metaField Maze
Bill Keays / MIT Media Lab / USA Interactive Installation
The metaField Maze is a virtual, room-sized recreation of the traditional marble maze game. Instead of using knobs to control the play, the player walks over a projected 3D model of the game. When the player steps left or right, the model tips and the ball moves accordingly. The player must attempt to run the full course of the maze while avoiding the holes.
The metaField Maze is a highly compelling interactive installation. Because players use their whole bodies to interact and the objective of the game is familiar if not obvious, they immediately immerse themselves into play, leaving behind all notions of interface and technology.
The metaField Maze was created by Bill Keays at the MIT Media Lab as a research project in Ron MacNeil’s Intelligent Graphics Group. Assistance was provided by Tim McNerney, and John Underkoffler. It has been exhibited at SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, the Boston Museum of Science, The MIT Museum, the London Millennium Dome, the Siemens Forum in Berlin, and the Interaction Biennale in Japan.
