Our project will be a hardware gesture controlled version of the classic game “No Internet on Chrome: Dino T-Rex”.
The original game features a small pixelated dinosaur walking forward and jumping over obstacles (cacti and birds) controlled by the player pressing the spacebar key. The goal of the game is to survive for as long as possible and the game is lost when the dinosaur collides with an obstacle, which ends the game and displays your score.
In our project, we will be implementing a similar game mechanic but incorporating the goals of Spark: to build the coolest electromechanical displays!
We will be making two main changes from the original inspiration game:
- Game Display: Rather than a software interface, we will be building our project in hardware using a hologram fan.
As a line of LEDs sweeps/rotates around at fast frequencies programmed to turn on and off at the perfect moments, a holographic display will form from the side view, creating the backdrop on which the game is played.
- Player Input: Rather than the player simply pressing the spacebar to make the dinosaur jump.
Our project will utilise a camera and gesture detection software, with certain gestures meaning the dinosaur should jump or duck. A further extension could incorporate more complicated motion tracking, such as the player physically jumping or ducking corresponding to the dinosaur’s movement.