Week 4

After 1/4, the team have scheduled meetings with faculties to gain further suggestions on potential directions of hte project. One of the valuable insights the team got from Jesse Shell was the idea of peaking through which utilize the 3D and depth of the Looking Glass. Based on that, the idea of “Star War Space Ship” game emerged.

“Star War” Ideation

Setup

PC: Player’s computer, running the local game.

Main Monitor:  A surveillance feed of the player’s home planet monitoring outer space.

Looking Glass Display: First-person view of the player’s starship, showing the forward motion through space.

Keyboard(replaced by head-tracking if applicable): Direction control of the starship.

Eye-tracker: Player’s cosmic laser cannon locked on target.

Note: The feeds on the two displays can be swapped, depending on which aspect we decide to emphasize with the looking glass.

Key-code: The two players enter the name of their starship on the opponent’s computer, which serves as the password for the final settlement.

Winning condition

• Destroy the opponent’s home planet, or
• Intercept the opponent’s starship

Mechanics

• Flying the starship with keyboard (head tracking)
  • Control of the starship’s left, right, and forward movements, will be reflected on the looking glass. 
  • The position of the starship will be displayed on the opponent’s home planet defense monitoring screen if the direction is correct.
  • During the flight, to avoid being locked onto by the opponent’s laser cannon, please use celestial bodies along the way as cover.
• Use eye-tracking as the laser cannon’s aiming reticle to monitor the home planet defense system feed
  • But avoid prolonged focus, as the energy will deplete and require recharging.
• When the player uses eye-tracking to lock onto the opponent’s starship for three seconds or more：
  • The system will determine it as a successful interception of the opponent’s starship, and
  • The pre-saved password of the opponent player will then be displayed to the player. 
  • The player can input this password using the keyboard, and if correct, it will be judged as a successful interception of the opponent’s starship using the laser cannon.

Multiplayer Design

Set up:

• Two looking glasses putting against each other,
• 2 players operating on the playground (3D Sphere) that’s between the space of 2 looking glass displays. 
• The playground is a space arena. Players control objects (ships) to take down enemy objects.

Core Gameplay Mechanics:

Player controls

1. Laser Shooter(s)
2. Mirror(s)

Goal: 

Players want to take down as many enemy targets as possible on one fire.

Scenario:

• The player will first rotate the 3D map, trying to eyeball and find a line where as many enemies align as possible.
• Then move the mirrors, aiming to take down as many enemies on the laser track as possible.
• Fire and eliminate enemy targets.

Further game development direction:

• Limitation of movement/rotation each turn.
• Numbers of player objects.
• Different types of player objects.
• Cooperation / Competition

Mood/References:

Tech Testing

Given that the proposed solution necessitates network connectivity between two PCs and considering the unreliable wireless network conditions at the GDC venue, the team is currently validating an alternative approach by establishing a local area network (LAN) between the two computers using a physical Ethernet cable connection.