Last year, C.J. Yeh, professor and assistant chair of the Illustration and Interactive Media Department and coordinator of the college’s Creative Technology and Design curriculum, exhibited artwork in a show titled LOADING … at Tunghai University in Taiwan. The exhibition offers a comprehensive survey of the history of game design, alongside a selection of seminal artworks that explore gaming themes through a contemporary lens.
One of the highlights of the exhibition was Yeh’s immersive augmented reality installation Happiness x 100. In this interactive experience, participants stand under a spotlight as augmented reality technology snaps a digital “Super Mario” hat onto their image. Emulating the mechanics of the classic video game, players must jump to strike a Google+ block, releasing gold coins.
The goal is simple yet mechanically challenging: Players must accumulate exactly 100 gold coins without crashing the system. Those who achieve this “perfect score” are rewarded with an onscreen message revealing the secret to true happiness. Through this playful yet rigorous interaction, Yeh explores the boundaries between digital achievement and emotional fulfillment, merging nostalgic gaming tropes with cutting-edge creative technology.