About
HaptiCast is a first-person shooter style game which integrates haptic rendering as a main feature of the game. Haptic rendering stimulates players' sense of touch, allowing them to literally touch and feel objects in the game world.
Currently, the goal of the HaptiCast project is to act as a testbed for haptic interaction in 3D games. We hope to develop novel techniques for integrating modern haptic technology into 3D games and present them to the gaming and haptic communities.
Requirements
- Software
- Windows XP/2000 operating system, SensAble's OpenHaptic (HDAPI) drivers, DirectX 9.0
- Hardware
- Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz or higher), 512 MB of memory, 3D graphics card,
PHANTOM Omni device
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Game Description
In HaptiCast, players take on the role of a wizard, with a set of haptically-enabled wands to help them do battle and interact with their environment.
Each player starts with a limited amount of health, and each of their wands has a limited amount of energy. By using their wands, players use up the energy contained within them. Wands may be used to shoot projectiles at other players, interact with objects in the environment, or hybrid uses.
Powerups exist throughout each game level and may be used to replenish player health, or wand energy. When a player's health reaches zero, they die and respawn somewhere in the level. The style of gameplay is very similar to the "deathmatch" setting available in most first-person-shooter games. (e.g., DOOM, Quake, Unreal Tournament)
Lift wand
This wand allows a player to pick up any object in the game world. Forces affecting the object (e.g., gravity, collisions, drag) are displayed to the player at their haptic device. Objects may be used as a shield from other players or to crush an opponent!
Blast wand
When activated, the blast wand shoots a fiery blast from the end of the wand. The blast wand may be used to hurt an opponent or remove obstacles that block your path.
To activiate this wand, hold down the button on the haptic device and aim your wand. The longer you hold, the more energy that will be released when you finally release the button. This is accompanied by a trembling in the haptic device, followed by a recoil.
Bolt wand
Like the blast wand, this wand shoots a projectile out the end of the wand. However, projectiles for the bolt wand use less energy and are rapidly fired. These projectiles, or bolts, may be used to move small obstacles or to wear down an opponent's health.
The haptic affect displayed by this wand is a short, transient recoil force.
Lob wand
This wand allows the user to throw, or lob, projectiles at another player and resembles a slingshot more than a wand. The user presses and holds down the button on their haptic device. As the haptic device is moved, it feels as if the user is pulling on an elastic band-- the further the elastic is pulled, the larger the force that is used to launch the projectile.
Swing wand
This wand is an alternate operating mode of the Lift wand. Forces generated by the rendering algorithm of the Lift wand are scaled and transformed to affect the in-game avatar. That is, the forces felt by the user also affect their character. The intended function of this wand is to allow the user to swing and suspend themselves from static objects within the game. But with some imagination, other creative uses are possible...
