Cuecraft

Alternative Controller for Digital Pool Games

My Role

UX Researcher
Product Designer

Duration

8 weeks

Tools

Prototypes: Figma
Game Design: Unity
Test Platform: Arduino
Modeling and Rendering: ProE; Keyshot
3D Printing: UltiMaker-Cura

Overview

This is a course project. Our project is to design an alt-controller designer for pool games. We want to achieve that pool game lover could use our Alternative controller to play pool games in online digital environment with remote friends.

Problem

Existing online pool games can only use mouse and keyboard to play the game. without playing with the stick, the playing experience is totally different from the real pool game experience.

Solutions

To solve the problem of not having the real experience as the real pool game. We came out of an idea which is to design an Alternative controller which includes pressure sensor and joystick to simulate the real pool game stick. Joystick helps detect the rotation of the stick to adjust the direction and the pressure helps detect the power that used to hit.

Our goal

Increases accessibility: User actions take less space in their physical environment than an actual physical snooker game.
Intuitive gameplay: User only makes contact with the cue stick controller -- instead of the senors.
Enhances flexibility: Users can enjoy playing the game anywhere due to its portable size and intuitive controls.
Increases comfort: Familiarity with the cue stick concept, but in a smaller version, ensures intuitive and comfortable gameplay.

Process

User Interviews

We created a set of common questions and did our user interviews to understand user pain points. We did our our quick interviews for UCSC phd and master students on UCSC Silicon Valley campus.

Competitive Analysis

We examined the existing online pool games and experienced these games. We analyzed the Pros and Cons of each game and got insights from these games.

Design Concepts

Functionality Evaluation

We developed the core concept of this pool game in digital form. We programmed and connected the joystick to the digital device and tested whether it's possible to achieve the intended functionality. We sketched the Tinkercad and built the basic physical version with the device we needed to use. We used 2 sensors, a pressure sensor and a joystick.

The joystick’s axis adjusted the angle of the shot in which players could move the joystick left or right which corresponds to an actual cue stick and the cue ball.
Upon activation, the Arduino sends serial commands—'left', 'right', and 'hit'— to the game developed in Processing.
The first iteration included a pressure sensor, mirroring a cue ball in the physical game, intended for the cue stick to hit.

Paper Prototype

The 2 actions (rotating & prodding) were separated into two different areas on the controller to enable both actions to happen with minimal materials used.

Modeling and Printing

Breakdown of the parts

Mother Box: This component holds every piece together. It allows for movement of forward and backward motion (cue stick striking) and horizontal rotation (cue stick angling). Lastly, it holds the joystick and pressure sensor in place.

Podium : This allows for the Cue Loft to stand upright.

Hinge: Hinge Controls the back and forth motion of the joystick

Cue Loft: This holds the Cue Stick and aligns it to the Cue Ball containing the pressure sensor.

Cue Stick: This enables the user to decide the angle in which the ball is hit and allows the player to strike the ball, functioning similarly to an actual cue stick.

3D Modeling

3D Printing

Low-fi Prototype

We printed each part with many test and finally assembled all the parts together.

Usability Testing