Our team of 10 designed and built Ruin the Show from the ground up, tackling game design, illustration, animation, and technical implementation for the first time. Taking inspiration from the visual style of classic game shows, we created an illustrated set and cast of characters that felt authentically retro. The game was controlled by a panel that sat in front of a large screen with reactive lighting that responded to player actions.

I handled all character rigging and animation using After Effects and Duik. The four contestants were upper-body characters with rigged faces and arms, animated to perform basic reactions and responses throughout the show. The host was significantly more dynamic, a full-body character capable of moving across the stage with a complete 180-degree turn, allowing him to walk back and forth as he posed questions to the contestants. I exported the animations as sprite sheets to be used in the p5.js game.

As both developer and designer for the physical computing, I wired an Arduino to interface with our p5.js game, creating an arcade-style control panel with 6 buttons, a lever, and a joystick. Four buttons controlled spotlights on individual contestants, while a fifth button triggered an applause cue card for the audience and a sixth activated the cheat mechanic. The lever controlled the camera zoom, and the joystick tracked the host with a spotlight as he moved across the stage. I taught myself Arduino and used serial communication to send player inputs to the game and control the arcade buttons, which lit up when they needed to be pressed and provided satisfying tactile feedback.