I wanted this project to be a little silly a whimsical while maintaining an engaging, game-like vibe. As such, I emplyed my extra-dimensional two-dimensional friend §̷̵̸̗̝͙͔̝̯̺̜ͨ̃̿ͣ̊¿̶͎̟̦͎̜͙̺̣̊̾̅ͩͨ͊ͨͭ̐̄̆ͩͨ̽̿̑̿̓́̚͡͞?̸̝̹͓̻̱̦͚̻̭͕̬̦̘͍̊͐ͨ̋͒̏͗̈́ͫ͗͛̎̚͢ͅͅÆ̷̴̸̡͕̹̥̓̎̔͂̏̌̌́̒ͩ̈͂͂̓̓͗͆̍͢ (a.k.a. Darryl) to help the user visualize their poem and give a little life to the stage.

I modeled the playground in a retro, 2D video game format to enable exploration and expression. Darryl's expressions are hyperbolic and easily portrayed. My hope is that by the time the user has interacted with the playground enough, they will have formed a close bond with our pixelated friend.

Once Darryl opens up the playground for you, you can type six lines of a poem one-by-one into the large box on the bottom. For every line, the AI will attempt to analyze the tone/emotion behind the line (often incorrectly!), and Darryl will react accordingly. He's also super impressed if you rhyme two lines in a row.

If you dare press the "I'm feeling ChucKy!" button, Darryl will give you a challenge in which you have to write a poem about a given topic with another given emotion. Emotions other than the specified one can be part of the poem, but the dominant emotion must be the one Darryl specifies or else you'll get PWNED!