todd

Project Proposal

This project will take the form of a rather simple arcade game, reminiscent of Pac-Man or Dig-Dug. The player must navigate an area while being chased by antagonists (referred to hereafter as “zombies”). The twist is that the player does not use a keyboard or joystick to navigate, but their actual, physical location. After all, if joysticks connect to the serial port of a computer, than why not a GPS receiver? A player’s position, direction, and speed can be determined by such input, making the GPS functionally equivalent to a joystick or mouse in the context of a game.

The initial setup will involve a GPS receiver connected to a portable computer, probably a Tablet PC. The player will be able to look at the computer display to see their location in relationship to the “zombies”. The zombies, in turn, will have rudimentary follow behavior, and hunt down the player. The zombies will not be hampered by terrain (unlike the player). Since the only information necessary to play the game is the player’s position and possibly their orientation, the game could theoretically be played anywhere that can adequately receive GPS signals.

An alternative setup may forgo the visual display and instead have the player wear headphones, being only able to hear the zombies. Stereo panning and volume of sound could determine direction and distance. Another alternative to a tablet PC could be a PDA, although development on such specialized platforms could prove problematic.

Details of actual game play will change as the potential and limitations of the hardware, not to mention balancing factors of the actual game, are learned in field-testing. Obviously, many games could be made using this interface; a standard chase game could be expanded if time and hardware qualities allow.

Schedule:

Week 1: Develop method of parsing GPS/Serial data

Week 2: Integrate Parser with graphical interface. Field test.

Week 3: Fine tune physical setup of hardware devices, Start including game elements.

Week 4: Build in/test game play elements and game balance.

Week 5: Continue testing game elements.

Week 6: Polish interface, finalize.