Phygital Space
Phygital Space is a speculative museum experience where patrons, specifically parents with young children, use emerging technologies to collaborate in a fast-paced learning and prototyping environment to create immersive games and play together. By combining analog and digital creative methods, patrons create games using pencil and paper along with tablets and move toward projecting them onto screens and walls to interact and play.
During this short project, I was interested in creating a speculative environment that celebrates children’s innate curiosity and wonder through play. Inspired by Pixel Press’s Floors, I chose to situate this project within a museum setting such as the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) in Raleigh, NC, as a way to establish context for a creative space that both children and their parents could explore together. I imagined this could create further impact by being accessible to the public and engage a wider community in person and remotely.

Workshop Ecosystem
Patrons of the museum would receive an invitation for an upcoming game development workshop. They could choose from a variety of programs and browse through an archive of past workshops.
During the workshop, participants begin by imagining simple game scenes and characters, drawing those using pencil and paper, and capturing those visual elements to project onto a large screen where they can experiment with immersive interaction. As participants are guided through the making process, they are collaborating to create and test interactive games that many people can experience.
After the workshop, participants are encouraged to continue working on their games at home and revisit the museum for more immersive testing and playing. Participants are also invited to show their work in a monthly exhibition that celebrates their curiosity and creativity.
Intentions
Mary is a mom to ten year-old Sammy and a busy healthcare professional. Due to long hours at work, she tries to balance Sammy’s extracurricular activities and schoolwork by sending him to local art and sport centers that provide daily camps and workshops for kids. Due to Mary’s interest in tech, she is very skilled in using smart devices and tends to use them often when interacting with patients. Sammy uses a range of smart devices as well and Mary wants to show him that these devices are exciting tools for learning and creating. Hoping to spend more quality time with Sammy, Mary signs them up for an upcoming intermediate level Phygital Space workshop and looks forward to spending quality time with her son as they create something they can both enjoy.

Phygital Space exhibitions and workshops would be advertised on the CAM website where patrons have the option to view and sign up.

During the workshop, participants use the grid paper to draw their ideas. They capture them with a handheld device and project them onto large surfaces in order to test and play with immersive elements.

Participants are guided through the process of developing immersive environments before moving into the physical space.

Parents and their children collaborate together to explore ideas.
Immersion
Using a handheld device like a tablet in the workshop space lets participants access content and add visual elements as they develop unique game worlds. The devices are linked via blue-tooth to the projectors designated for each wall and participants can slide created content onto physical walls to remix and test their ideas.
Participants at all levels benefit from utilizing wall space by gaining inspiration as well as guidance on how to proceed to make their games interactive at different scales. This is also an opportunity for participants to interact with each others work to remix and revise past or current projects.
The exhibition space allows museum attendees to see works by participants across all levels and celebrates Phigital Space workshops as collaborative and immersive experiences for parents and their children.

Image sources
image sourceshttp://camraleigh.org/
https://scratch.mit.edu/
http://www.bloxelsbuilder.com/
http://www.projectpixelpress.com/floors/
http://www.everychancetolearn.com.au/workshops/
http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/30/5666092/pixel-press-review
http://blog.teamthinklabs.com/index.php/2014/06/17/pixel-press-floors/
http://intunemusicworkshop.blogspot.com/2016/01/ipad-garageband-digital-music-workshop.html