Exploring something that is 'Lost' then 'Finding' it

I found a Tamagotchi!

Version 1

check out my code here!
ID: A purple character with a surprised expression is on a yellow background. The color of the Tamagotchi is purple with 3 violet buttons under the yellow character screen.

ID: A new Tamagotchi appears on a navy blue background. The body of the Tamagotchi is pink with yellow, pink, and purple triangles under a violet screen. On the screen is a defeated yellow pac character. There are 3 black buttons under the screen.

Version 2

check out my code here!

My partner was Sarah Tsao

Object Description

- Egg Shape Object

- Rectangle screen in the middle (if you would like a challenge you could draw some kind of character inside)

- Zig Zag lines surrounding the screen (kind of like a frame)

- 3 small circle buttons under the screen

Design Process

When I received the project description, I immediately thought of a Tamagotchi! I grew up as a 90’s kid, and I remember these toys being around all the time. The description fit the schema of a Tamagotchi, so I decided to investigate this idea. I looked at reference photos of Tamagotchis online to get a general idea of the shape, size, buttons, and screen.

This was my first time using P5js, so I followed Xin’s video of the smiley face tutorial. I felt that I had a decent understanding of ellipses and circles, so I decided to start creating the body of this toy. I initially made the body a teal color, but after using the Multiply function in blendMode, I changed the color to its current purple hue so that the buttons could stand out. I wanted the image to have depth, so I created a background for the screen to sit on. I wanted to create a character to go inside the screen, so I researched past versions of the original Tamagotchi creatures. I made a creature that feels a bit more modern (to me) than the original 8-bit characters while also playing with 2D Primitives.

Reflection

I created a creature with a shocked expression because I felt after trying to make the Zig Zag lines around the screen. I was shocked by the difficulty of what felt like simple lines. I tried many times to create a frame using lines, triangles, and custom shapes in P5js, but could not create anything that made an entire frame around the screen. I did not want to give up, so I tried for many days but kept hitting a wall because I have little knowledge of this program at this time. I want to return to this project once I understand P5js and create a Zig Zag frame around the screen. I also want to add life to the design by giving the body more texture and highlighting to indicate light hitting it.

Overall, my reflection of my process in this project is positive. I had to get out of the mindset that what I create now is finite because I know that there will be more opportunities to tweak my code and design soon. I definitely understant that this project was not "successfully" created because I missed a major portion of the design brief. After watching the tutorials, I understand coding (a bit) better, but I want to explore the relationship between angles and lines within the design plane. It may help to sketch things out by hand going forward so that it doesn’t feel like a guessing game.

~ A revision from the future ~< After I completed the first sketch, I immediately wanted to remake it. I stayed up a whole night to recreate this. I decided to approach the zig-zag screens as triangles that could be applied as stickers to give it that effect. I think that that helped me get out of my head and not think as literally. I found more joy in making the second prototype of this sketch.

Credits

I used this tutorial on how to create a pac-man from Youtube.