Make: Online : Levelhead - augmented reality game

Levelhead by Julian Oliver is an "augmented-reality spatial-memory game" using ~~semacode~~ ARToolkit marker imprinted cubes as player interface -

levelHead uses a hand-held solid-plastic cube as its only interface. On-screen it appears each face of the cube contains a little room, each of which are logically connected by doors.

In one of these rooms is a character. By tilting the cube the player directs this character from room to room in an effort to find the exit.

Some doors lead nowhere and will send the character back to the room they started in, a trick designed to challenge the player's spatial memory. Which doors belong to which rooms?

There are three cubes (levels) in total, each of which are connected by a single door. Players have the goal of moving the character from room to room, cube to cube in an attempt to find the final exit door of all three cubes. If this door is found the character will appear to leave the cube, walk across the table surface and vanish.. The game then begins again.

- learn more @ Julian's site - Levelhead

[Thanks, Edgar!]

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Posted by: r0ckarong on July 24, 2008 at 3:43 PM

The Future is here

Now that's what I call creative use of technology. Just wow.

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Posted by: Anonymous on July 25, 2008 at 6:29 AM

A small correction. It's not semacodes, it's ARToolkit markers...

http://www.selectparks.net/~julian/index.php?entry=entry080414-125632

Posted by: Collin Cunningham on July 25, 2008 at 6:55 AM

thanks! - updated

Posted by: Nick on July 25, 2008 at 8:40 AM

I don't get it

Can somebody explain what this is?
Are the figures projected onto the cube ?
Does the cube have an internal projector?
Why is the face solid when they guy is holding it and then when the cube is turned it seems to have the game "inside"?

I don't get it.....

Posted by: Anonymous on July 25, 2008 at 10:08 AM

@Nick
The faces of the cubes have special markers that are detected by ARToolKit. It detects its position and orientation on a video frame. The "inside" image is then rendered and superimposed on the video frame. This means that the effect is only visible on the monitor...

Posted by: ionymous on July 25, 2008 at 10:11 AM

Re: I don't get it

Nick,
If I understand...
You hold the cube in front of your webcam. Looking at your monitor, you see the webcam image, but software replaces the front cube surface with the game screen.
The software uses the patterns on the front of each cube surface to know what side of the cube it is looking at.
The software can also detect how the cube is being tilted.

Very cool. I don't like the particular game... but the tech is very creative and cool.