Now this is the kind of work that I’m totally into… Roy Block is an experiment by Sebastian Schmieg that investigates the use of a Tangible User Interface to explore computer game concepts.
For a change, this isn’t constructed using Flash - rather, Processing and reacTIVision (of which there does seem to be a Flash client).
I’ve found this novel approach to enriching the user’s contribution to the game experience to be quite thought-provoking. Here’s a quick overview of the experiment inevitably followed by some YouTube-ness…
The user has two wooden cubes that he presses to the screen to interact with game. To start, the user presses a cube to the starting position.
The objective of the game is to move the (armless!) heroine from the left side of the screen to the goal on the right.
The character/amputee effectively walks and jumps on the user-placed blocks. Guiding her in either direction is as easy as rotating the current block, consequently creating a slope that she will walk down. If the character falls to the bottom of the screen, she dies and it’s game over!
At this point the only obstacles to avoid are the floral-like discs that float mid-screen. If the character enters a disc, the flower will try to zap her (at least, that’s what it looks like) which again, means certain death.
Sebastian has some great ideas on how this concept can be improved… namely giving each face of the cube different properties - eg. one side may emulate a trampoline, the other may be ice, another may be glue?! His other idea is to make each block so large that a person can only manage one at a time… which would then evolve into a very energetic multiplayer game.
On reflection, perhaps he could introduce blocks that have different shapes? Pyramids? Cylinders? Maybe some sides of the blocks could only be utilised by the character interacting with it from the underside? Bungee cord anyone? Wouldn’t it be great if you could have PlayStation-esque force-feedback in the cubes! Or really push the ethical boundaries by giving the user a small electric shock from the cube when the heroine gets zapped by a flower?!
Anyway, time to check it out for yourself:
What do you think? Any ideas how this game or concept can be taken further?
[via: Joystiq]
