A game using FaceOSC (face tracking). You use your face to control the character.
Prototype
"There is strong shadow where there is much light." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We cannot see ourselves without light, but if there is a light there is always our shadows as well. Duh. But I am implying psychologically as well as philosophically.
When we see ourselves in light we also see our shadows. The shadows look too dark to bare sometimes. However shadows do not have their own colour. They look dark or soft depending on the strength of the light. Shadow only exists because there is light somewhere else. The stronger light is the darker shadow becomes. Darkness of shadow is only defined by comparing it to brightness of light. If there is no light shadow is everywhere and every shadow merges into one. Not even one. No need to count it any more. There is no need to identify each. There is no each. It is just IT. People tend to avoid shadow but we need to recognise that it is not necessary to do so as long as we know what it is.
In this interactive piece, which can be defined as a game, I suggest an obliteration into shadow, an evacuation from the recognition of the world in which we have to reveal and show a lot of things to identify ourselves. This is the same act of connecting to the universe and it lets us recognise that there is no border between us and everything else.
The audience (player) synchronises with the character called “Okagesama” (Mr. Shadow). He is shadow. “Okagesama” is a Japanese word to thank for someone’s backing or assistance. The kanji for "kage" means "shadow" and it was an expression for the gods and things around you that you cannot see. So it is not only used for person but also used to thank many things around you that bring you a fruitful moment. I designed this character long time ago and finally the time to put him on the stage has come. The player controls him to collect dark matter. If he gets a piece of dark matter he can spread his shadow into the area. Once he achieves covering enough space with his shadow you will see the message.
I used face, the symbol of identity, to control the shadow by the FaceOSC (https://github.com/kylemcdonald/ofxFaceTracker/releases) in openFrameworks (http://openframeworks.cc/). Okagesama moves right and left horizontally following the player’s face angle. If the player moves his/her eyebrows up the body length of Okagesama extends. If he has a dark matter the player can spread his shadow by opening his/her mouth. The wider the mouth opens the bigger the shadow gets. The more shadow gets spread the more darkness becomes mild.
