Shotgun Showdown is a competitive, two player handheld augmented reality game. The game is played on top of a pair of US paper bills, putting the game space on top of the square formed by the money. The game is inspired by the idea of a western-themed shooting gallery, and the content is modeled as 2D cardboard cutouts.

The game was created by:

• Chris Ehsaei —  MS Electrical Engineering
• Andrew Colella — MS Music Technology

Here is a video of the game.

The team that created the game is:

• Anna Mansour, MS HCI
• Mae Tidman, Computational Media
• Jia Zhang, MS CS
• Tarick Khalaf, Computational Media
• Jason Lee, MS Digital Media

Here’s a video of the project:

Our team sought out to design and experiment with new forms of interactions afforded by augmented reality games. We began with two very direct mechanics: staring and grabbing. Players can stare at office workers by moving the phone in close; the workers react by looking up at the camera and eventually heading back to their desks. Grabbing can be used to position the characters around the office.

Other mechanics come in the form of ‘toys’ which the player picks from a treasure chest. The first toy is a spiky ball which can be used at no cost. It fires from the center of the camera into the screen, knocking over any nerds in its way. The second toy is a spiky mace which attaches itself to the player’s camera. It’s used by physically positioning the mace in the office with the workers and swinging. The final toy is a man-eating plant which guards the break room from the workers. It snaps whenever approached and scares them back to their desks.

This video is a peek at an early prototype of the game, demonstrating some of the direct manipulation described above.

Nerdferno has been worked on over the course of two semesters by:

• Richard Shemaka – M.S. CS
• Paul Tillery – M.F.A. Animation, SCAD
• Travis Harkleroad – M.F.A Visual FX, SCAD
• Yan Xu – HCC PhD
• Emily Cribb – B.S. CM
• Dan Spaventa – B.S. CM
• Johnathan Massey – B.S. CS
• Brandon Whitehead – B.S. CS
• Hyung-Min “Sam” Lee – B.S. CS
• Michael Hewner – HCC PhD
• Burton Carter – B.S. CM

The game was created by:

• Iulian Radu, HCC PhD
• Michael Hewner, HCC PhD

A video of the game is here:

Here is a video of the game:

The team behind the game includes:

• Michael Stanley, BA IDGD, SCAD, Designer & Artist
• Greg Gunn, MSHCI, Programmer
• Bryan Hickerson, MSCS, Programmer
• Chris Alvarez, MSCS, Programmer
• Chris Wiggins, BS CM, Producer/Project Manager
• Chris Ehsaei, MSEE, Programmer

This game is currently in development, so more detail will be available in the coming months.

The team that created the game includes:

• Hal Helms – BS CM, programmer
• Alex Hunt – BS CM, porgrammer
• Takuya Yoshikane – BS CM, programmer
• Chris Ernst – BS CM, Audio Engineer
• Michael Downing – BS CM, Project Manager
• Maribeth Gandy – Research Faculty

By analyzing some zen-inspired games currently in the market (i.e. Osmos, Auditorium, Tranquility), we identified some common design patterns that contribute to the relaxing nature of the games. Based on these, the design goals of this project where:

• No action or dexterity-based games: avoid exciting the player
• No inducing stress or frustration: no dying, no climax
• Game mechanics emphasize flow and inertia
• Relaxing audio: soothing background music and sound effects
• Simple graphics but captivating visual effects

This project did not get past the initial prototype stage.  An image from the early prototype can be seen above.

A video of the game can be seen here:

The game was created by

• Maribeth Gandy – GT Faculty, Group Advisor
• Chris Ernst – GT CM, Audio Programming
• Andrew Colella – GT MS Music Technology, Audio Programming
• Hal Helms – GT CM, Programmer
• Alex Hunt – GT CM, Programmer
• Takuya Yoshikane – GT CM, Programmer
• Michael Downing – GT CM, Project Manager