Physical Interaction and Game Programming

Aim

After the course the student should be able to:

• Design computer games with particular emphasis on the human body as the game controller.
• Describe, evaluate and reflect on different physical interaction techniques, with particular focus on the human body and physical artefacts as the game controller techniques
• Using a game development environment such as Godot, Unitys3D.

Content

Computer games as products are based on the possibilities provided by the game controller. In recent years we have seen an increase in the production of alternative game controllers based on the human body and use of physical artifacts. These technologies not only create new opportunities for interaction, they also create new opportunities for game design.

The focus is on physical interaction and the human body as as the game controller and how it affects the programming and design of computer games and interactive media. These techniques concern the monitoring and of body, head, eye movement, gestures, and even recognition of physical artifacts that are handled by humans.Students will conduct a series of labs that illustrate the programming of such areas as physical interaction in relation to games. Students will then have to develop a small game project in a selected technology focused on physical interaction.

The development will be in game development environments such as Godot or Unity and build games with physical interaction through Mobile AR or ML-based skelletal tracking using webcam.