Ludonarrative structure
The production sequence became the game structure. A secret note introduced during molding turns the historical story into an action performed by the player.
CASE STUDY / 012026
Dingsheng Gao
A gesture-controlled heritage experience
01 / Overview
A browser-based somatosensory game that translates the making of Dingsheng Gao, a Song Dynasty pastry, into a four-stage gesture experience. Players pound rice, mix dough, conceal a message, and control steaming through real-time hand movement.
02 / Challenge
The problem had to be experienced, not only seen.
Traditional cultural heritage is often presented through passive text and images. The design challenge was to make the craft memorable for younger audiences without separating gameplay from its historical meaning.
03 / Process
Gesture language
Fist, pinch, hover, fingertip movement, and waving are mapped to culinary actions using skeletal distance, trajectory, and velocity.
Immediate feedback
Frequency, mixing uniformity, fill order, heat, sound, and Song-inspired ratings make invisible system states understandable.
04 / Outcomes
05 / Reflection
The project shows how cultural education can become embodied rather than explanatory. Future iterations could test gesture accessibility with a wider range of users and extend the framework to other crafts.