bodyPONG
Interactive media version of the classic game
bodyPONG by Jan Klug @Clash’07 festival from Jan Klug on Vimeo.
At the Groiningen Clash festival ’07, I installed my interactive bodyPONG version of the classical arcade game Pong.
The position of the players is used by videotracking to tell the program Max/MSP/Jitter their positions. It’s fun!!
Earlier version: bodyPONG contest in Castello di Malgrate
Paciotto, Hanneke de Jong. In the background
Castello di Malgrate, the Pong location.
During the preparation periods of the shows ‘Bad Bugs Bite‘ and ‘As long as it Lasts‘ that i did with Andrea Paciotto / Offucina, I tried to teach myself Javascript (for use within Max/MSP). I programmed a simple Pong implementation, and since we had cameras hanging at the ceiling for tracking anyway, I connected these two ingredients to an interactive version of Pong.
It required the 2 players to jump left and right to control the pong bats; the ball was only visible in the projected image, which could be on the ground in between them (the ideal situation) or on any screen projection.
Playing was quite fun, and also a good movement exercise for the motionless nerd that I sometimes had been forced to become.
So we decided to organize games it in public, once in Castello Malgrate (Toscany) as a kind of performance installation, the second time in the center of Spoleto, as an open playing opportunity during the FucinaOFF festival.
After that, I discovered that different kinds of interactive Pong had already been put into a museum..
But nevertheless I hope to get another opportunity to build & play my “own” 😉