We’re Commit 2 the Bits. Over the course of the semester, we will continue the work that was done by Commit to the Bits, the project group that has laid down the groundwork for us by reading many existing research and creating prototypes Twitch audience interactions for improvisational performances, and extending that work to incorporate that into a full improvisational show. We will be working on adding transitions between games, fostering the relationships between the audience and creating a sense of communal laughter among viewers, and helping teams practice the new skills needed to succeed at improv online. We also will get to collaborate with a local improv team, as well as potentially a twitch streamer to increase the authenticity and relevance of our work. We are a discovery project – despite the previous foundation that has been laid down for us, we are still exploring uncharted waters.
Our team consists of team members who has backgrounds from computer science, music, art, marketing and communications, but we are all curious individuals who are eager to learn more about the potential of the combination of twitch and improv. We are hoping that we can take the groundwork that has been done, and transform that into a unique experience for improv actors, twitch streamers, as well as audiences around the world.
So far into the semester, we have met with Chance Lytle and Parker Ramsay, the veterans from Commit to the Bits, as well as meeting with our advisers, Brenda Harger and Jessica Hammer. Chance and Parker has given us the essence out of the massive amount of bibliographies that they have gone through, and we have gotten a chance to read through their code base on randon. We have decided that each of us is going to focus on one of the papers given to us, reading their project report, as well as watching improv shows and finding what is the deciding factor that differentiates between an improv show from short improv exercises that we do in improv class most of the time.
We plan to continuously iterate on prototypes that have been already worked on and building new connections between those. We plan to collect data regarding our audience and drive through iterations based on what we find with our data collected and find patterns. We are not sure at this point if we are going to building new prototypes, bridging audience awareness with each other that are watching Twitch, or if we are refining the UI for the hosts. They are three possible directions that we can head in, but we need to playtest through those prototypes before we decide!
We have roughly established team roles at the point, but our current establishment will probably alter a bit. We have Shiva and Guimin that are primarily focused on the technology side, while Hyo Eun, Namrakant and me will be focusing on the improv side, but still remaining fluid because individuals on this team have very diverse background and are very open to learning new things. We are looking forward to discovering what makes improv show a show, different from individual improv exercises, and playtesting the prototypes from last year. From there, we will truly be on our way.
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