Since my last post, I’ve started building the enclosure for the brick controller. I made the controller by cutting up a shoebox and gluing the sides together. I gave it a front flap so that I could open and access the components inside. I added a layer of gesso to the box and then started to build a clay foam foundation. I sculpted the engraving of the creature trapped inside on the top and added Slavic embroidery patterns on the sides. These “engravings” match moving symbols on the screen and guide the player on how to rotate the controller.
Here are some closeups of the “engravings”:
Next steps for the enclosure include sculpting more symbols on the sides, sanding the clay foam when it completely cures, spray painting a base layer of color and then hand-painting the details.
This basic enclosure for the controller has given me a better sense of what the game-feel will actually be like. This makes it easier to design the interactions and create puzzles based off of movement and axis rotation.
Here is an example of how moving the controller aligns the two symbols to the left. The symbols on the screen match the ones sculpted onto the controller. This provides the player with a hint as to how they are supposed to orient the controller.
At this point, I have a functional controller and a very short game demo. This is a great foundation to start developing a deeper storyline and some more interactions.
I’m currently using a power bank for the Raspberry Pi and have put incorporating inductive charging on the backburner for now. I think my approach to power will evolve as I build different iterations of the enclosure.
As the game gets longer and more complex, I might also have to address issues with lag. Although I am not sure how to approach this yet, the following resources provides some interesting solutions:
http://buildnewgames.com/real-time-multiplayer/
https://www.gabrielgambetta.com/
One approach might be to design the interactions with lag in mind. Perhaps I could utilize the visuals to make the player feel like they are making progress while the lag is occurring. Otherwise, I might add a button to open/close the websockets when it is necessary as opposed to having them continuously send the data from the sensor even when the controller is inactive.