Controllers – are hand held devices used in gaming to maneuver the characters or subjects you control. There exist many different types of controllers with particular specialties from complimenting unique playstyles to improving input accuracy. The more standard controllers compared to the ones professional esports players use differ in a number of technical ways. For instance some come with larger directional pads, more pronounced buttons, replaceable peripherals, and a whole host of other tools. Some of them differ in size, shape, color, name and are associated with big brand names (ie Razer, Nacon -Below).

Gaming on a PC utilizes a keyboard and mouse respectively. On such platforms there also exists personalized tools of the trade to up your game. PC gaming is often versatile enough for handheld controllers to be an option given that certain games provide it. But most are very fond of using one or the other depending on the game of choice they are playing and the benefits garnered. Mouse play offers extreme precision while controller pads offer great comfort.

Fun Fact: Fighting game players are famously known for still using retro arcade joysticks to this very day. They prove to be very helpful for accurate inputs in a genre dependent on executing a sequence of button presses in a limited time frame.

 

Technical Aspect

To create this project I will need a couple of programs. I talked to a couple of people in the IMM department and they told me that the first one being Unity 3d would be to design the game environment as well as the interface. I need to learn basic C# that I could use to create the game and this will probably be the most challenging part as it is a whole new language for me. I will also need a Kinect camera to read the movements. As previously mentioned I have no experience with either of these things and I would need to get familiar with them as much as I can. After doing some research I also found out I will have to download an SDK and for Kinect and Unity pro since that’s the only way I could run the kinect program. http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Programming-Kinect-for-Windows-v2/04

I will also need to use programs FL studio and Logic pro x which I’m already proficient in to make the music for this game. I started making the music last week and have already made 2/3 tracks that I plan to use in the game. One of them is a scary theme made in the spirit of halloween which features a dark synth and fast moving drums and the other is a more orchestral theme which features the use of instruments such as violins, marimba and an artificial harp. They are both about a minute and a half to 2 minutes long.

 

Since I’m very familiar with 3D modeling and the software involved, the main focus of my research is going to be on game design and coding. I’m currently in Game Design 1 class and learning the basics of coding in Unity. While I do have a basic knowledge of how to code simple games, this project is more elaborate and requires me to do a lot of research to see how much the Unity engine is capable of. I know it has been used to make several VR games, but I don’t know how different coding for VR is vs. coding for a computer game.

I’ll also have to go through other VR games that have been made, and possibly play them if I can use a headset, to get a feel for how those games feel to play. The controls will be a very important part of my project because I don’t want the player to feel that they aren’t responsive enough or too responsive. It needs to find a nice balance that will most likely result from a lot of trial and error.

I have been thinking about my plan is to do research and understand how games that have a changing overworld can do it easily. I can look up and research games that have a world changing mechanic based on the choices that the player makes. I also need to find the right questions and writing for the questions and dialogue that should be used to change the world. And lastly, I need to figure a simple yet good design for the looks of the game, as well as the changes I need in the game.

Research Update

Informative Insight

–Lingo & Terminology is a hallmark aspect of most competitive gaming culture. They are used to call to attention or highlight important facets of gameplay sometimes unknown to the average player.

Ex. “You can shoot Ryu’s Hadouken using down right fierce WS.”

Translation: In sequence use the down & right button on the directional pad with heavy punch while simply standing.

–Frame Data allows the most technical of players to take advantage of a games fundamental design structure to secure a methodical advantage. Such information can educate the average player on things such as active, startup, and recovery timing on a characters strongest moves. With such knowledge the best competitors can develop an answer to the most devastating attacks in a game.

–Tier Lists are demographics designed to show which characters in a game are considered more viable than others in the most arduous of circumstances. Often times tier lists are highly debated topics as statistical averages are not -and should not, be considered absolutes.

 

History and Current State of the Field

Projection mapping began in 1969 in Disneyland on the Haunted Mansion. 5 busts sing the ride’s theme song with their faces projected onto them, which was quite a revolutionary idea at the time and can still be appreciated today. Disney also has the earliest patent for projection mapping entitled “Apparatus and method for projection upon a three-dimensional object”. The next instance of projection mapping came around in 1980 with an immersive film installation created Michael Naimark. In 1994 GE took a step into the world of projection mapping when they patented “A system and method for precisely superimposing images of computer models in three-dimensional space to a corresponding physical object in physical space.” In the late 1990s projection mapping began to take off when it was pursued in academia. “Spatial Augmented Reality” began thanks to the work by Ramesh Raskar, Greg Welch, Henry Fuchs, and Deepak Bandyopadhyay at UNC. It all started with a paper titled “The Office of the Future”. They imagined a world in which projections could cover any surface and the use of small monitors would become obsolete. The late 1990s also gave us the I/O (Input/Output) Bulb which was basically a projector combined with a camera thanks to John Underkoffler. In the early 2000s, research began on moveable “smart” projectors and projection mapping began to develop in even more exciting ways. Today, theme parks, theaters, and museums have all begun to incorporate projection mapping as we know it in amazingly innovative ways, and it seems as though this trend will not be stopping anytime soon.

Research plan

History

• Reading the history of film
• Learning what purposes it served originally
• Learn about movies in the early days
• What attracted people to go to the movies

Film-making

• Techniques of film-making
• Understanding how to implement different angles
• Learning how to control and use lighting
• Researching what would be the best camera to use for my film
• Learning how filmmakers execute a camera film

Directing

• Researching prominent directors
• Learning different techniques of directing
• Understanding different film genres
• Watching different films from various genres (horror, romance, action, mystery, adventure)
• Learning how to get actors to execute the vision

Editing

• Using Lyda.com to learn about After Effect
• Gain a deeper understanding of Premiere Pro
• Research all video editing software programs to find the best one suited for me
• Learning how different genres edited differently then one another

Coding

• Learn coding
• Research how to embed videos into one another
• Talk to my uncle who is an experienced coder

Research Plan – Tutorial Esports Module

 

History

 

The very first recorded Esports event, or competitive gaming competition was in a game called Space Wars at Stamford College in the year of 1972. Some time later the most notable tournament was for the retro classic Space Invaders, for the Space Invaders Championship in the 1980s. It was not too long after that event where organizations were formed to record high score counts on arcade cabinet leaderboards where the most dedicated would have their names imprinted in publications. And much later the advent of the internet introduced competitive play with your neighbor next door in games like Quake through Local-Area connection or “LAN” for short. In most of these competitive gaming scenes it was obvious that the skill necessary to compete at a high level was not only in talent or execution but in-game analysis, community inclusion, and time investment.   

 

Current State

 

In today’s modern gaming atmosphere esports competitions are something that draws hundreds of thousands in viewership on a multitude of streaming platforms such as youtube and twitch.tv. As of noted this year there are approximately 320 million fans of competitive gaming functions, and it is steadily climbing to become almost as relevant on a global stage as any other legacy sport like football, baseball, and basketball. The question of whether or not gaming has a prominent future on the horizon is not a question but a patient guarantee. As time goes on gaming as a phenomenon will without a doubt slowly expand into places once unforeseen much like it has in South Korea, which is noted as being the modern technological epicenter of gaming competition.

 

Noteworthy Brief

 

• As gaming as a competitive sport rises up the incline more and more players are going to show an interest in competing.
• Gaming has proven to be extremely accessible avenue for people to play and openly compete in with little physical necessity.
• Established sports like Basketball or Hockey have school teams that provide a resource of professional coaching and development that gaming does not.
• The goal of providing quality accessible developmental methods for newer players without making professional connections is lackluster.
• How do we exactly create an interactive experience that improves in-game decision making outside of simply execution?

 

Information Acquisition

 

• What online tools are available for me to create an interactive experience? (ie. Adobe Captivate)
• What game should I focus on?
• What professional resources I should seek in order create informative modules?
• In what different ways can you convey information for a plethora of different learners? 

Conceptual Intrigue:

 

AimBooster – http://www.aimbooster.com/

 

A website dedicated to improving finger point accuracy in first-person shooters using your mouse.

History

A History of Crochet Patterns

Crochet is a craft that has been around since the 19th century. However, I feel it’s a craft that hasn’t been evolved since it was started. I plan on finding more articles on the history of crocheting but this is one I liked.

More things to do and research

• What tools/programs I will need in order to create this interactive stitcher
• What specific audience this invention will target
• How it will be helpful to this specific audience
• Who can I go to for help on this project
• What specific resources will help me in completing this project

History of Holography

The concept of holograms, though futuristic sounding, dates back to 1948, when it was first thought of by Hungarian scientist, Dennis Gabor. Since then, it’s an idea that has been poked, prodded and expanded in the realms of science, science fiction, and art. In the mid 1970’s,  embossed holograms were invented, the first example of mass produced holographic imagery. They’re the silver-rainbow stickers found on your credit cards!

I also want to take a quick moment to spew out some statistics about deforestation. As that would heavily impact my project and storyline, I feel it’s important to get some background knowledge on the topic.  According to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals site, the earth’s forests have shrunk from “4.1 billion hectares in 2000 (or 31.2 per cent of total land area) to about 4 billion hectares (30.7 per cent of total land area) in 2015.” Although that .5% may not seem like much, especially in 15 years, that’s still over 1 billion people whose livelihood depends on these forests affected, and that percentage is still decreasing. Good news, it’s decreasing at a slower pace than before. Bad news, deforestation, illegal poaching, invasive species, pollution, etc. have triggered an alarming trend in wildlife extinction. I’d like to do more research on how to best portray and combat these issues.

Sources:

History of Holography

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg15

Current State

Although true holography like what we come to expect when we watch movies (think Treasure Planet or Gaurdians of the Galaxy or even that scene in The Hunger Games) hasn’t been achieved yet–at least commercially, there is a burst of emerging tech that’s toeing the line. The Microsoft Hololense, for instance, uses mixed reality to imitate holographic imagery filtered through smart glasses. Although holograms are, by definition, a photographic recording of light without the aid of screens, I’d say that mixed reality in general is a sort of parody of the spirit of holography. There have been practices that involve projecting onto a thin mist to create the illusion of holograms, as Professor Ault mentioned before (https://makezine.com/2014/04/18/fog-projection-combined-with-gestural-interface-to-create-hologram-touchscreen/). Similarly, I remember the Japanese “Vocaloid” craze from back when I was in middle school. Upon further research, it seems that the holographic performers were projected onto a transparent screen. So again, not a real hologram. Rather, they are considered variants of “Pepper’s Ghost” technology (name derived from  John Henry Pepper, who popularized the technique).

And finally, the most widespread DIY hologram project–the CD case. This is the technique I plan on using for practicality purposes.

As of today, there are a couple companies that have cropped up to exploit the holography craze. MDH Hologram (http://musion.com/) is one of them, and is currently owned by Giovanni Palma. They also use Pepper’s Ghost technology for mainly purposes of entertainment. Liti Holographics (http://www.litiholographics.com/about.html and yes, that is the actual name of the company. I chortled.)  is another company that commercializes the use of holography. They apply it more towards the corporate consumer, marketing mostly to businesses rather than entertainment consumers. This company was founded by Paul Christie and Brian Christie. Paul Christie was mentored by Steve Benton, a pioneer of holography. These people might be worth reaching out to.

To continue my research, I plan on:

• Looking through the internet and our campus resources on both holographic techniques and environmental studies
• I have friends in computer science and engineering who will hopefully be able to help me out with motion sensors should I need it. I’ll also talk to John Kuiphoff to see if he can help with it.
• Contacting the Rainforest Connection if there’s something I think they can help with or for general fact gathering
• I feel like most of my research that involves reaching out to people will be centered around my narrative, as that’s the most vague aspect of my project. I need to look into how to achieve indirect impact and ways to make the viewer’s experience meaningful.