One of the most frustrating things in games, and also in life, is the inability to do something just because of bad interface. You know what you have to do, you know what you want to do, but you just can't get your limbs to go. Sometimes gaining the skill to stop fumbling is part of the game itself (case in point), but in this case my kids really want to play Minecraft on their own and spinning around looking down is not quite what they had in mind.
So what happens when you give a 5 year old a first person shooter interface for the first time? A couple of things:
- They tend to twist the mouse instead of slide it. It seems G views the mouse as an avatar of herself so when she wants to turn, she turns the mouse. Oddly enough looking up and down is an easily grasped concept but...
- They tend to shift their view down. Once G was walking along outside I noticed that she slowly slid her view downwards to the point where she was basically looking at the ground, and she was ok with that. When I reminded her to look up she stopped, looked slightly up, and noticed she almost ran into a pig (to which she said "Oh, a pig!"
- You realize that the natural motions of the human body are fascinating. Instinctively G seemed to view the computer screen as a window, or possibly a projection of her vision, because at times I caught her moving her head to try and see around things that were in front of her. It is clear that we need an Oculus in this house (or possibly some other non-Facebook branded VR).
In the end, G was able to do some navigation on her own and was telling me she wants to learn how to fight monsters. For a first try I think it was a success and we need to see how try 2 goes. Now I have yet to experiment with the 3 year old (especially because he says he want's to play now too), but I expect the results would be worse.
I find myself trying to remember how did I learn to masterfully prance around a 3D landscape? Thinking back I remember that the first time I thought "That is a pain in the ass," was when I made the first shift from Wolfenstein 3D and Doom 2 to Quake. Looking up and down is hard. I then think further back and remember that circle strafing was a revolutionary point in my battles against the demon horde (and helped me to learn how to use the mouse better). Will the 16 Bit Mom support my desire to train my 3 and 5 year old with battling demon Nazis? Probably not but maybe if I install the Barneystien mod.
The alternative is to make a new type of controller. I'm just thinking this up as I type this so bear with me. Addressing the issues shown above, maybe I need to find some way to isolate X and Y movement into two controls (the kids don't need to move fast, they just want to have fun). That should be easy enough with taking apart an old school ball mouse and would solve two problems (twisting and head going down)...I think I know my project for this weekend.
I should also mention that I don't think the 16 Bit Mom is going to like giving up the laptop for a Minecraft machine, so I think I will be spending some time this week trying to set up Minecraft on my Raspberry Pi. Maybe the mini arcade machine I planned before is going to turn into a Picraft machine for my kids. I wonder how a track ball would work for Minecraft...
Monday, March 31, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Mine Blok Craft!
For the longest time I never understood the appeal of Minecraft. You sit and hack away hoping to get enough rock stuff to make something. Where is the fun? Digging in the dirt? Building with blocks? I could do both of those things in the real world and actually get something done...But Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon, and all my friends can't be that terribly wrong. So I checked it out.
I played the game some with my nephews, who knew a ton about how to craft, what to craft, and why to craft. I saw that this was at minimum a very rudimentary introduction to programming of sorts (especially when you use something called "redstone" that can activate machines). Great for kids, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time investment to learn how to do something that was, in the end, useless for me (ok...fun isn't useless, but this was getting close enough to learning a programming language that I would rather have spent the time learning how to program for Android).
Forcing myself to socialize I played regularly with some close friends on a shared server. I saw the insane creations that people were making and thought, I might as well too. My way of differentiating myself was to do the opposite of build. I wanted to carve something out of a mountain. My goal was a cathedral hidden behind a single door, with skylights and such. It was going to be tricky because, as far as I know, you can't fake rock blocks. They can only be leftover after you cut around them. That was all fine and dandy, but then, when mining for materials to make another pick axe, I discovered a cave.
It turns out that in addition to randomly generated terrain, there is almost a randomly generated history for each world. That history isn't written down, but something happened long before you arrived in this land and there are places to explore. That is where I found the fun. My favorite thing to find now are the zombie spawning dungeons which I hope someone will explain to me some day. It is a crafted room filled with zombies. You kill them all and what is left is a small caged zombie that is on fire (and subsequently spawns more zombies). Kill that and you can get the treasure. They really are creepy rooms because you can hear the zombies from far away while you mine. There are no doors or windows, just zombies trapped as if they were buried in some ancient ritual.
I have to admit that part of the current attraction for me is that my kids really get into it. They aren't jaded by the lack of a clear goal or the absence of story (which I think was my problem all along, solved now that I found out how to make the story and goal for myself). They are scared by the zombies, feel triumph when I discover gold, and feel bad when they stick their head in front of the computer monitor and block my vision causing me to run into a hole and die in lava. "A" now regularly asks to play Blokus (which I am trying to teach him is a different game, but that's what he calls Minecraft) and "G" likes to talk about how mommy will love all the sheep in the field (because of the wool we get...shameless plug http://hipstrings.etsy.com).
Again, I don't think it's a great game. The art is fun, but basic. The goals are nonexistant (especially in free mode). But as with Legos and Lincoln Logs, the fun is in the simplicity and your own imagination. Being able to do it with friends makes it even more so. Add in a little bit of Oculus (which is compatible), and I think you will have a timeless classic.
Incidentally, I was wondering what I should do with the saddle I found in one of the zombie dungeons and "A" suggested that I put it on a sheep. A quick Google search tells me that won't work, but I like where his brain is going.
I played the game some with my nephews, who knew a ton about how to craft, what to craft, and why to craft. I saw that this was at minimum a very rudimentary introduction to programming of sorts (especially when you use something called "redstone" that can activate machines). Great for kids, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time investment to learn how to do something that was, in the end, useless for me (ok...fun isn't useless, but this was getting close enough to learning a programming language that I would rather have spent the time learning how to program for Android).
Forcing myself to socialize I played regularly with some close friends on a shared server. I saw the insane creations that people were making and thought, I might as well too. My way of differentiating myself was to do the opposite of build. I wanted to carve something out of a mountain. My goal was a cathedral hidden behind a single door, with skylights and such. It was going to be tricky because, as far as I know, you can't fake rock blocks. They can only be leftover after you cut around them. That was all fine and dandy, but then, when mining for materials to make another pick axe, I discovered a cave.
It turns out that in addition to randomly generated terrain, there is almost a randomly generated history for each world. That history isn't written down, but something happened long before you arrived in this land and there are places to explore. That is where I found the fun. My favorite thing to find now are the zombie spawning dungeons which I hope someone will explain to me some day. It is a crafted room filled with zombies. You kill them all and what is left is a small caged zombie that is on fire (and subsequently spawns more zombies). Kill that and you can get the treasure. They really are creepy rooms because you can hear the zombies from far away while you mine. There are no doors or windows, just zombies trapped as if they were buried in some ancient ritual.
I have to admit that part of the current attraction for me is that my kids really get into it. They aren't jaded by the lack of a clear goal or the absence of story (which I think was my problem all along, solved now that I found out how to make the story and goal for myself). They are scared by the zombies, feel triumph when I discover gold, and feel bad when they stick their head in front of the computer monitor and block my vision causing me to run into a hole and die in lava. "A" now regularly asks to play Blokus (which I am trying to teach him is a different game, but that's what he calls Minecraft) and "G" likes to talk about how mommy will love all the sheep in the field (because of the wool we get...shameless plug http://hipstrings.etsy.com).
Again, I don't think it's a great game. The art is fun, but basic. The goals are nonexistant (especially in free mode). But as with Legos and Lincoln Logs, the fun is in the simplicity and your own imagination. Being able to do it with friends makes it even more so. Add in a little bit of Oculus (which is compatible), and I think you will have a timeless classic.
Incidentally, I was wondering what I should do with the saddle I found in one of the zombie dungeons and "A" suggested that I put it on a sheep. A quick Google search tells me that won't work, but I like where his brain is going.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Future is 3D
I remember one of my first experiences with virtual reality was in Atlantic City during the winter in a mall. No one was there because it was the off season, but there was still a hand full of people clustered around this black pod which contained a seat. Inside was someone wearing a futuristic helmet that looked like something out of an 80s sci fi movie. My dad, ever the one for indulging my interest in technology, encouraged me to get in and I was transported to the most opposite experience possible; a WW I biplane pilot. I was flying, attempting to take out my enemy, and my father encouraged me to look around. I was fixated on my target until they were destroyed, at which point I looked around and was simultaneously amazed and frustrated. The world was around me, but just out of reach. I tried to peak over the edge, but the harness kept my head from pointing too far down. If I turned too fast, I had to wait for my virtual head to catch up. Still it was a sight to behold. The other experience (I can't remember which one was first) was a first person shooter. I was fighting against maybe one other person shooting giant balls out of a gun that looked like it was made out of Duplos (except without those high resolution round pins). It was kind of like playing a virtual reality FPS of the original Adventure for the 2600. I was standing, using a controller to move around, and it was awesome. The next few times time I saw both of those units, they were down and I never got to experience it again.
Since then I have always been fascinated by 3D in all forms. From comic books that used 3D glasses to the Virtual Boy (which I currently have a working one). Those of you who know my work at the Otakon Photo Suite know that we even did 3D photos one year which, aside from being a pain the butt, came out amazingly! Of course there is my obsession with 3D printing as well, but that is another story. Let's keep this virtual shall we?
So what about 3D for my kids? Well even though the 3DS has made it super easy, I take the warnings from Nintendo seriously (no 3D for kids below 7 years old to avoid damaging eye development). Now I probably won't wait that long (I'm tempted to introduce G to the 3D feature now that she is 5) but even so, for the time being 3D is definitely something that is mostly a personal experience. I like gaming together, especially with my kids, so the more I can keep that bridge open, the better.
But then there is the Oculus. It honestly is not an overstatement to say that using the Oculus Rift is a life changing experience. I'm sure I could write a years worth of posts just on just the Oculus, but I will keep it short for now and focus on two of the demos that I tried. The rest, I'm sure, will come in a later post.
1) Tuscany: Everyone who has tried the Oculus has tried Tuscany from what I can tell by comments on the internet. It is just what it sounds like. You are in a villa in Tuscany. There is a lake. A tree. A house. After experiencing it I really want to just watch a bunch of different people try this out and see what others do. Why? I just went under the tree and just looked up.
One of my favorite things to do is to look up into the sky through the branches of the trees. Maybe it was because of this cold, cold winter, but when I started out and saw the tree, I knew I wanted to look at the sky through the branches. There were no leaves, the branches didn't sway, but I felt peace. I explored things a bit more and, while I was disappointed in the view of the lake, I felt like I was there.
Sure it was fake. It looked fake. The resolution was mediocre and the pixel density was so low there is a "screen door" effect, but it was bright and fast. When I moved my head, my vision moved. I could scan with my eyes. Things were there...I was there, in full vivid 3D. Everything matched the depth I expected (unlike the 3DS which looks best when the 3D is exaggerated) and with the minimal tether of what is essentially a USB cable, I felt nothing holding me back.
As an aside, I don't know where Jill went (I didn't pay much attention when she tried it), but I did hear her lamenting "I just want to put my feet up!" The real world foot rest wasn't there while the virtual one was.
2) The Mute: On the complete other side of the spectrum I played a game called Asunder: Earthbound where I was an escape convict called the Mute. I was on a plane in what seemed like the 1940s and had interactions with my fellow passengers using only nodding and single button clicks while looking at something (look at the chair in front of you, click, and you kick the chair). Again the graphics where nothing to write home about, but I felt completely there. The buzz of the engines. The awkward conversations with my neighbor. Trying to avoid eye contact with the annoying girl I threw peanuts at. But then I was caught. They recognized me. The guy in front of me whose chair I kicked was revealed to have a gun and his hand reached above the seat, twisting around in an impossible way that in retrospect just looked like sloppy programming and should have been ridiculous. Instead my heart raced. I frantically clicked to see if I could do anything but I just sat there helplessly and watched the gun as I was shot, in the face, 3 times. With each shot, I felt the area where the goggles touched my face burn. Almost as if my body, expecting to be shot, needed a sensation to match my virtual death. I had to come out to reality, to enjoy the fact that I was alive, but my desire to succeed in the game put me back in a few minutes later. Again I died, twice more, and that was enough. I never ask for hints in games, but I couldn't take getting shot again and I asked my friend for help (he couldn't figure out why I kept dying, but later on I found out I forgot to turn out the light so I wouldn't be so easily recognized).
After these two experiences and many more, I walked away desperately wanting an Oculus for myself. For $300 for the development kit, who could say no? But then, in the haze of light headedness that felt halfway between drunk and a dream (which followed me for the next day) I realized that I would be sucked into this virtual world way more than I can afford to at this time in my life.
And so I decided to wait, living with the virtual 3D of my Virtual Boy and my 3DS until there comes a point where the Oculus or similar device can be used for something productive, like easier 3D modeling, or remote presence. And then another friend reminded me, Star Citizen will support the Oculus. Looks like I will be getting lost in space after all.
Since then I have always been fascinated by 3D in all forms. From comic books that used 3D glasses to the Virtual Boy (which I currently have a working one). Those of you who know my work at the Otakon Photo Suite know that we even did 3D photos one year which, aside from being a pain the butt, came out amazingly! Of course there is my obsession with 3D printing as well, but that is another story. Let's keep this virtual shall we?
So what about 3D for my kids? Well even though the 3DS has made it super easy, I take the warnings from Nintendo seriously (no 3D for kids below 7 years old to avoid damaging eye development). Now I probably won't wait that long (I'm tempted to introduce G to the 3D feature now that she is 5) but even so, for the time being 3D is definitely something that is mostly a personal experience. I like gaming together, especially with my kids, so the more I can keep that bridge open, the better.
But then there is the Oculus. It honestly is not an overstatement to say that using the Oculus Rift is a life changing experience. I'm sure I could write a years worth of posts just on just the Oculus, but I will keep it short for now and focus on two of the demos that I tried. The rest, I'm sure, will come in a later post.
1) Tuscany: Everyone who has tried the Oculus has tried Tuscany from what I can tell by comments on the internet. It is just what it sounds like. You are in a villa in Tuscany. There is a lake. A tree. A house. After experiencing it I really want to just watch a bunch of different people try this out and see what others do. Why? I just went under the tree and just looked up.
One of my favorite things to do is to look up into the sky through the branches of the trees. Maybe it was because of this cold, cold winter, but when I started out and saw the tree, I knew I wanted to look at the sky through the branches. There were no leaves, the branches didn't sway, but I felt peace. I explored things a bit more and, while I was disappointed in the view of the lake, I felt like I was there.
Sure it was fake. It looked fake. The resolution was mediocre and the pixel density was so low there is a "screen door" effect, but it was bright and fast. When I moved my head, my vision moved. I could scan with my eyes. Things were there...I was there, in full vivid 3D. Everything matched the depth I expected (unlike the 3DS which looks best when the 3D is exaggerated) and with the minimal tether of what is essentially a USB cable, I felt nothing holding me back.
As an aside, I don't know where Jill went (I didn't pay much attention when she tried it), but I did hear her lamenting "I just want to put my feet up!" The real world foot rest wasn't there while the virtual one was.
2) The Mute: On the complete other side of the spectrum I played a game called Asunder: Earthbound where I was an escape convict called the Mute. I was on a plane in what seemed like the 1940s and had interactions with my fellow passengers using only nodding and single button clicks while looking at something (look at the chair in front of you, click, and you kick the chair). Again the graphics where nothing to write home about, but I felt completely there. The buzz of the engines. The awkward conversations with my neighbor. Trying to avoid eye contact with the annoying girl I threw peanuts at. But then I was caught. They recognized me. The guy in front of me whose chair I kicked was revealed to have a gun and his hand reached above the seat, twisting around in an impossible way that in retrospect just looked like sloppy programming and should have been ridiculous. Instead my heart raced. I frantically clicked to see if I could do anything but I just sat there helplessly and watched the gun as I was shot, in the face, 3 times. With each shot, I felt the area where the goggles touched my face burn. Almost as if my body, expecting to be shot, needed a sensation to match my virtual death. I had to come out to reality, to enjoy the fact that I was alive, but my desire to succeed in the game put me back in a few minutes later. Again I died, twice more, and that was enough. I never ask for hints in games, but I couldn't take getting shot again and I asked my friend for help (he couldn't figure out why I kept dying, but later on I found out I forgot to turn out the light so I wouldn't be so easily recognized).
After these two experiences and many more, I walked away desperately wanting an Oculus for myself. For $300 for the development kit, who could say no? But then, in the haze of light headedness that felt halfway between drunk and a dream (which followed me for the next day) I realized that I would be sucked into this virtual world way more than I can afford to at this time in my life.
And so I decided to wait, living with the virtual 3D of my Virtual Boy and my 3DS until there comes a point where the Oculus or similar device can be used for something productive, like easier 3D modeling, or remote presence. And then another friend reminded me, Star Citizen will support the Oculus. Looks like I will be getting lost in space after all.
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