Wednesday, May 26, 2010
This phidget has got to be the biggest sunova bitch known to man! First it says its example program is only available in C# so im like aite so i learn C# to understand and try copy it or implement the example. Then it turns out the example is either freakin invisible or non-existent coz for the life of me i cannot find that sucker anywhere! the i think i could work any other phidget in the world by now EXCEPT this one... not cool guys.
The only input i can get from it is the diference in kPa on the interfaceKits display. not sure if we can access that for the purpose of our game but yeh.. on the up side i can now program a phidget interfaceKit in java lols!
working on the DGPS
The only input i can get from it is the diference in kPa on the interfaceKits display. not sure if we can access that for the purpose of our game but yeh.. on the up side i can now program a phidget interfaceKit in java lols!
working on the DGPS
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Pump-Action
Another idea would be a FPS-style game, where the player would NOT be doing the aiming, but would operate a pump-action shotgun in-game, and they would be wielding a hand pump in real life, connected to a phidget sensor. The player would pump their shotgun with the handpump, and would possibly fire it with a second footpump(?). The player would have to time their shots just right (Sort of like Elite Beat Agents' system, if anyone knows that.) If thy fire too early, the shot would miss, so they would have to wait for the perfect moment to fire. The downside to this would be that if there numerous enemies on screen, things can get hectic, so the player would have to pump and shoot. I'm just worried this might be a bit too ambitious for one week.
Move them feet!
Alright, so here goes. Since I think we're more or less settled on using a pump device for our exertion game, how about we list a whole bunch of game ideas we can implement with it?
Perhaps a series of really short minigames ala Wario Ware?
A 10 second game to try and blow up a virtual balloon before your opponent blows his up.
An elevator minigame, using the pumps and air pressure to raise and lower the elevators in a crumbling skyscraper (The bottom of the elevator would be dropping lower and lower off the screen and the player would have to pump the elevator up to a correct floor to grab the people, all the while keeping above the bottom of the screen, at the top of the elevator building would be a pair of helipads for both players (there were two elevator shafts). Which would lead to..
The helicopters being raised and lowered depending on how hard/fast the players are pumping. Might possibly have to dodge obstacles? (Fighter jets, etc etc.)
Perhaps a series of really short minigames ala Wario Ware?
A 10 second game to try and blow up a virtual balloon before your opponent blows his up.
An elevator minigame, using the pumps and air pressure to raise and lower the elevators in a crumbling skyscraper (The bottom of the elevator would be dropping lower and lower off the screen and the player would have to pump the elevator up to a correct floor to grab the people, all the while keeping above the bottom of the screen, at the top of the elevator building would be a pair of helipads for both players (there were two elevator shafts). Which would lead to..
The helicopters being raised and lowered depending on how hard/fast the players are pumping. Might possibly have to dodge obstacles? (Fighter jets, etc etc.)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Pumping up virtual balloon
Sup peeps so pumping up a virtual balloon with a Tangible HID. We found out that theres a game like this on the wii but this would be x100 better with a more realistic input. We discussed using a hand AND foot controlled pump. Some footpumps pictured below, then we just need to work out a way of getting input from them. We could use a mouse clicker thats been pulled apart under the pedal so it gets clicked down when pushed on. If we could make a way that it would measure the intensity or effort that would be genius, ie you get more from long hard pushes that just tapping it .
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Revision on the 'mario kart' game.
Alright, this is basically what I described to us at the courtyard, put in text.
Before the game begins, the 'Game Master' would plant stashes of 'weapons' (ie. balloon popping equipment) in random locations, then take a photo of that location with the stash with their phone camera. Just before the game begins, the GM would send one of the photographs to all the players via MMS or something like that, and the players would then be able to try and locate this 'stash'. ( I was thinking of having the GM plant all the stashes in one go, but then I realized that if he did that, then players may accidentally stumble upon the weapon pickups, but then again this may not be a bad thing.)
Once a player has picked up a weapon (It would be very limited; for example if the weapon was a rubber band, there would only be one rubber band and a handful of paperclips, or just one pencil.) he would obviously gain an advantage over the other players, much like Pac Man in a sense. 3 or 5 minutes later, the GM would send out another MMS with another photograph of a stash, and begins the rush for the weapon. The player already armed can use this to their advantage, if he knows where the 2nd stash is, he can try and get there before the others or to attempt an ambush for the players looking for the stash.
This would go on until there's only one player standing, and he would be declared the winner.
Another thing I was thinking about, in order to stop people from completely beating someone out of the game by popping all their balloons in a row would be that once they pop someone's balloon, they'd have to go after a different target and pop their balloons. Only then can they return to their previous target and pop another balloon.
While the game would obviously involve a lot of running, players must be really careful not to run too fast or blindly as they may end up tearing the balloons from their backs, or get their own balloons popped by sharp objects in the environment, like trees or sharp corners.
Before the game begins, the 'Game Master' would plant stashes of 'weapons' (ie. balloon popping equipment) in random locations, then take a photo of that location with the stash with their phone camera. Just before the game begins, the GM would send one of the photographs to all the players via MMS or something like that, and the players would then be able to try and locate this 'stash'. ( I was thinking of having the GM plant all the stashes in one go, but then I realized that if he did that, then players may accidentally stumble upon the weapon pickups, but then again this may not be a bad thing.)
Once a player has picked up a weapon (It would be very limited; for example if the weapon was a rubber band, there would only be one rubber band and a handful of paperclips, or just one pencil.) he would obviously gain an advantage over the other players, much like Pac Man in a sense. 3 or 5 minutes later, the GM would send out another MMS with another photograph of a stash, and begins the rush for the weapon. The player already armed can use this to their advantage, if he knows where the 2nd stash is, he can try and get there before the others or to attempt an ambush for the players looking for the stash.
This would go on until there's only one player standing, and he would be declared the winner.
Another thing I was thinking about, in order to stop people from completely beating someone out of the game by popping all their balloons in a row would be that once they pop someone's balloon, they'd have to go after a different target and pop their balloons. Only then can they return to their previous target and pop another balloon.
While the game would obviously involve a lot of running, players must be really careful not to run too fast or blindly as they may end up tearing the balloons from their backs, or get their own balloons popped by sharp objects in the environment, like trees or sharp corners.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
OMG IDEAS
Here's something I just came up with while I was trying to get to sleep (Currently 2AM).
Basically it would involve bicycle pumps. The pumps would be connected to.. Sensors? Maybe arduinos or phidgets or whatever. The game would involve two players playing together over the internet or over distance, the objective is to pump the bike pumps as fast as they can to inflate a virtual balloon. The first person to inflate the balloon to CRITICAL MASS and get it to pop wins. I know from experience that using a bike pump can be a real workout on the arms, so I think this may be a good, possibly easy game to make that would suit our needs.
For more than just pumping up bicycle tires!
Basically it would involve bicycle pumps. The pumps would be connected to.. Sensors? Maybe arduinos or phidgets or whatever. The game would involve two players playing together over the internet or over distance, the objective is to pump the bike pumps as fast as they can to inflate a virtual balloon. The first person to inflate the balloon to CRITICAL MASS and get it to pop wins. I know from experience that using a bike pump can be a real workout on the arms, so I think this may be a good, possibly easy game to make that would suit our needs.
For more than just pumping up bicycle tires!
Update: mario cart game
ok so after todays gathering we're fixed on the mario cart idea.
The game involves Mobile Phones + hand held GPS technology as its main tools, as such each player must have both. It is a real life pervasive game based loosely on mario cart and played over a large area.
The aim of the game is to earn points by bursting other players balloons while keeping as many of your own as possible.
- 1 point for every balloon you pop
- 1 point for every balloon you still have
The game runs for an aranged time limit depending on the size of the group playing the game and points are added up at the end of this time.
- 2 bonus points are also awarded if someone is the last man standing before the time limit is up.
Setting up: Before the start of the game players are given a list of locations, land marks/notable areas where they can pick up items/weapons and set up with 3 balloons attatched to their back as an indicator of "lives".
How it Works:
To pop another players balloons you must confront the other player by tagging them, a confrontation cannot be refused and once started cannot be aborted until complete.
The confrontation involves comparing weapons (sms msgs) that are aquired by visiting a location on the list. Once at the site the player sends a text to the game master with its GPS coordinates to prove they're where they say they are and the game master replies to them with their randomly determind weapon.
Ideally we would have an app that would determine the randomised weapon after reaching the GPS location but as not everyone has an iphone the game master fills the gap.
Currently Weapons/Items are as follows:
Star: ultimate weapon, you are god! beats Red and Green Shells no matter how many your opponent has.
Ghost: randomly steals another players weapon as soon as you recieve it via GM
Red Shell: bursts one balloon, beats green shell, can stack up to 3.
Green Shell: bursts one balloon, stack up to 3.
Upside down questionmark: works like a landmine, can be left at any location you visit as long as you're there to plant it by msging the GM. The next player who gets an item from that location looses a balloon (you can be hit by your own mine).
Banana: works in the same way as the upside-down questionmark but it takes 2 hits from bananas to actually loose a balloon.
Mushrooms: earn the player bonus points toward their final tally but do not replace balloons.
- Players cannot use the same location twice in a row
- Players can reuse locations inconsecutively
- A player can only have one weapon at a time (though shells do stack up to 3 times), if the player doesnt want the weapon they currently have they can visit another location and replace it OR in the case of shells, gamble on adding another to their stack.
Combat/confrontation:
Once a player is tagged and a combat instigated the 2 players must compare the weapons they currently have (if any) to determine if their is a winner, looser or if it results in a draw. The winner then has the joy of bursting their opponents balloon and must msg the GM with details including, what weapons were used by whom so that he can keep track of score and verify the result.
The Draw: results from 2 players having the same weapon, eg. green shell vs green shell, RedvRed.
Stacks: a stack of shells can be used one after the other in the same combat, eg. in a combat where one player has 1 red shell vs 2 green shells - both players loose a life as red beats green but then he has nothing to defend against the 2nd green. Star however lasts the whole combat and beats any number of shells.
The Game Master: Is in charge of distributing items, keeping track of lives, points, time and results.
Costumes: To add some more fun to the game players dress up as a character from mario cart, matching colours with their balloons. This also helps define the magic circle in the public arena.
The game involves Mobile Phones + hand held GPS technology as its main tools, as such each player must have both. It is a real life pervasive game based loosely on mario cart and played over a large area.
The aim of the game is to earn points by bursting other players balloons while keeping as many of your own as possible.
- 1 point for every balloon you pop
- 1 point for every balloon you still have
The game runs for an aranged time limit depending on the size of the group playing the game and points are added up at the end of this time.
- 2 bonus points are also awarded if someone is the last man standing before the time limit is up.
Setting up: Before the start of the game players are given a list of locations, land marks/notable areas where they can pick up items/weapons and set up with 3 balloons attatched to their back as an indicator of "lives".
How it Works:
To pop another players balloons you must confront the other player by tagging them, a confrontation cannot be refused and once started cannot be aborted until complete.
The confrontation involves comparing weapons (sms msgs) that are aquired by visiting a location on the list. Once at the site the player sends a text to the game master with its GPS coordinates to prove they're where they say they are and the game master replies to them with their randomly determind weapon.
Ideally we would have an app that would determine the randomised weapon after reaching the GPS location but as not everyone has an iphone the game master fills the gap.
Currently Weapons/Items are as follows:
Star: ultimate weapon, you are god! beats Red and Green Shells no matter how many your opponent has.
Ghost: randomly steals another players weapon as soon as you recieve it via GM
Red Shell: bursts one balloon, beats green shell, can stack up to 3.
Green Shell: bursts one balloon, stack up to 3.
Upside down questionmark: works like a landmine, can be left at any location you visit as long as you're there to plant it by msging the GM. The next player who gets an item from that location looses a balloon (you can be hit by your own mine).
Banana: works in the same way as the upside-down questionmark but it takes 2 hits from bananas to actually loose a balloon.
Mushrooms: earn the player bonus points toward their final tally but do not replace balloons.
- Players cannot use the same location twice in a row
- Players can reuse locations inconsecutively
- A player can only have one weapon at a time (though shells do stack up to 3 times), if the player doesnt want the weapon they currently have they can visit another location and replace it OR in the case of shells, gamble on adding another to their stack.
Combat/confrontation:
Once a player is tagged and a combat instigated the 2 players must compare the weapons they currently have (if any) to determine if their is a winner, looser or if it results in a draw. The winner then has the joy of bursting their opponents balloon and must msg the GM with details including, what weapons were used by whom so that he can keep track of score and verify the result.
The Draw: results from 2 players having the same weapon, eg. green shell vs green shell, RedvRed.
Stacks: a stack of shells can be used one after the other in the same combat, eg. in a combat where one player has 1 red shell vs 2 green shells - both players loose a life as red beats green but then he has nothing to defend against the 2nd green. Star however lasts the whole combat and beats any number of shells.
The Game Master: Is in charge of distributing items, keeping track of lives, points, time and results.
Costumes: To add some more fun to the game players dress up as a character from mario cart, matching colours with their balloons. This also helps define the magic circle in the public arena.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Costumes
someone design some costumes that would be quick, easy and cheap that anyone could hack together to play themselves based on mario cart characters. I wont them posted by like monday night. K go.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
BEST IDEA EVER MADE <<<<<<<<<<-winnar@
I was gona post this last week but I was sick, now bear with me boys, how about a game... wait for it...
thats like mario kart irl sort of!!!
We could have helium filled balloons attached to out backs somehow, probably with either a stick or a string, and let three of these balloons hover above our heads.
We could then have specially made "paper wasps" that the players can carry around with them, in order to shoot the balloons down. These paper wasps could have paper clips attached to the front to ensure that the ballons explode on impact.
To involve technology we could have the playersin a large space like the city, and each player has an i phone with a tracking device or gps of some sort to let each player know where the other players were. This could allow for a larger range than would normally be tollerated in a game like this.
Also it would involve tactic as people could parkour to get to cool hiding places or areas that people woudnt think to look so they have the upper hand :)
The aim of the game would be to take out other peoples balloons, and avoid having your balloons being taken out.
Once a person has had their 3 balloons popped, they are out of the game, and the last person standing wins, the runners up would be based on who was taken out of the game last etc.
Let me know what you guys think of this idea as id love some feedback :D
Scincerely, your friendly neighbourhood badass, Steve.
thats like mario kart irl sort of!!!
We could have helium filled balloons attached to out backs somehow, probably with either a stick or a string, and let three of these balloons hover above our heads.
We could then have specially made "paper wasps" that the players can carry around with them, in order to shoot the balloons down. These paper wasps could have paper clips attached to the front to ensure that the ballons explode on impact.
To involve technology we could have the playersin a large space like the city, and each player has an i phone with a tracking device or gps of some sort to let each player know where the other players were. This could allow for a larger range than would normally be tollerated in a game like this.
Also it would involve tactic as people could parkour to get to cool hiding places or areas that people woudnt think to look so they have the upper hand :)
The aim of the game would be to take out other peoples balloons, and avoid having your balloons being taken out.
Once a person has had their 3 balloons popped, they are out of the game, and the last person standing wins, the runners up would be based on who was taken out of the game last etc.
Let me know what you guys think of this idea as id love some feedback :D
Scincerely, your friendly neighbourhood badass, Steve.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Chopper Attack!
Here's an idea I was thinking of, involving balloons, thin plastic rods (Or poles, whichever, though thin rods would be easier to run around with) a toy remote controlled helicopter and an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Essentially the game would involve one player acting as the 'pilot', armed with the toy helicopted with a pin or needle stuck on it's nose, and the goal would be to chase after the runners, carrying balloons on poles. The objective for the Pilot would be to pop as many balloons as possible, while the objective of the Runners would be to try to survive with their balloons intact. This game would likely go on for a set time limit, perhaps 3 minutes per round. The player with the most balloons popped would score the highest. The iPod's and phones would act as GPS devices for the Pilots to locate their 'targets', should the game be played on a much larger scale.
Essentially the game would involve one player acting as the 'pilot', armed with the toy helicopted with a pin or needle stuck on it's nose, and the goal would be to chase after the runners, carrying balloons on poles. The objective for the Pilot would be to pop as many balloons as possible, while the objective of the Runners would be to try to survive with their balloons intact. This game would likely go on for a set time limit, perhaps 3 minutes per round. The player with the most balloons popped would score the highest. The iPod's and phones would act as GPS devices for the Pilots to locate their 'targets', should the game be played on a much larger scale.
Turn up the Excitement on the Train ride home!
I heard about this game from a mate of mine and i thort, that is fuckin genius!.. how could i make that better? lol.. TY floyd and ur spontaneous game generation ideas.
So it goes like this, ur riding the train with a friend, its stopping all stations and u have to go past a number of stops until you actually get where you want to be. You start at the extreme back of the train in the last carriage. When the train pulls up at a station that isnt yours you get off and leg it down the platform as fast as you can, before ducking back into the door and walk your way back to the end of the train ready for the next station.
The idea being: every carriage you run past is worth 1 point, the more carriages you run past the faster ur score runs up but the more you run the risk of being left on the platform as the train pulls away.
You can also earn bonus points by weaving in and out of consecutive carriages or doors.
I thought of having a page online where you could log on and record your scores for a certain rail line or station such as the team with the metro-bmx game, but im not sure how reliable it would be. Seeing as scoring takes place over a relatively small distance and with weaving between carriages and bonus points it would be hard to record. You could have a witness or "spotter" to say ur acheivements are legit but it doesnt really have the same credability as say a GPS log.
So it goes like this, ur riding the train with a friend, its stopping all stations and u have to go past a number of stops until you actually get where you want to be. You start at the extreme back of the train in the last carriage. When the train pulls up at a station that isnt yours you get off and leg it down the platform as fast as you can, before ducking back into the door and walk your way back to the end of the train ready for the next station.
The idea being: every carriage you run past is worth 1 point, the more carriages you run past the faster ur score runs up but the more you run the risk of being left on the platform as the train pulls away.
You can also earn bonus points by weaving in and out of consecutive carriages or doors.
I thought of having a page online where you could log on and record your scores for a certain rail line or station such as the team with the metro-bmx game, but im not sure how reliable it would be. Seeing as scoring takes place over a relatively small distance and with weaving between carriages and bonus points it would be hard to record. You could have a witness or "spotter" to say ur acheivements are legit but it doesnt really have the same credability as say a GPS log.
Distance DodgeBall!
Though after spawning this idea i found it closely resembled floyds "breakout" game and would probs count as having a screen this game would be like the game from the movie but with your opponent projected onto a wall in front of you who you then have to hit with a thrown ball, while avoiding being hit by your opponent. I cant really see any other way to impletment this type of game atm tho i think it would trumps floyds game for competitiveness :P also it is probs too hard for us to impliment with our budget... other ideas anyone?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Pedometers
Hey guys, here's another idea/doo-hicky that I was just thinking about. Awhile back there was this craze for interactive pedometers (Not at all related to Pedo-bear) for kids, from both the Pokemon and Digimon franchises. I think the first was Pokemon, I believe. It was called the Pokemon Pikachu, and basically what it was was basically a Pikachu pedometer. The users or players would clip it to their belt and go for a stroll. (From wiki) "A yellow unit resembling a Game Boy, it features a black and white LCD screen used to display animations of Pikachu's activities. The second release, Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, was available in clear and silver casing with a color display featuring more animations.[1] Both of the Pokémon Pikachu incarnations differ slightly from more traditional portable virtual pets in that Pikachu does not need to be fed, watered, or cleaned up after. Instead, the Pokémon Pikachu unit can be strapped to a belt and used as a pedometer. With every step it counts, the Pokémon Pikachu credits its user with "watts," which are a sort of currency used to buy Pikachu presents. Twenty steps on the pedometer will reward the player with one watt. As the player grows closer to Pikachu, more activities become available. However, if neglected, Pikachu will become angry and eventually refuse to recognize the player."
This toy was even mentioned in the Guiness World Records as the most popular exercise toy at the time.
Following that was the 'Digivice', which is essentially the same thing; a pedometer featuring a digimon that you would take out for walks, thus improving it's affection to the user, and improving it's abilities and other things like that.
Finally, a more recent incarnation is the Pokewalker that comes with the new Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold games for the Nintendo DS. This enables players to transfer a single pokemon from their game into their pokewalker and take them out for walks, the longer the walk, the more EXP and 'Watts' the pokemon gains. Also included are several minigames like treasure hunting and finding and capturing pokemon (albeit with a very simple and basic interface.)
All these toys encourage the player to exercise. One thing that may be pointed out is that while the 'lazier' players may attempt to simply shake their devices to gain the same digital benefits, the new Pokewalker comes with a sort of feature that only starts clocking up points when a rhythm is achieved (obviously via simply walking, which doesn't shake the device as much as rapidly shaking it up and down with your hand.)
This toy was even mentioned in the Guiness World Records as the most popular exercise toy at the time.
Following that was the 'Digivice', which is essentially the same thing; a pedometer featuring a digimon that you would take out for walks, thus improving it's affection to the user, and improving it's abilities and other things like that.
Finally, a more recent incarnation is the Pokewalker that comes with the new Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold games for the Nintendo DS. This enables players to transfer a single pokemon from their game into their pokewalker and take them out for walks, the longer the walk, the more EXP and 'Watts' the pokemon gains. Also included are several minigames like treasure hunting and finding and capturing pokemon (albeit with a very simple and basic interface.)
All these toys encourage the player to exercise. One thing that may be pointed out is that while the 'lazier' players may attempt to simply shake their devices to gain the same digital benefits, the new Pokewalker comes with a sort of feature that only starts clocking up points when a rhythm is achieved (obviously via simply walking, which doesn't shake the device as much as rapidly shaking it up and down with your hand.)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Game for blind people
Hey guys sorry this has been a long time coming in terms of getting my thoughts and ideas up on the blog but here we go.
My first idea was like a race to push buttons or beacons that are signaled by sound. Like a game of Marco-polo but you're trying to find stationary buttons instead of another player (i only just realized the similarity to marco-polo then so shall be coming back to that point). The buttons could be placed around an empty room on walls at various heights.
The sound could work on a hotter-colder kind of system with a device attached to the players hand or wrist, detecting the distance from the player to the active beacon and producing the sound accordingly ie. the more frequent the beep the closer you are to the target.
To include a people factor, not limiting the game to single player. Leveling the playing field with a blindfold anyone can participate.
The object of the game would be to beat your opponent to the randomly activated beacon, relying on the beep for direction. A mad rush of shuffling and groping up and down walls commences until someone finds the right beacon. Once pushed that beacon would be deactivated and another activated in its place. This carries on for a predetermined number of "hits" and the player with the most beacon touches at the end of the game wins.
The fact that two or more players could be blindly pelting around the same room raised a safety concern. So i thought of maybe employing padding on the walls and having separate identical rooms for each player (in danger of sounding like an isolation room for some mental institute rather than a playing field). This would eliminate the danger of collision and leave everything up to speed rather than barging the opponent out of the way to beat them to the beacon.
Sketches/diagrams should be forthcoming.
We also came up with the idea to introduce obstacles to maybe make things more interesting, but would this detract from the idea of racing by presenting a trip hazard and causing people to be more cautious. Would this add to or take away from the appeal of the game?
Anyway thats the rough idea so far in a nut shell. Anything else anyone wants to add to make improvements or other game ideas lets get them up here for feedback and discussion! :)
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