Hi all,
We are developing a "serious" game for children between 8 and 10, in which they will learn about the world of puppetry. Using the game and its custom-built controller, they will learn how to do basic movements with a marionette, while solving very simple puzzles that teach them about material properties of the puppets. The level itself progresses through the history of a certain type of puppet, from traditional art to modern, more absurd applications of the art form. There are three types of puppets (a wooden puppet, a metal puppet and a puppet made of fabric), but the children can use a puppet editor (separated from the game itself) to customize their puppets (adding accessories to them for example).
In this Belgian research project (GameHUB), we are developing the first level as a demonstrator for the concept. The level involves the world of "rod puppets", going from the traditional Wayang Golek puppets to the modern puppets of Handpring Puppet Company.
We are only just producing the actual scenery and puzzles for the game, but I wanted to show our current results anyway, so we can maybe get some critique on the general idea. The innovative about this game is that we are using purely physically based character animation for the player-controller marionette. So no animations on that character whatsoever.
Normally, the game is played using a custom-built controller that uses the same wooden "cross" that real puppeteers use. In stead of attaching the strings of the wooden cross to a puppet, we use bend and distance sensors and an Arduino board to capture the movement of the controller. We changed the USB stack of the Arduino board to act as a Joystick HID device, so we can use the normal Unity input system to capture the input of the sensors. For demonstration purposes however, I implemented a keyboard controller to control the puppet without the custom controller.
Here are some screenshots of the current state of the level. Note that we are still tweaking this very much, especially in terms of lighting, but all comments are more than welcome.
A picture of the controller:
Here are some links to the playable versions:
I also created a very simple demo to show all three puppets at once. Walking is disabled, but the keyboard controls are the same as in the other demonstrator.
The keyboard controls:
- Left/right arrow keys: Pull left/right leg up
- Left shift + Left/right arrow keys: Pull left/right arm up
- Down arrow: Squat
- Up arrow: jump
- Up+Down arrows: bend over
- Escape: Restart level
You can also drag the puppet and other physical objects around with the left mouse button.
I feel that I wrote too much text already, so if anyone wants more information about something, just post here. And again, all comments are very welcome. We have a thick skin
Greetings,
JeDi
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