No, We’re not gone forever.
Hey Everyone,
No, we didn’t just disappear off the face of the Earth. Actually, quite the opposite. We’ve been busy this semester, and as such, we’ve started up a project or two that has everyone throwing ideas back and forth throughout the meetings. I’ll give the basics of the game, but I can’t say too much since it’s so early on in the development, like, REALLY early. Anyways, it looks like your standard deathmatch FPS, but there’s a bit off a twist. Now, this twist is still being finalized, but it has to do with the environment directly, as in altering where you can go or what it does when you go to said point on the environment based upon certain factors. At first, we thought of using paint as the game mechanic to control this, but at the same time, we keep going to a TRON’ish-virtual-steampunk visual style, which, in my opinion, doesn’t fit very well with paint munitions. Regardless, when we finalize how the game will play out in it’s abstract sense, One of us, most likely me, will fill you guys in on it. Until then, you’ll just have to wait patiently.
In other news, although semi related to our project, Andy was showing off a, albeit horribly executed, way of using accelerometers (which are easy to find in most game controllers, we use a Wii-mote because of how cheap it is compared to alternatives at this point) to calculate rotation, position, pitch, yaw, etc. to act as a virtual reality head movement sensor. What he wants to do is somehow attach it to a helmet of some sort, and attach a stereoscopic set of monitors for goggles, so that the player can also view the game they’re playing in 3D. Although the prototype is crude and not easy to get working, it’s a proof of concept (aside from the monitors and the helmet) that should bring in virtual reality games closer than they have been before. Just think, you’re holding the line against enemy soldiers, pinned behind a barricade, when you peer over the debris just enough to get a peek at your adversaries’ locations before they start shooting back at you, forcing you to duck back down into cover. I’d be psyched to actually feel IN the game instead of just controlling what scenes play out on my interactive DVD. On a side note, Andy had another great idea for this setup: get another controller, and track it’s position and everything separately from the head, basically acting as the player’s weapon in game. You could then look one way and fire your weapon around the corner of a building without having to look. Total immersion would definitely ensue.
I don’t know what else to really say in this post, although we are almost halfway done with the semester, we’re not even CLOSE to being finished in any sense of the word. We will keep you guys posted on our progress, and once we have something to actually show, I’ll post some screenshots/gameplay videos.
Thanks for reading,
Dan
