Multiplayer sketches

From time to time I make quick, lo-fi sketches of novel interactions and share them online.

I've been exploring multiplayer interactions for some time, influenced by ideas in architecture (specifically A Pattern Language) and small group dynamics. This is a playful way to bring those ideas to life.

See also: A map of my blog posts about 'multiplayer'

Hyperlinks that show how busy it is at the other end

What if hyperlinks told you how busy it was at the other end? Just some playing with big yellow circles to do that

What if, when you hovered, the people at the far end saw you peeping 👀

Links that you can yell down

What if you could spy down hyperlinks to see the folks at the far end?

What if you could yell down the pipe, and they could emote back?

A map view for your web browser

What if your browser could zoom out from a page to see the connections?

A map view with playful NPCs

Ok what if you could zoom out from a webpage to see the hyperlinks...

and each page hid an elf, and you could ask the elf about who it had seen on the page,

and the elf always answered in rhyming couplets.

Swipe to commute

Maybe the multiplayer apps on my phone should be badged with the people inside them? And look noisy if the app is busy?

But only my work apps...

And I should have to swipe-to-commute a reaaaallly long way to get to the screen.

BONUS: Gestural UI and aural affordances

What if smart lights made sound when you were near, to tell you they were smart? And you could switch them on/off with a gesture?

What if that sound was the Monolith music from 2001?

(This functional prototype is built with Mediapipe gesture recognition in the browser and MacOS Shortcuts.)