The Cathartic Escape
Video games are usually designed specifically for playing either on a screen or in virtual reality. The objective of this project is the development of a hybrid game concept that works for both presentation systems, on a screen and in virtual reality, while communicating the same gameplay principle. The concept was researched and tested through development of a physics-based puzzle game that takes up the catharsis theory. Thus, the parallels between, and problems of implementing the respective system into a hybrid game can be shown.
Since keyframe animation and industry standard motion capture systems are expensive, Patrik Toth focused his key research also on the evaluation and application of a low-cost motion capture system for efficient in-game animation, virtual hand grips and full-body awareness in first-person games. To create and apply the low-cost motion capture animations, a pipeline was developed which uses Notiom’s Perception Neuron suit as the input device.
Daniel Gonçalves additionally designed and developed a hybrid damage system for the game. This system simulates different material properties and their respective behaviour on impact, such as shattering or deformation, unified for both screen and virtual reality systems. The hybrid damage system is based on NVIDIA’s PhysX library.
