ZEN STATION

The ZEN STATION by Jannis Kilian Kreft is a bio-feedback controlled game for two players. Heartrate and blood-oxygen-level of the gamers are the only interface parameters to control the game. The goal of the game is to beat the antagonist by being more relaxed. (Whoever manages to stay calmer over a period of time wins the game.) The opponents sit on both sides of a 2,20m x 1,20m x 0,45m long box. The game space is projected from above with a video projector. The heartrate and the blood oxygen level of both players are measured in realtime using sensor technology. The ZEN STATION inverts common gaming behaviours. It encourages the players to be as stressfree and relaxed as possible.

GAMEPLAY

At the beginning of a game each player attaches a sensor to the earlobe or to a finger. When the actual heartrate appears in front of each player, both players have to touch a round metal field build in the box to start the game. When the game starts, a blue line appears on the rink: The blue line moves towards the player with the higher pulse. If it touches a players finger the game is over. By placing a finger on the metal plate, a player starts generating energy balls in defined intervals. The lower a players blood oxigen level, the faster the player starts a new round of generation. The appearance of the generated energy balls is also depending on the players heartrate. If a player is calm the balls are bigger and shoot out further and have more energy, if a player has a high pulse the balls do not travel far, are small and not powerful. If the blue line hits a previously generated ball, the form explodes and releases its energy. The burst sets back the blue line thus the player wins time. If an energy ball is big, it sets back the blue line further then if the energy ball is small. If there are many energy balls in one row the power adds up and the rebound that pushes back the blue line gets enormously big.

TACTICTS

At times it might make sense to raise one`s own pulse in order to draw the blue line into one`s own generated balls. If the antagonist has no balls to shield him the rebound of the explosion will drive the blue line directly into the opponents finger and the game is won instantly.

WINNER OF THE CYNETART AWARD 2010

The interactive media arts exhibit “Post Mortem“ by Jannis Kilian Kreft takes the user on a dark visual and acoustic journey. “Post Mortem“ shows the biological decomposition process of the human body alongside a developing population of flies – all processes are scientifically and realistically depicted, forming a one of kind media arts experience.
 

HOW DOES POST MORTEM WORK?

Kreft creates a media space that allows up to 8 people to interact at the same time. Discovering death is becomes a communicative group experience. The users place one or both bare arms on to the surface of the table. The position can be chosen freely. Once the arm is on the table, the user is virtually dead and the simulation begins, all calculated in REALTIME. The user experiences the process of decay directly on his arm! Once layed on the table, the users arm should not be moved to underline his symbolical death. Nevertheless, a repositioning of the arm during the simulation is possible at any time!  

THE FLIES

At the beginning of the simulation, the table surface is nearly free from flies. The intelligently programmed flies search for arms on the table surface. If an arm is held steady for about 15 seconds, a fly appears to lay eggs. From the eggs develop rapidly growing larvae, which feed on the dead flesh of the arm. Once they have reached a certain size, they pupate in brown cocoons. After about 10 days a new population of flies hatch. 14 days in the simulation correspond to approximately 5 minutes. The more arms on the table, the more flies mature. Even the flies are not immortal. After the expiration of their programmed life span, they remain motionless. When a new user places an arm on the table or someone leaves, the living flies get airborne until the visitors are calm again! A graphical display in front of the users hand with accompanying brief information about the decomposition stage and the corpse lying time provides visitors with additional scientific information.

TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

Post Mortem by Jannis Kilian Kreft is programmed in realtime. The virtual flies follow complex behavior patterns, that are modeled close to nature. Using camera tracking, realtime masking and mapping, the decay process is projected directly onto the arms of the users. The entire table surface is interactive and multi-user capable. All effects are calculated dynamically.Post Mortem is programmed in vvvv.

MARELLE 2.0 / HIMMEL & HÖLLE

The exhibit Heaven & Hell / Marelle 2.0 by Jannis Kilian Kreft is an interactive media installation that reinterprets the familiar jump game Hopscotch.

Kreft projects a 7.00 m x 4.00 m long gaming area onto the ground. In addition, the court is extended by fluorescent chalk drawings, that glow in black light. Fast-tracking Radar Touch technology is used for jump and position detection of the player, 4 speakers provide room-filling 3d acoustics. Heaven & Hell is a real-time application programmed in vvvv. For the digital version of Heaven & Hell, Kreft has designed a completely new set of rules that must be mastered through 9 levels. Kreft creates a visual world that communicates clearly and graphically. Ancient texts of various religions who deal with the issue of hell, as well as philosophical ideas like the nine circles of hell by Dante, find their way into the abstract imagery of the game. The game field resembles a bridge over an imaginary abyss, which is symbolic of hell. If the player jumps on a forbidden square, it breaks apart in an impressive and physically realistic real-time simulation.

In the first 4 levels, the player travels through a blue and friendly world. As the game progresses, starting in level 5, the color mood changes to red and the atmosphere gets dark. The difficulty increases with each stage. If all levels were mastered, the player receives freedom at the end of level 9. The ground is breaking away and hell is not located on the bottom of the gamefield anymore. A great opening reveals a beautiful sky. The entire game scenario is supported by amazing 3d sound design. The acoustic space perception changes depending on the position of the player.

THE RULES

At the beginning of each level some segments of the game field turn in random combinations (example: 1,3,6,7,8,7,8). This sequence of numbers must be memorized by the player, who then has to jump the correct order, into the game field sky. Once there, the player turns around and jumps the combination backwards to the game field start. If the player accidentally jumps on a field that is not in the combination, it breaks away and is gone for the rest of the level. It is forbidden to jump off the gamefield. If a player jumps in this forbidden zone (hell), this leads to the collapse of all playing fields. If the player jumps on the correct fields, but in the wrong order, this leads to immediate failure (all fields fall into the abyss). The player must then go back to start. The player has 5 lives. If a player fails in a level, he can restart it until all lives are used up. A player must jump all combinations correctly into the game field sky and back to start in order to begin a new level. At the end of level 9, the player has completed the game and is finally in heaven. Exhausted but with pride to have mastered all mental and physical challenges. The level of difficulty can be adjusted to match the player (pro, child, senior).

THE RIFT EXPERIENCE

The Oculus Rift VR balance game by Jannis Kilian Kreft creates an exciting experience, completely merging  real and virtual world.

The player is balancing on a beam structure that is laid on the ground. In the 3-d Oculus Rift glasses, the player sees himself  high up on a scaffold over a virtual city and while experiencing different scenarios that disturb the balance.

The players position in space is tracked using a Kinect. In addition, the player can move the head freely in a 360 degrees angle. The position of the head is detected by a sensor in the glasses.

Programmed in vvvv

POLYGON CHOREOGRAPHY

Jannis Kilian Kreft & Lars Zahl keep working on the ideas and technology that were developed during the Motion Bank CCL sessions and revisit a concept developed by Lars Zahl @ HFG Schäbisch Gmünd anno 2000.
 
Zahl & Kreft devide the human body into 3 polygon segments. Utilising Kinect realtime tracking, Jannis Kilian Kreft evolves the original concept and expands it using latest technology. The movement of the dancer in space draws readable polygon 3-d structures, showing the path of motion, the time spend at location,the energy of motion expressed through color.

MOTION BANK / CREATIVE CODING LAB

The ‘Choreographic Coding’ lab focuses on translating aspects of dance and choreography into digital form, one of the main goals of Motion Bank.

This laboratory is organised for ‘code savvy’ practitioners with expertise in digital media who have an interest in exploring and finding synergies with the language of choreography.

Jannis Kilian Kreft worked alongside other highly skilled vvvv experts on multiple realtime visualization systems.