Flash

I've started on the Flash program for our game. I'm about 25% the way through but I've got the rough idea down and I can show you guys on the next meeting.

Basically it's an interface that looks like a very very simplified (think stick figures ala Wii) version of Streetfighter/Tekken. There's only 2 characters and a hp bar on screen.

There will be 2 buttons that correspond to each player's mouse.

When clicked, the stick figures will be animated in a simple way (punching the opponent's face) and possibly playing a sound. Some hp will also be knocked off the hp bar.

That's about as far as I got until I discovered one big problem - we can have 2 mice, but there will only be 1 cursor on the screen. -__-

So I thought my whole idea of having 2 buttons to trigger the damage for each character was destroyed until I did a quick Google search and found a trial version of TeamPlayer.

Basically, TeamPlayer is a program that gives each mouse/touchpad/tablet connected to your pc it's own cursor. So there we go! Problem solved.

So I'm thinking our game will be like your typical fighting game - only you can actually physically hit your opponent instead of mashing buttons on a dpad/keyboard!

This also allows freedom of creativity of movement, as you don't have to remember that down+front+punch is a hadoken, you just have to complete the simple task of hitting that button (mouse) - and you can do it however you want!

So now we can express our inner violent selves without actually harming the opponent (this is where the pillows come in) AND have a tangible outcome on screen. (How do you judge who wins a normal pillow fight anyway?)

That said, the Flash program is not done yet, so we may still come across some other problems in the game.

I've got a regular wireless mouse from a friend, and Apple single-button mouse from another friend, and Floyd has kindly agreed to loan us his Apple mouse for our demo. (We still have to go pick it up from him though)

Here's the screencap of the Flash program so far:

As you can see, there are 3 cursors on my screen so that's working well. There's 1 on each hp bar and 1 in the middle. The trial version of TeamPlayer only allows a max of 3 cursors so that's just nice - 2 for the mice on the players and one for us to control the program.

Also, TeamPlayer only runs on Windows OS and not Mac. So that's why I ran the .swf file on Internet Explorer.

Let's meet up tomorrow or Monday to test out the physical part of the game. Preferably Monday, because I'd like some time to finish off the Flash program.

Dots

Here's a webcam pic of our dots. Floyd already took a pic on demo day, but I thought I'd post it up again anyway for the record.

16.66 dots...but we'll round it up to 17 okay? : )

Summary: Pillow Fight

Okay, to make it easier to understand, I'm going to recap the pillow fight game in simple words.

Method of playing:

Hit the mouse on your opponent's chest with a pillow to score points.

Goal:

There are 2 ways to play this game:

1. To score the most points within a given time frame.

OR

2. To land the 'killing blow' on the opponent.

Game mechanics

If we're playing the first method:

The wireless mouse is hooked up to a flash program on a laptop. The flash program has buttons that add to your score when clicked. Every time you hit the mouse, it clicks, and the hit tally goes up.

If we're playing the second method:

I will create a virtual character on flash that will 'die' in x amount of hits. When the character has one last hit left before it dies, it will scream/make a loud noise, which will let the players know it is time to land the killing blow to win the game.

For both methods:

I can try to program the flash program to play a funny sound each time the mouse is clicked (i.e. whenever the player is hit.) This is purely to add to the fun atmosphere of the game, and need not be explained to the players.

***

For a more elaborate explanation, check out the previous post below.

If there are any more questions, please let me know and we can work it out together. :) The two methods of playing the game are what I've come up with so far, but we can still think of more ideas and make the game better/simpler/fun-ner.

Pillow fiiiiight!

So...I was thinking of a pillow fight game. Wait, wait...hear me out.

This came from our team's ideas to modify our first game by:

1. Having a moving target to make the game more dynamic -instead of lights on a wall

2. Involving more violence in a safe way! (As suggested by Fandi - he mentioned pillow fighting before also if I remember correctly)

3. Involving more technology besides button lights (Floyd said we need to involve computers.)

4. Having a scoring system, so we have a proper 'goal' instead of just hurling balls trying to break our cheap-ass lights

So I combined all those ideas and came up with a new game!

Basically you need a minimum of two players. Each person is equipped with a pillow and a vest with wireless mouse (or mice) attached.

The players are given a time frame in which they have to attack the other player by hitting the mice with the pillow, which clicks on a counter on the laptop to count the number of times a person is hit.

The person with the highest amount of hits wins!

If the budget allows, we can have more mice and we can have different scores allocated for different parts of the body. For example, the arms which are more vulnerable may be valued at 1 point, whereas the torso can be allocated 3 points as it can be easily defended.

It can also be a team game - people can play by their own rules: one person can hold back and opponent and let their teammate hit to their heart's content if they wish! It's up to the victim's teammate to save them...or take advantage and hit the captor! Play dirty, play fair - it doesn't matter. Just have fun :)

We can also use those cheap foam swords if you want a more epic feel. But I've always liked pillow fights and I'm sure Fandi does too :P Also, judging by the response towards Hungry Balls, I think pillows are more indestructible than foam swords. And we can just all bring one from home! Easy on the wallet :)

Will attach some illustrations soon, am currently playing DotA. Brb.

Update: With flash, we can also easily program the buttons to generate sounds when the mouse is clicked. We can do random sounds like YEEOOWWW! ...or like a DotA tribute: m-m-m-monster kill!!!

Update #2: If we have many mice, we probably need a USB hub so we only need one laptop. If we use flash, we can also record which body part was hit how many times, and in what sequence - some sort of stat chart, if the player wants to see how the fight went.

Update #3: Added pics. I was thinking about how we could have a shared virtual body. Then I thought: why not change the mechanics of the game so that although there are 2 real players, there is only one virtual body? This virtual body (depicted by a picture on the laptop) can be hit a certain amount of times before it 'dies.' The player to strike the killing blow will win the game. So the game now involves strategy as well as senseless hitting.

Trying to keep count the amount of blows would probably be too distracting, so perhaps we could program the mouse clicks to have different sounds with each blow, maybe starting from soft groans and escalating to shrieks of pain...and right before the killing blow - "PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEE!" (Or something else memorable/really obvious so that the players know it's time to strike.)

Just an idea, lol. XD But I think it would be kinda fun. I'll handle the programming part, don't worry about that first.

(Just had a shitty game of DotA, so there's lots of violence on my mind right now D: )

Most importantly:

1. It fulfils the criteria of involving exertion and computer technology.

2. It's cheap to implement - we only have to borrow some wireless mice. Preferably Apple mice due to their one-button surface, which makes it easy to hit. I can provide the laptop, flash, vests and pillows. (I'm sure you all have some too :D)

3. It keeps with the Junkfooders' theme of violence and stress-relief.

4. It is intuitive - doesn't need much explaining.

5. It's gonna be shitloads of fun!

What say you, fellow Junkfooders?