Al Karaby

Karaby is a group game that is based on ones ability in being able to maintain balance. Played by children between 10-13 years. Korab in Bedouin language meaning rabbit that is medium size. And maybe it was taken as a result of the player’s movement. The number of players is 2-6. Players stand on their right leg while holding their left leg, players then job by their right leg while jumping the other player will be facing them. Players try to push the other opponent off balance with their right hand. If the opponent falls on the ground then he is the loser and is out. Sometimes he gets substituted. The game continues until one player remains that is the survivor.As a group we got together and discussed the different steps of the game. We took turns playing and we looked at the separate elements that we would need to present. Because of the name of the game "korab" meaning rabbit, we initially went straight away to the idea of using a rabbit within our illustration. We spent the class brainstorming the idea of rabbit and the game. We decided that we wanted to create a diagram that was none gender specific and related clearly to culture.
When we presented our brainstorming and first draft of our diagram some of the feedback we got included; our figures looked too much like adults, we needed to make it more abstract, and the class wasn't too keen on the idea of using rabbits for our main concept.Joanne drew a few more examples. She basically used the original diagram and then made them look more like children and put bunny ears on them. From these sketches we started to create our concept for the presentation. We thought initially that we wanted to create a pop up book and that we wanted to show the pictures in first person as much as possible. The reason for having the book done in a first person view is so that it would relate more to video games and movies and perhaps draws in our audience more. But yet again when we went for the critique, we found that we had a lot of changes to make. Even though we made the characters seem more like children, our icons needed to be abstracted even further, and Pornprapha wanted us to focus more on the motion of the game.


So what we first did was to break the game down into its bare elements so that we could see the essentials. Every step of the game only involves two parts of the players, their arms and legs. So we drew the legs and arms from a top view and used lines to show the movement that occurs between them. This sketch was the absolute minimum of the icon. From there we developed it further and after several trials came up with our final icons. Then the next step was to decide on colors and presentations. From the beginning we wanted to come up with a way of incorporating the culture in some way. So after testing several different colors we decided to use yellow to represent the sand and then we chose to use green because they complement each other.



For the presentation we were originally thinking of posting each square on a cube so that the children can interact with the images. But then we realized that it would be too difficult to use a cube because there would be no way of showing the direction. So from thinking back on past projects, we decided to use the concept of a zoetrope. We would create a 3D octagon and we would place each frame on a side, and the whole octagon would turn to show the steps, and to relate to the idea of pushing with the interaction of the image and spinning.

Al-Teila, Group project

We started by reading the handout telling us about Al-Teila game, then we did some research about it on the internet to get a better understanding of the game.
Our next step was writing down the points that make the game what it is, keeping in mind the cultural elements of the game. Below is an image showing our mind mapping:
After understanding the rules of the game we stated thinking of ways to present the game to children today but still keeping with the traditions of the original game. Below is an idea we had, using hands to abstract the icons; for we felt that hands were an important part of the game:
Here are the hands further developed and shown in a clearer way to understand the game:
However after creticing with the class and hearing what others had to say we realized that using the hands, we had abstracted the game too much too fast. Using the hands had taking away from the main focus of the game which is the marbles. So we went back to brain storming and to representing the game in simple ways. We decided to each come up with an idea then we would look at all of them and see which parts of which ones we can use. Below is the idea I had, I decided to stick with just using the marbles and some arrows, keeping it really simple:After developing our icons we started thinking about how we would present the game. We had a few ideas including a dice like cube, a leaflet and a mat. We decided to go with the mat idea for it would be interactive, the children can see the instructions and then actually play on the mat; furthermore it would help them know how far they need to be away from the marbles to play. It would help them in setting up the game. Below are a few of the ideas we had for the mat:
We also thought of have a cover for the mat so that the children can fold it up and take it where ever they please.