¶
¶ Vision Statement:
„Motivate people to physically exercise through fun motion tracking games. “
¶ Product Vision:
Our product is for gaming interested and competitive people who want to experience a physically interactive game. Our pillar is a motion tracking PvP breakout game that creates fun gameplay by moving without controllers or heavy headsets and playing against each other. Unlike VR or the WII, Seel offers a free motion-controlled gaming experience. Our product exclusively offers the possibility to play the famous “Breakout”-Game in a competitive PvP and motion interactive way.
¶ Motivation
The idea of project Seel is to build an interactive system, focusing on a real-world object, where the goal is that multiple people are able to interact with the object by simply moving around it.
Therefore, we decided to use a pillar as object, supported by a tracking and projection system, so no additional controller would be needed to interact.
For the interaction itself we've planned to develop a competitive version of the game "Breakout".
The whole Project is supposed to show the possibilities of having an unconventional platform to show games on. In this case a LED Wall/ LED Pillar, which is ordered by the Games Lab but has, as of the time of our project, not arrived yet. Therefore, we choose to make a prototype with a paper pillar and projectors.
¶ The Team
- Stefan Kulow
- Adrian Glinka
- Jon Louis Schulte
- Ole Christiansen
- Yeji Yun
- Rike Malottke
¶ Inspiration
While thinking about a game mechanic that works well with only two input values and 360 degree playing area, we got the Idea to modify the classic Breakout game into a competitive two Player game. What convinced us to take this idea further was the fact, that it doesn’t matter which platform is assigned to which player, making the development a lot easier. Stylewise we got inspired by the neon glow look. We didn’t strictly follow a single astetic but mixed several strong and colorful graphics.
(Breakout by Atari | Source: https://t.ly/OQ46)
¶ Gameplay
- Based on the videogame "Breakout" (1976) from Atari
- Competitive Multiplayer (planned for 2 players)
- Goal is to be the first one collecting 350 points
¶ Rules:
- Each player controls a paddle
- There are two balls which can hit in a certain direction by using the paddles
- Each ball can break a brick by touching it
- Player one tries to break the bricks on the upper screen
- Player two tries to break the bricks on the lower screen
- Each brick gives a certain amount of points
- The number of points given increases with each row starting from the middle of the screen
- The paddles are not bound to a player and can therefore be switched
- The game ends after a player reaches 350 points
¶ Analysis
Resources:
Manually created:
- Code
- Pillar
Bought / Rent:
- Tracker
- Beamer
- PC
- Sound devices
- Tools
- Assets
Controls:
- Mouse & Keyboard (for controlling the menu)
- Body movement via tracking (for playing)
Output:
- Beamer projection onto the pillar
- Speakers for the sound
Community:
- Starting with this wiki page to introduce the project to people
- Maybe social media after successfully finishing the prototype
Research topics:
- OpenCV in Unity
- OSC
Ultra-Wideband- OptiTrack
- Pricings for hard- & software
- Similar projects for getting impressions
Issues / Challenges:
- Lighting of the room
- Material accqusition
Software requirements:
Godot/ Unity for developing the game- Touchdesigner as interface between tracker, game and beamer
- Operating System Windows 10
Libraries, Frameworks, Packages:
- extOSC
Hardware requirements:
- 3 x Beamer
- 3 x IR- Camera
Ultra-Wideband- PC (3 x Video Out)
- Speakers
- Controller
Further requirements:
- Pillar
- Construction for mounting the beamer / tracker
- Room / Space for the setup
- Energy supply
- Cables
Alternative Solutions:
- Pressure pads
- Camera Tracking
(Block diagram)
¶ Concept
The seel will be made of either carton or fabric and hung from the wall. The self-designed breakout game will be projected onto the seel with 2-3 projectors (still up for testing) which are also located above so chances are as low as possible that people can walk into the projection.
The game then is played by 2 people who compete against each other and move around the seel in order to gain points and lose bricks.
A camera is installed on top in the middle of the installation to capture participants and add live tracking methods to track the participants' position and synchronise it with their playing bar.
A laptop or PC is used for monitoring and processing all signals. Additionally, we'll have fitting sound and lights placed in the room.
(First sketch of the idea)
¶ Project Reflection
As part of the collaboration with it-systems, our team was split into game devs and hardware implementation which resulted in an effective way of parallel working. While there was a constant communication between the teams, everyone could independently work on their tasks. As with every project in the end you always wish for more time to make things better.
¶ Lessons Learned
- Motion tracking can get tricky and complicated very quickly
- Unity sometimes acts strange with commas, dots and floating point numbers
- Always have a few backup plans in case some team members aren’t able to contribute as planned
- It is easier to intereact with the kinect through touch designer than throuh unity directly
- Mapping a video onto a curved surface is easier with resolume than touch designer
- A kinect needs a lot of hardware power to work efficiently.
¶ Future Perspective
- Adding items to get an own advantage or a disadvantage for the opponent
- Adding new game modes, e.g. a coop mode
- Combing multiple motion tracking technologies to improve tracking accuracy and reliability.
- Bringing the game to the real LED Pillar instead of using a paper one with beamers
