heidi j. boisvert

Run+Skip+Play: An Augmented Reality Chalk Game

Co-creator, Co-Director, Designer, Creative Technologist

As part of their new Digital Innovation Center, The Music Center partnered with The Embodied Intelligence Group (myself, Melissa Painter, Sydney Skybetter) to prototype Run+Skip+Play: An Augmented Reality Chalk Game. This interactive game jam hackathon took place on July 24th at The Music Center’s Jerry Moss Plaza with an alpha group of diverse, multigenerational families. The game used dance moves, chalk art and mobile devices to incubate with participants on how we can invoke technology in playful ways to reactivate our senses.

At the end of our 72 hour run we’d developed: 4 dance-games,  a set of instructions to support participation, 5 gorgeous chalk drawings (which can be used for AR markers), an OSC bridge for receiving and transmitting aggregate data from 100 participants’ phones, a spatialized sound system responsive to participant’s phone data (via Unreal), a generative visual environment responsive to participant’s phone data (via TouchDesigner), 5 motion-tracking augmented reality filters, and a live video switching system mapped to physical zones. All of which we were able to beta-test with a live audience of 62 people. 

This incredible project couldn’t have been accomplished without the unique individual expertise of our collaborative team. 

Tonia Beglari, Touch Designer Tech Artist 

Ana Carolina Estarita, Touch Designer Tech Artist 

Toogie Barcelo, Movement Guide

Ryan David O’Bryne, Movement Guide 

Michelle Sui, Movement Guide 

Sebastian Hernandez, Movement Guide 

Eloise DeLuca, Movement Guide

Sherylene Chew (XUE), Graphic Designer 

Natasha Hassan, Graphic Designer 

Jessie Thorne, Dancer 

Tiara Jackson, Dancer

Co-el Rodriguez, Dancer 

Kate Ladenheim, Choreographic Technologist 

Katherine Helen Fisher, Choreographic Technologist

Nicholas Fortugno, Game Designer 

Vic Purnell, Athlete, Dancer

Andre Butt, Athlete, Mover

Victoria Matthews, Athlete, Mover

Beata Calińska, Project Manager 

Candice Colbert, Lead Technical Artist, AR

Max Good, Unity Tech Artist

Al Kamalizad, Editor

Ben Purdy, Glowbox Team, Creative Technologist, Lead Engineer

Thomas Wester, Glowbox Team, Creative Technologist, Lead Engineer

Quin Kennedy, Glowbox Team, Creative Technologist

Virginia Lee Montgomery, Chalk Artist

Humberto Mendez, Photographer

Maci Morris, Social

Viktor Phoenix, Sound Designer

Jeff Samuelson, Camera Person

Michelle Tabnick, Public Relations