Controller

Originally, our group thought about more modern ways of interaction. Kinect and Playstation Move came across our minds. However, we asked ourselves one important question. “Is it necessary?” and it wasn't. Since we're all big fans of computer games, we realized that a simple mouse and keyboard would suffice. We all played scary games on the computer and that didn't take away the feeling of immersion. We decided to use a Magic Trackpad created by Apple. The photos below were taken from Apple.com

 

Magic Trackpad works using Bluetooth technology. Therefore, we can place it wherever we want. It will prove convenient to our booth set-up since we're planning to have a stand for it. We can pair the Magic Trackpad with our Mac or Windows laptop; it will secure a reliable connection up to 10 metres away.

It is very easy to use. A user can scroll, click, double-click and swipe. It uses the same technology as the one found on a MacBook Pro. It will give the player or user a whole new way to control and interact with what's on the screen. We decided to use this because of the fact that it's something between new and something familiar. Most of us are familiar with the clickpads of our laptops but we haven't used it separately. Our aim is to make the user feel at ease and uneasy at the same time with our controller; at ease because they're familiar on how to use it and uneasy because it's different. Some would prefer to use a mouse.

We will put it on the stand in our booth so it would give the impression that the player has the freedom to control.

The main concept of this technology is that it allows you to interact with whatever is on the screen with one tap of your fingertips. No unnecessary force needed to interact with our proposed game. Therefore, it will be easier for users to explore the scenes in the game. It will be faster for them to move around the objects rather than moving the mouse and worrying about its wire.

The negative thing about this is that the multi touch technology only works when it is paired with a Mac. It can work on Windows with the help of BootCamp. However, it will only let you tap once for click and tap twice for double click. Other features such as swiping are discarded.

This technology also allows you to zoom in using your fingertips. We will not be using this feature in our game because we do not deem it necessary. The code we’re implementing is if the user click/tap the objects in the scene, it will automatically zoom in for better view.