“BlockFall” Audiovisual Relaxation Toy – Cameron Most

BlockFall Description

BlockFall is an audiovisual relaxation toy. Blocks appear in the shape of a heart. The user can create four measures of music by toggling three blocks per beat, changing their color and pitch with the up/down keys, and switching blocks with the right/left keys. At a random point outside of the user’s control, the blocks will fall, forcing the user to let go of their creation. The blocks will return as ghosts of their former selves, and the user can only listen to one block/note at a time. Eventually, the process will start over. 

I made this because nothing we build will last forever and everything we build stays with us. Both of those ideas make me feel sad and grateful. Accepting those concepts would make me a calmer person, and hopefully this toy nudges its users towards that acceptance by representing the beauty of creation and destruction. 

Thanks to Ge Wang, Kunwoo Kim, and the 256A Fall 2020 cohort for design advice and technical help!