Kinect keeps us busy

As we approach the holidays our team is working on the game and its various components. After solving the problem we had with the collisions we now focus our attention to a different kind of problem; how to make the game work with the Microsoft Kinect.

We analyze and learn how the Kinect framework works. We try to see how Kinect implements the motion capture and depth so we can figure out a way to map them to our game. While this is an all new experience for us we hope that we will have the game ready and fully working with Kinect by the end of the semester. Even though Kinect provides us with a number of functions and methods of how we can implement and map movement to our game, it’s the depth factor that worries us. Kinect uses a grayscale coloring for presenting depth perception and even though it can be pretty accurate, after a certain point the accuracy gets lost. We need to find a way to bypass this problem and create or modify Kinect’s depth sensor so we can use it more accurately.

In the more artistic matters our members are perfecting the map designs and we also have a first character draft that we can use in our game. The character consists of 3 still photos that are going to be interchangeable so the character will appear to be moving. Farseer physics engine hopefully will provide us with the right documentation in order to create a dynamic character. Farseer uses wheels, motors and joints to provide movement and we have to utilize them in order to make our character move smoothly over the map’s surface.  The Farseer demo we used uses a cube that acts as a wheel and a second duplicate of that cube that remains still and moves along with the rotating cube. The rotating cube will be our movement but in our case it has to be hidden, while the still picture will be replaced by our sprites. Simple sprite replacement didn’t work, as the character displayed some unusual behavior. While we successfully replaced the cube with our character, our character was hovering above the ground instead of touching it. This is a problem that we will have to solve as well as how the animation will occur.

In the music department the main theme of the game is ready as well as potential background music for the space or sea level. The theme music has a retro feel to it. It is inspired from the music of final fantasy and also lord of the rings in order to provide a theme which is keen on the ears, cheerful and accompanies the game’s attitude. More tracks are in the making for the remaining levels as well as sound effects for the events that will occur in the game.

In these final days before the holidays our work is keep getting harder and harder. We need to solve any problems we have and also finish the game on time and make it such the children that the game is made for will be able to benefit from it. Maps, characters, music, and gameplay are all under development and hopefully we will have something that is tangible and playable with the Kinect befor Christmas.