending outward from the corners in an X? If so, running the cables to the ends of the X would add even more stability.

Hey, I'm not trying to kill your creativity or your idea, only trying to help you not kill the party!

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she actually didn't fall off until I sort of pulled on her beer. :-)

So the platform in the video is 8x12ft. I plan on having the game platform be 8x8ft, but with flotation devices along all four sides, not just two. The I platform was stable along the axis of the beam since there was around 300 pounds of flotation on each end. It was less stable in the perpendicular direction since the flotation devices were spread evenly along the axis.

However, with 400 pounds of flotation along each of the four sides of the square, it should hopefully be quite stable along both axes.

The pole idea would make it safer. One potential alternative to it would be a 4' rope for each player to hold on to, with the other end attached to the center of the board. This would prevent players from falling off the edge.

Thanks for the feedback.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

I don't know who should be more embarrassed, her for letting someone destabilize her through alcohol, or you for consistently failing to maintain control of your light sabre. ;-)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Also... you should come to the event! Your icon says it all!

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a hoot, but justifying a trip south just for a party would be a hard sell to The Wife.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Damn, I just caught the Ephemerisle Documentary. This is an ambitious gig.

I take it the Coast Guard is no where to be seen? ;-)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Coast Guard definitely put their nose into things. The Ephemerisle staff managed to keep them from getting too unhappy.