Project Overview
BlowAway was created as part of a final year thesis for the B.Sc. in Multimedia in Dublin City University. The project, dubbed Brand New Page, was an Investigation into augmenting traditional toys with digital media techniques. Many people believe new media and traditional toys to be inherently incompatible. With Blowaway we hoped to forge new ground by borrowing from both traditional toys and new media technology.
The key aims of the game were to create a project which was physical, encouraged colaboration between players, and appealed to boys and girls. This breaks with many of the conventions of digital play, that currently exist.
Technology
The project uses a table which houses a rear-projection system, custom sensors (which detect the players blowing) and software to make it all happen.
Timeline
The project was broken into three distinct phases. 1. Research, 2. Concept, and 3. Production. It took place over a period of just under 4 months, from February - May 2004.