Overall goal: My inspiration for the look of the hieroglyphic tiles is below. The goal was to build and test a functioning tile that could also blend into a wall of ancient egyptian art.

Design considerations: From the concept sketches, the tile was originally supposed to sit on the ground and be stepped on. Based on feedback, we revised the tiles to be placed on the wall and be pressed by hand. The reason was to simplify the trigger - to a button vs. load sensor - and make maintenance of the tiles much easier. So, being able to take out tiles for regular maintenance, but also make them durable enough for consistent pressing was a design goal.

The Tile: The tile would need to be light enough to suspend off the back wall and blend into the ancient egyptian theme. I did this by prototyping the tile out of foam core and then wrapping it in sandpaper (low grade so it didn't hurt your fingers) for the egyptian look. I tried scratching the sandpaper in for the hieroglyphic symbol, which didn't work well, so ended up drawing the symbols in with marker.

The Button & Springs: The tile needed to be suspended off the wall, with just a bit of room (~2mm) off the button. I wanted the button to be pressable with a farily quick press, since players may have climbed up the wall in order to reach the right tile. Method of achieving this was to glue springs to the back wall (wooden board) which the tile would fit into with holders (prototyped with chopsticks). The button was placed in the center of the tile, since most people would reach for the middle of the tile to be pressed, and wiring could be attached to the back wall, to be connected to the Balance gag.

Levelling the tiles: Ensuring that the two tiles were the same level, so one didnt look like it was sticking out of the back wall was more difficult than I expected. In the concept implementation I will need to get springs that are the exact same length and also make sure the foamcore width for each tile is very exactly measured to be the same.

Look of the tiles: Our team really like the look of sandpaper, it was a quick and easy way of getting an ancient egyptian look. The downside is it cannot be etched in order to make it look like the symbols are carved in. For concept implementation one option would be to use stucco paint. We can etch the symbols in while the pain is drying so it looks like it was legitimately carved in.

Durability & maintenance: I didn't press the tiles enough times to really test the durability of the springs, but imagine this will be a challenge for the real implementation. Getting stronger/thicker springs with greater durability and creating holds with dial rods instead of chopsticks should improve durability. The rod worked really well for suspending the tile off the wall, without falling of. In concept implementation someone could easier take the tile out by placing a screwdriver at the edge and pulling the tile out.