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Kinect Swords
An intelligent look at what Kinect could have done but Microsoft will likely never do.
or
"The first commercial Full Motion UI"
or
"How we might get something leading towards the holodeck if Microsoft stops berating us with the 'no controller ever' mantra."
Kinect: Current State
Before I begin, there is something that I feel I need to address, and that is this idea of mindless acceptance of Kinect as it is now.
Microsoft is trying to enforce a "no controller ever" mantra.
Kinect's marketing tagline used to be "no controller required" and has recently become "you are the controller". Both of these taglines try to push the idea that controllers ultimately have no value to the future of gaming.
Kinect's current mantra sacrifices all haptic (touch) feedback for the sake of "blue ocean strategy".
Having a controller can give us haptic feedback, which allows us to physically feel what is happening in the virtual world we're playing in.
Kinect's marketing would have us sacrifice haptic feedback in favor of a "blue ocean strategy" that's primary goal is to net as many people as possible. Microsoft could just as easily have both.
The most popular haptic feedback in gaming technology, rumble, has been essentially trivial so far. We can make it non-trivial now with Kinect.
We first need to accept that...
No piece of technology should be limited by its marketing tagline.
Kinect is amazing. I should get that out of the way first. I do not hate Kinect. I do not hate what MS is trying to do with Kinect. What I am uncomfortable with however is MS trying to push on us the idea that this amazing piece of technology should never be anything more than what it is now.
The potential for Kinect's technology to advance other fields is astounding. Everything from machine learning to robotics could benefit from learning from Kinect. And yet, despite this desire by many to crack open Kinect for science, many of us "core" gamers are willing to just blow Kinect off as a device only capable of "casual" gaming experiences. We don't want to look at the device and think about how we can use Kinect to advance gaming itself as a medium and "core" gaming in particular.
We can get one step closer to the holodeck if we're willing to keep an open mind.
What I hope to show is that Kinect has the potential to take us one step closer to the holodeck if we're willing to open our minds to the possibilities of what Kinect plus haptic feedback can give us.
Kinect: "Core" Problems
- The device simply isn't powerful enough.
- "Core gamers" were ignored when they could have been instrumental to creating Kinect.
That said, what "core gamers" thought they wanted wasn't actually what they needed.
| Image © 2006 ProjectCartoon.com The customer ("core gamers") wanted something complex (in the image, numerous boards and two ropes) when all they actually needed was something simple (a tire swing). |
Kinect: "Core" Solutions
What "core gamers" thought they wanted was all the "surface" functionalities of their existing 13-button 2-joystick controller to be built into the Kinect experience.
Functionalities that are on the surface of the experience. The traditional 360 controller has many buttons on its surface which dictate 99% of what the experience feels like.
What they actually needed however was far less complex:
- Instantaneous action control
- Instantaneous movement control
- More dexterity than a teddy bear.
Effectively, as a result of this you have all the in-game dexterity of a teddy bear.
They wanted the controller they already had, but what they really needed was a peripheral that simply augments Kinect.
There's nothing wrong with using the controller technology we've perfected over the years to enhance Kinect's gameplay abilities. The trick is to add a controller to Kinect-based gameplay rather than add Kinect to controller-based gameplay.
The reverse of this line of thinking is what caused so many "waggle" games to be created for the Wii.
We should augment Kinect experiences, not "kinectify" controller experiences.
The solution, as I see it, is the "Kinect Sword".
Kinect Sword: What is it?
 |
| Image © 2011 FullMotion.org |
The Kinect Sword is a Kinect-augmenting "interpreter" peripheral.
The Kinect Sword is a theoretical peripheral. It does not exist... yet.
The difference between "controllers" and "interpreters":
When you use a "controller", it essentially acts as a brain-to-game wire that relays a signal from your brain to your finger, then to a button, and subsequently to the game which always knows exactly what command that signal means and executes it. Traditional game controllers basically mind-control a character through a collection of electrodes on your body, only they're connected to your fingers instead of your forehead.
For this reason, traditional game controllers are essentially on the same "technology path" as the Matrix. People who advocate technological advancement along this path are therefore called "Matrix Gamers". There is another path though: The path to the Holodeck. People who advocate technological advancement along this other path are called "Holodeck Gamers".
The path to the Matrix and the path to the Holodeck are the two sometimes-intersecting but often-opposing paths that gaming technology can advance on. Just as "controllers" are on the Matrix path, "interpreters" are the equivalent on the Holodeck path.
Interpreters and interpreter-like aspects of controllers instead of doing direct "mind control" have the player move their body in a way where the system must "interpret" what that movement means.
Many aspects of interpreters and controllers have mixed together over the years. Where the controller has digital pushbuttons, interpreters have analog triggers (and pressure-sensitive pushbuttons). Where controllers have a D-pad, interpreters have analog joysticks.
Some aspects of interpreters are used to advance controllers just as some aspects of controllers are used to advance interpreters. With this "console generation 7.5", we are now at a point where the advancement of controller technology and the advancement of interpreter technology will start to split apart.
About the name:
The Wii nunchuck isn't literally a nunchuck. Likewise, the Kinect Sword isn't literally a sword. It's more like a sword handle.
About the cost:
The cost of each of these Sword devices might be only little more than the Wii nunchuck is now. It's nowhere near as complex inside as the PS Move.
You hold a Sword in each hand.
Two wireless devices, one in each hand.
Kinect is an interpreter of the player's body for a game.
However, Kinect does not accurately interpret everything "core" games might need. To fix this...
They complete Kinect's interpretation of the player's body by acting as interpreters of the player's hands.
Kinect as-is cannot track fingers at range. It can't even discern your palm from the back of your hand. The Sword corrects this and solves several other issues.
Kinect Sword: Features
Rumble (simulates sense of touch)
In the past, rumble was used mostly as an inactive immersion enhancer. A controller would rumble whenever something in the game world was shaking.
It's about time rumble did something meaningful for a change.
Unlike the use of rumble in the past, the Sword's rumble gives the player the ability to directly "feel" and "touch" the game world.
Speakers (object sound)
Like the Wii remote, the Kinect Sword has mono speakers (one on each side because when holding it the only place not covered by your hand is one of the sides). Ideally, these are so if an object in your "virtual hand" makes noise, you'll hear it out of these speakers.
A circle-pad (like on the 3DS)
That gray circle you see on top is an analog stick. It allows the player to control lateral movement in the way that they've always been used to. The other hand's circle-pad is free for developer use.
Three new buttons
- GCN-Style "grab" trigger/button
- Digital "interact" button
- Extra digital button free for other uses
- NOTE: The "Xbox" button is below "grab"
Internal sensors report absolute orientation
- Lateral orientation (yaw)
- Vertical orientation (pitch)
- Rotational orientation (roll)
Once the system has the location of the Kinect sensor relative to the TV, it's trivial to know the exact location of the player's body relative to the TV because that's precisely what Kinect does.
If you have a motion sensor that can determine its 3D orientation relative to North-and-level (such as the Kinect Sword), you can simply ask the player to point a Sword straight-on at the TV screen to give the 360 the orientation of the TV screen relative to magnetic North.
Once you have all that, you know both the exact location of each Sword (in the player's hands, the locations of which are acquired with the Kinect sensor) as well as the orientation of each Sword relative to the TV.
Why does all this matter?
Because unlike the PS Move and the Wii Remote, Kinect is capable of a depth map of the player's body. That means that the system can know when a blaster shot in a game just grazes you. It means that if you want to deflect (or reflect) that blaster with a light saber, thanks to the Kinect Swords, now you can. Without the Swords, the best guess it can make as to where your light saber is would depend on the locations of BOTH your arms (by drawing a 3D line between where it thinks your "hands" are).
The PS Move can only guess where your body is based on the RGB image it acquires. That's really really hard to do, and the process is prone to tons of errors. The likelihood for those errors is amplified depending on factors such as:
- the color contrast between the player's clothes and their wallpaper, or
- the lighting in the room.
(To be fair, Kinect has similar issues with lighting, but only during facial recognition --which uses the RGB camera partially -- not normal play which almost exclusively uses the depth camera)
The Wii Remote Plus (WiiMot+) is even worse off, since it has no idea whatsoever where your body is in 3D space. It can only make a wild guess as to where the Wiimot+ is in 3D space based on (and the PS Move does this too sometimes) a 3D position tracking method called "dead reckoning".
Long story short, the best tech out there right now for advancement towards the holodeck is Kinect, but only if they don't abandon haptic (touch) feedback!
Kinect Sword: Sensors
Kinect as-is interprets the player's body, but with all the manual dexterity of a teddy bear.
We've seen Kinect games where moving your hands does something, but it's almost never to do something with precision.
- Moving your hands in space moves the character's hands
- Kinect as-is sees your hands as if socks were covering them
Additionally, even if Kinect had the power to see your hands at-range as more than blobs, it has to be able to constantly see those hands clearly and unambiguously to be able to use finger tracking in a meaningful way, which happens very rarely in active gameplay (I call this the "line-of-sight" issue).
- Depending on context, an object can do different things
For example, a ballpoint pen has a single button that in one context means "enable pen tip" and in the other context means "disable pen tip".
Kinect as-is doesn't give us the dexterity needed to trigger those functions, so we need something extra that can give us that ability.
We want more human-like manual dexterity, so the Kinect Swords tell the system what directions your hands are pointing.
Even if we assume the pen tip is always enabled, Kinect as-is can't interpret fine movement of the pen tip in midair.
The Swords tell the system what directions your hands are pointing, thus allowing it to correctly interpret your fine hand motions as writing with the pen.
- Allows for high-fidelity melee strikes
- Allows you to aim merely by turning and twisting your wrist
- Doesn't require aiming at the screen
This is made possible because Kinect doesn't have to use dead reckoning techniques to determine where your hands are. It inherently knows where your hands are, so the Swords only have to bother reporting spatial orientation.
Kinect Sword: Buttons
You hold a Sword in each hand.
Two Sword devices means two sets of buttons.Analog G (grab) trigger controls a universal "grab" function
Interprets how hard your hand is squeezing an object.
Digital I (interact) button controls a universal "interact" function
Interprets when you want to do something special with the object in that hand.
Digital X (auxiliary) button is free for other uses or can even swap roles with the interact button.
Game developers can use these two buttons any way they like.
Between both hands, that's six buttons that do everything.
Suddenly it doesn't sound like too few does it?Kinect Sword: Grab
All objects can be grabbed and thrown.
One of the major aspects of this system is that absolutely everything that isn't nailed down can be picked up and thrown.
This also means that almost anything can be used as a weapon.
A universal "grab" function controls how tight your grip is.
We want to be able to both fine-control grip and be able to instantly turn grip on/off. The universal "grab" function puts both of those abilities in a neat little package.
Analog G triggers control each hand's "grab" function.
You have physical hands controlling virtual hands, and the Sword interpreter is both a means for the player to communicate to the game what each hand is doing and a means for the game to feedback to each physical hand what that virtual hand is feeling.
- GCN-Style triggers have a digital button inside that can be "tapped".
- Rumble indicates objects which can be grabbed
- Variably grips object (by squeezing and releasing)
How much you squeeze the trigger controls how hard you're gripping the object.
- Locks/Unlocks Grip (by squeezing into a "tap")
At this point, you can completely release the trigger and your character will continue to hold the object in their hand.
If you want to drop, throw, or temporarily loosen your grip on an object you've locked your grip on, you must unlock your grip by squeezing the trigger into a tap again.
After unlocking your grip, how much you are squeezing the trigger once again controls how loose your grip is.
To re-lock your grip without dropping the object (such as you might want to do with a rope you're rappelling with), simply squeeze into a tap again while being careful not to release the trigger completely.
Kinect Sword: Interact
Most game objects have only one non-contextual interaction.
For most common objects in a game, once they're in your hand, they only have one obvious thing you do with them.
Guns are fired, pens switch the pen tip on/off, etc.
For many game objects, the one non-contextual function isn't activated at all. Using these objects strictly involves moving of the object in space.
Swords and most other melee weapons fit this category.
A sword that shoots lasers is an example that fits both categories.
A univeral "interact" function triggers that interaction.
For objects that do have an obvious non-contextual interaction, the "interact" function triggers it.
Digital I buttons control each hand's "interact" function.
Each of our hands can typically only do one task at a time. All that really matters is when we want to do that task, so the 'I' button interprets for the game character when the player wants to trigger a task.
- Interacts with held object
- Interacts with nearby object when that "hand" is empty
- Other interactions are contextual
- Rumble can indicate when you should interact
When a hand is holding an object that interacts with another object, rumble can be used to indicate when that hand is close enough to trigger that interaction.
NOTE: Some objects only need to be touched to use them.
Examples: car horn, panic button, doorbell, handprint-scanner, etc.
Some objects do not even need to be specifically interacted with to be used. Objects such as a car horn or a giant red panic button only need to be whacked with your hand to trigger.
Kinect Sword: Auxiliary
Of course, not everything in a game directly involves an object.
There's more to a game than its in-game objects.
Digital X buttons trigger game-specific functions.
There's an additional digital button on the Sword. This button does not control a universal function, and is free for the game developer to use as they wish.
Two hands, so the two functions can be anything:
There are two Sword interpreters, so there's two game-specific functions available.
Those functions can be anything the developer wants.
- Pausing menus
- Inherent character abilities
For example, your character might be capable of a double-jump or an fire-burst centered on their body.
If there's multiple inherent abilities, perhaps the button could be held down to cycle through them or open a pausing "ability selection" menu.
- Jumping/Crouching (you don't always have to stand to play)
Think about it like it were reality.
You don't jump and crouch all the time in real life, so why would you need to use motion controls to handle those all the time?
More to the point, you don't have to stand all the time in real life, so why should a game force you to stand constantly while playing?
There's no reason you shouldn't be allowed to move your character around laterally with the circle-pad while sitting down in real life.
Admittedly, once action starts to happen in-game, it'd be a good idea to stand up for that part (if for no other reason than to allow your character's arms their full range of motion).
The I and X buttons can swap roles as a player preference.
By popular demand, the roles of the universal "interact" button and the extra button can be swapped for the sake of player comfort.
(Some Wii games allow you to swap the roles of the 'A' and 'B' buttons.)
Example Genre: FPS
Kinect without Swords:
We're looking at a theoretical FPS control scheme using Kinect's technology alone.
No lateral movement control...
Lateral controls are controls which give the ability to move around in a virtual environment in a compass direction.
...unless using "iPad" or "DDR pad" controls
We have no instant-response lateral movement controls with Kinect alone unless we use on-screen "iPad" controls (position of hands in midair control it) or on-floor "DDR pad" controls (position of feet on the floor control it).
No firing control...
Firing controls are controls that allow us to trigger something.
...unless using "iPad" controls or shouting "bang"
We have no instant-response firing controls with Kinect alone unless we use on-screen "iPad" controls (position of hands in midair control it) or special voice commands.
Gaze-based camera controls
Admittedly, Kinect cannot determine where your eyes are looking (which is typically what is meant by "gaze"). However, it can track (as proven by Avatar Kinect) what the angle of your head is relative to the rest of your body. It can use this as a low-bounds joystick for controlling camera panning.
Locked-wrist aiming
Kinect only sees your hand as if it were a clenched fist. It cannot discern the rotation of your wrists. Thus, I call trying to point with Kinect alone "locked-wrist pointing" and trying to aim with Kinect alone "locked-wrist-aiming".
To imagine the effect of this, imagine that you had a sock over your forearm. Kinect is only be able to tell where you're really "pointing" by tracing the line of your forearm. A popular pointing alternative with Kinect as it is now is to check the X-Y location in the sensor's field of view of the end of your forearm and use that as the pointer, which won't quite cut it for an FPS (but would probably work decent enough in an RTS).
Generic contextual firing control via gesture or mime
With Kinect alone, you have no non-vocal weapon selection control. An alternative is if you're holding up one hand, you're using a pistol, and if you're holding up both hands, you're using a pump-action shotgun (with one hand on the pump).
With Swords (everything above is possible plus):
Again, using Sword interpreters in no way diminishes Kinect's inherent abilities. Every feature described above for a "non-swords" system is just as possible to implement in a "swords" system.
Instant lateral movement control via circle-pad
An analog joystick has been the time-tested ideal for controlling lateral movement.
Instant firing control via buttons
Buttons have been the time-tested ideal for controlling instant actions.
Free-wrist aiming
Once the system knows the orientation of the Sword interpreters, ultimately it's the same thing as knowing the same orientation as your wrists. Thus, your wrists are no longer "locked", but "free".
Specific contextual firing control via gesture or mime
Say I have a grenade launcher that has several different types of grenades loaded and you rotate a dial to switch the current grenade type (IIRC, they did this in Unreal 2). With Swords, I can now actually rotate that dial (whereas without Swords all I can do is whack the dial to spin it).
Example Genre: FPS Controls
"Hand to pistol holster, grab" = take pistol
You have a holster on your body where you store your pistol when it's not needed. One common place for a holster is on your belt.
When you move your empty hand to where the pistol holster is, that Sword will rumble indicating that something (the pistol) can be grabbed.
"With pistol hand, interact" = fire pistol
The number one thing you do with a pistol when it's out of its holster is shoot with it.
Reloading happens automatically when you "interact" with the pistol while it's empty. Alternatively, you can reload at any time by grabbing a pistol magazine from your belt with your other hand and jamming it into the butt of the pistol.
"Held pistol to holster, drop" = put away pistol
Putting the pistol away is as simple as taking it out.
When you move your pistol hand to where the pistol holster is, that Sword will rumble indicating that the pistol has to do something related to the object it's near (the holster). "Dropping" the pistol at that time will holster it.
"Hand to grenade clip, grab" = take grenade
You have a grenade attached to a clip on your vest. Just like your pistol, you "grab" it to... well, grab it.
"Other hand to held grenade, grab" = pull grenade pin
"Grenade hand to mouth, interact" = pull grenade pin
There are two ways you can do this. Either:
- Pull the pin out with your other hand, or
- Pull the pin out with your teeth.
Alternatively, you might be capable of pulling the pin out with the hand holding the grenade by "interacting" with that hand, but this might take a second or two to pull off.
"With ticking grenade, drop" = drop/throw grenade
The nature of an analog trigger allows you to lock and unlock your grip on something like a grenade at will while also not dropping it by accident.
Additionally, it would also make sense for the interact button in this case to drop the grenade because the number one thing you do with a ticking grenade is GET RID OF IT!
"Hand to assault rifle on back, grab" = take AR
Unlike your pistol, your assult rifle was attached to your back. It's the same action to grab it as when grabbing your pistol from its holster or the grenade from its vest clip.
"Other hand to AR, grab" = enable AR grenade
Setting aside the primary fire of the assault rifle (because how to do that should be obvious by now), the assault rifle's alt-fire could be a grenade launcher.
On this particular assault rifle, the trigger for the alt-fire is farther up the rifle, so you have to use your other hand to reach it.
"Other hand grabbing AR, interact" = fire AR grenade
You're using the interact button on your OTHER hand for this one.
...and more!
Example Genre: RTS
Kinect without Swords:
Now we're looking at a theoretical RTS control scheme using Kinect's technology alone.
Gaze-based scrolling
Like gaze-based camera control, but for scrolling around the map.
Locked-wrist pointing
Like locked-wrist aiming, but instead you're pointing at things on the flat screen of a war room holo-table.
Voice commands for tool selection
As you may of seen for the "Kinect Hub" in order to select an option by hand you have to wait a moment for the system to pick the selected option. That just won't do in the fast-paced nature of an RTS. Voice commands are much faster (but have their own problems).
Select lassoed units (slow)
Dip your hand in and draw a lasso around the units or building you want to mess with (the lasso tool automatically ends whenever it crosses its own line, which works okay since you don't have a "stop selecting" button). Unfortunately, this selection method is really slow.
Voice commands for labeling locations and unit sets
Labeling units and buildings with voice command keywords greatly increases the speed at which you can select commonly-selected units and buildings (and thus give them tasks).
Generic unit commands via "point and shout"
Most units in modern RTSs have unique abilities you can trigger. However, outside of using very specific voice commands, it's difficult to select a specific command quickly. You can however give units generic orders common to all units, such as pointing somewhere and saying "move here".
With Swords (everything above is possible plus):
Again, using Sword interpreters in no way diminishes Kinect's inherent abilities. Every feature described above for a "non-swords" system is just as possible to implement in a "swords" system.
Free-wrist pointing
Like free-wrist aiming, but pointing at a flat surface instead of aiming in a 3D environment.
Instant unit selection via "point and interact"
Since with the Sword you have an interact button, it's easy to select a specific unit or building. Just point and grab.
Select boxed units (fast)
Likewise, since with the Sword you have a grab button, you can grab and drag corner-to-corner to select all the units in a box.
Specific unit commands via the unit's special menu
Since with a Sword you can select a specific unit or building with ease, you can also easily select special abilities from the unit's abilities menu.
Example Genre: RTS Controls
"Hold grab, drag diagonally" = select boxed units
Grab, drag, make war.
"Shout 'set team 1'" = set selected units as team 1
Assigns a verbal shortcut to select that specific set of units.
"Shout 'team 1' = select units in team 1
Uses the team 1 verbal shortcut.
"Point at spot, shout 'set point A'" = set spot as point A
Assigns a verbal shortcut to a specific location on the map.
"Shout 'move to point A' = selected units move to point A
All units currently selected move (ignoring all else) to the specified location.
"Point, shout 'attack here'" = units attack spot pointed at
All units currently selected attack towards the location being pointed at.
"Shout 'hold'" = units hold position
All units currently selected hold their current position.
"Shout 'stop'" = units cancel orders
All units currently selected cancel their current orders and defend themselves if necessary.
"Shout 'run'" = units return to safety
All units currently selected ignore all else except to get away from everything that might be a real danger as fast as possible (obstacles that in the way but are considered minor are dealt with). If all other options for a safe retreat are deemed not worth it, they'll try to beeline back to your base.
"Grab movable building, drag" = launch building and move
Some buildings can be ordered to move as well. This is a manual move since you're dragging it around yourself.
"Drag building, release" = move building there
The building attempts to move to the location specified, but does not land.
"Drag building, interact" = land building there
The building attempts to move to the location specified AND land there.
...and more!
Example Genre: Racer
Kinect without Swords:
Finally, we'll look at a theoretical racing control scheme that uses Kinect's technology alone.
Foot controls gas/brake/reverse
The foot-based gas-brake pedal idea has been part of Kinect since the early public tech demos.
Loose gear shift controls
Without any buttons, the system may incorrectly interpret an arm accidentally waving near the location of the virtual gear shift as an intention to shift gears.
Hands on wheel control steering
You hold your hands out as if holding an imaginary steering wheel.
Can bang on steering wheel to honk horn
Just like you hold an imaginary steering wheel to steer, you can bang on that wheel to honk the horn.
Voice commands control automated items
With no buttons, it's impossible to trigger weapons, items, and powerups except by using gestures or voice commands.
Even then, there's no fine control over those items, just a trigger.
With Swords (everything above is possible plus):
Once again, using Sword interpreters in no way diminishes Kinect's inherent abilities. Every feature described above for a "non-swords" system is just as possible to implement in a "swords" system.
Tight gear shift controls
With a button for grabbing, you can deliberately grab the gear shift and move it without any ambiguity about what you're doing.
Manually control items on steering wheel or dashboard
With a button dedicated to interacting, you can instantly trigger any weapon, item, or powerup within reach of that hand, including triggers built into the steering wheel and dashboard.
The dashboard itself could feature a wide array of items to trigger, and offer the player deep control of those items. For example, you could have a roof-mounted laser turret that using a video screen live feed built into the dashboard you can rotate and lock onto targets with.
Shoot out of the car window with a sidearm
Any aspect of an FPS can be imported into a racer. For example, if you have a pistol you particularly like, there's no reason you can't bring it in the car with you for "emergencies".
Use CB radio to voicechat or spy on other teams
Races, arena matches, and even highway attacks often involve teams of drivers. To communicate between eachother teammates would use CB radio. Teams would keep the communication frequency of their team secret... for obvious reasons.
Example Genre: Racer Controls
"Hand to steering wheel, interact" = nitro
Temporarily boosts top speed or acceleration, depending on the game.
"Other hand to steering wheel, interact" = jump-jets
Allows the car to jump over obstacles or onto unusual terrain.
"Hand to gear shift, grab" = change gears
Shift gears in the car (usually includes reverse gear).
"Hand to dashboard, interact" = access dashboard
Use one hand to access the functions on the dashboard.
"Access dashboard, use joystick" = select on dashboard
Navigate through the functions on the dashboard.
"Select powerup on dashboard, interact" = use powerup
Activate the selected powerup on the dashboard.
"Select radio on dashboard, grab, rotate" = cycle radio
Rotate the radio frequency.
"Select weapon on dashboard, interact" = fire weapon
Activate the selected weapon on the dashboard.
"Other hand to door pocket, grab" = take pistol
Pick up your trusty sidearm .
It could be stored anywhere, not just on the inside of the door (the door is just the closest spot to the window you'd shoot out of).
"Pistol hand out of window, interact" = fire pistol
Take a wild guess what this does.
...and more!
Merging Genres: FPS is Universal
Any genre can be expressed as an extension of an FPS (or an Action-RPG) if you can describe the gameplay as
" someone doing something ".
- In a racing game, a racer is driving a car.
- In an RTS, a general is commanding troops.
For some games however, this is not the case, such as Bejeweled or Peggle, as there's no character in those games which is "doing" something as the gameplay (unless you abstract that character as a game player, which would be redundant). Metroid Prime Pinball for example would be impossible to describe as "someone doing something" even considering the original source game was an FPS.
Ultimately, any game that uses a third-person camera can be said to extend from a first-person equivalent.
Since the only two options for camera perspective are "first-person" and "third-person", it can be said that any game that uses a virtual environment extends from an FPS.
A far simpler case is to abstract a game that uses a third-person camera (including side-scrolling platformers) into a first-person equivalent, since the primary difference then is literally just a matter of camera angles. If there's a virtual environment a character navigates, that game can be expressed as an FPS.
That said, some genres (such as 2D platformers) don't translate as easily as others, and as a result can potentially not be worth the effort to translate to this Swords system.
Merging Genres: The Genre Problem
As gamers, we've been stuck with "the genre problem" for over a decade.
The Genre Problem is the confusion that has resulted from the increasingly ambiguous ways a game can be described using existing genre terms.
What if instead of describing a game in genre terms that also have to be explained, we were able to describe a game in terms of what the player character does?
i.e. "A futuristic soldier shoots aliens." (Halo... among others)
To the uninitiated, such a description is far easier to absorb than "Futuristic FPS".
Genre terms are used to describe gameplay that's already been seen in several other games deemed similar. We use genre terms so that people new to a game know what kind of gameplay to expect It can be said that ultimately, the practical purpose of genre terms is so the person hearing the term in describing a new game will know before playing what the control schema of the game will be similar to.
A trend that has only expanded in the last decade though is that a very large number of genre terms exist, and most of them (some would say "all") tend to be greatly ambiguous. Additionally, people new to games don't want to learn terms (definitions are not fun), so they'll typically become disinterested if you try and explain one. This becomes problematic the more terms you have to explain.
When describing in this way a game that uses this universal genre, so long as the player knows what the universal genre is, he'll know what the gameplay and controls are like.
The idea of a "universal" genre is that the basic controls of this genre are always literally identical (for ~95% of the controls) to any other game in this universal genre, regardless of the other genres the game might also be described as. The advantage is that a new player only has to learn the controls of one game to understand how to pick up and play any other game in the genre, period.
Merging Genres: The Universal Genre
Knowing how to describe a game in terms of a universal genre is only half the solution. The other half is creating a universal genre that essentially need not be explained.
One way we can do this is by making the game controls as close to how real life works as possible. The more rudimentary the controls, the better.
Up to a limit, you can use the real world properties of an object (or the real world properties of a similar object) for every object in a game world without the player becoming bogged down with this realism.
The most rudimentary actions we learn as infants are
- "grab", and
- "interact".
Universal Genre: "Casual" Appeal
People don't like to learn new things.
However, if you can tell them "this is the only thing you'll ever need to learn" they'll likely be more willing to try it.
The simple design of the Sword peripheral and its consistent control scheme greatly aid this effect.
Externally, there are only three buttons and a joystick on the Kinect Sword (excluding the "Xbox" button). This simplicity makes the interpreter more approachable to those new to "core" games.
Those buttons and joysticks will always mean the same thing for all games that use this universal genre. This consistency is attractive to new players since they'll only ever have to learn one set of controls.
It is worth noting that a major part of the "casual" appeal of motion controls is their attempted consistency with real world motions.
Interesting Possibility:
It's possible that the Swords could be used as a "bridge" to make it easier for "casual" gamers to approach "core" gaming. If that's viable, then it could be used to reinvigorate the core game market.
Imagine what would happen if Portal was not only a darling of the core gamer, but of the casual gamer as well...
Universal Genre: "Core" Appeal
The Universal Genre is a framework on which most any "core" genre can be implemented.
It's also one where many "core" genres can be implemented simultaneously. Imagine this gameplay: As a general (RTS), you could get fed up with your soldiers' incompetence, pick up a "Mobile Ops Pad" and a gun (FPS), go outside, get in a war machine (racer), and take care of business yourself, all while still being able to issue commands to the troops remotely (RTS again) with the M.O.P. (basically, like Battlezone 2, but anyone can pick it up and play)
It's not your genre plus Kinect, it's Kinect plus your genre.
Think about that.
But here's the rub...
None of this completely eliminates the fact that Kinect may simply not be powerful enough.
While the lag inherent to Kinect is small enough that the player will not usually notice it (it's obvious to bystanders but not the player), the bigger problem is the 360 can't handle the full potential of the Kinect hardware. Kinect's performance on the 360 is largely hampered by the huge amount of data Kinect streams to the 360.
In order for it to be powerful enough, it probably would have to do most or all of its tracking processing inside the device (Kinect as-is doesn't, it has the Xbox 360 do most of it).
Microsoft had the option to put additional processing power inside Kinect itself. This processor would pre-process the data which would have resulted in a much more powerful and fluid experience.
Microsoft were on the fence about this when designing Kinect, but went with the option that made it not insanely expensive at launch.
Putting the necessary processors in to have a full-potential low-lag Kinect experience from launch would make it cost too much in stores for anyone to consider buying it.
I feel they made the right call. A small step on a new path so that people can get used to it is better than taking a big step long before people are ready for it.
The next Kinect will very likely be capable of this new kind of experience for cheap.
Technology is constantly improving in both ability and cost. I have no doubt that the next Kinect will be able to shove those extra processors in while keeping the consumer price low enough to be viable.
All that said, Kinect as-is might become capable of all this through a software update. It's just highly unlikely.
It looks like we'll have to wait for "Kinect 2".
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