You Are Here:

Community: Blogs

Paul Coulton's Forum Nokia Blog

Mobile laser tag using S60 camera phones

coultonp | 26 March, 2007 11:42

Here is a research project I have been doing with my PhD student Fadi Chehimi which attempts to take another look at using the camera on phones in games and particular harnessing some of the power of S60 (something, with a few notable exceptions, I feel hasn’t been fully explored in games). Mobilazer is a mixed-reality first person shoot-em-up game which engages two or more teams of players in an unbounded physical location. The software turns a player’s mobile phone camera into a form of ‘laser’ gun whereby he can shoot opposing players by interacting with specially designed visual tags. Once a tag is detected Mobilazer displays a targeted-sign, in the form of a circle centred at the coloured-tag, indicating the identification of the rival as shown in the figure below and our video on you tube.

 

When the targeted-sign is on screen, the player needs to move his phone to point the crosshair, which is always in the middle of the screen, at the tag. The player will be able to shoot his virtual laser beam to kill the opponent. The kills and points are controlled through interaction with a central game server communicating over the GPRS.

 

Mobilazer currently has four different playing modes available to choose from, all of which are to be initiated by a preformed social grouping these are Fortress, Last Man standing, Individual Battle Mode, and Group Battle Mode.

One of the essential elements for successful multi-player computer games is that of differentiating players’ experiences so that the game is balanced. Balance means that all players feel they have an equal chance of competing, keeping in mind the differentiation between experienced and non-experienced ones. Interestingly, this feature has not been given much consideration in mixed-reality games although it most likely ensures that players return to the game on multiple occasions. Therefore, in Mobilazer we have introduced a system of armours and weapons which allows both new players and more expert ones the opportunity to gain experience, and rewards returning players for their repeated game play.

 

Mobilazer Scoring
Equipment Type Points Scored Points Needed Number of Hits
None
 10    1
Bronzer Armour 20 30 2
 Silver Armour  40  60  5
 Gold Armour  60  90  10
 Sniper  90  90  1
 Tracker Gun  100  200  1
Dist < 5M  2    
 5m<Dist<10m  4    
 10m<Dist<15m  8    
 15m<Dist<20m  12    
 Dist>20m  20    

One of the innovative features is The Sniper which allows a player to shoot tags that are much farther than the normal camera range. The effect is applied using Symbian-specific bitmap manipulation utilities that enlarge and clip images, rather than simply depending only on the camera API zooming functions

   

 

As yet we have only done the technical testing but we are hoping to start users trials soon as the the Bristish weather does seem to be getting better!

RSSComments

Re: Mobile laser tag using S60 camera phones

fitzek | 26/03/2007, 16:34

fitzek Cool stuff! This is the groundwork for many nice applications. I would like to try it out. Congratulations.

One step ahead would be to recognize real objects or persons. If not we need this preknowledge attached to all objects.

Re: Mobile laser tag using S60 camera phones

coultonp | 27/03/2007, 12:05

coultonp Cheers Frank I too think this has lots of applications.
General recognition is what I aiming for and with the increasing power of mobile phones and their ever improving cameras on them there seems to be a lot of potential.. I did think of trying to link it with the work we have done with mobile sensor cam (www.mobilesensorcam.com) to identify peoples movement but as usual I have too many ideas and not enough time to implement. :(
You must login to post comments. Login
 

Rate This

 
 
Bookmark this page: DeliciousDiggFacebookGoogleYahooStumbleUponRedditDiigoTechnocratiTwitter  Share this page Share this page Print this Page Print this page Invite a friend Invite a friend
京ICP备05048969号    Email Newsletters Press Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Sitemap Contact Us © 2009 Nokia 
RDF Facets: qdcZdescriptionQSxAsE20anE20AssistantE20ProfessorE2cE20IE27mE20teachingE20SymbianE20OSE20atE20theE20UniversityE20ofE20AppliedE20SciencesE20inE20HagenbergE2cE20AustriaE2eE20MyE20companyE20E22MopiusE22E20isE20developingE20mobileE20softwareE20withE20aE20specialE20focusE20onE20SymbianE20OSE2eE20mopiusE20E7cE2018E20MarchE2cE202008E2017E3a08E20PlayE20allE20theE20gamesE20youE20wantE20onE20yourE20mobileE20phoneE20usingE20mobiPadE2eE20TheE20articleE20E84TenE20plausibleE20thingsE20thatE20wouldE20beE20reallyE20coolE20onE20NE2dGageE93E20recentlyE20suggestedE20thatE20aE20BluetoothE20gameE20controllerE20shouldE20beE20releasedE20forE20mobileE20phonesE2eE20ItE92dE20greatlyE20increaE2eE2eE2eX qdcZidentifierQSxhttpE3aE2fE2fblogsE2eforumE2enokiaE2ecomE2fblogE2fandreasE2djaklsE2dforumE2dnokiaE2dblogE2f2008E2f03E2f18E2fmobileE2dgameE2dcontrollersE2dproblemE2dsolvedX qdcZpublisherQUxhttpE3aE2fE2fswE2enokiaE2ecomE2fidE2fc764fd1cE2d8b06E2d499aE2d9a6aE2d17c3903d5a65E2fforumE5fnokiaE5fcrawlerE5fagentX qdcZtitleQSxAndreasE20JaklE27sE20ForumE20NokiaE20BlogE20E7cE20MobileE20GameE20ControllersE3aE20ProblemE20SolvedE21X qdcZtypeQUqfnZE45E78cludedFromGeneralE4cistingsQ qdcZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogContentQ qdcZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogE45ntryQ qdcZtypeQUqfntypeZCommunityContentQ qdcZtypeQUqfntypeZE52esourceQ qdcZtypeQUqfntypeZWebpageQ qdcZtypeQUqmarsZManagedE52esourceQ qdcZtypeQUqwebZInformationE52esourceQ qdcZtypeQUqwebZPageQ qdcZtypeQUqwebZE52esourceQ qdcZtypeQUqrdfsZE52esourceQ qrssZdescriptionQSxAsE20anE20AssistantE20ProfessorE2cE20IE27mE20teachingE20SymbianE20OSE20atE20theE20UniversityE20ofE20AppliedE20SciencesE20inE20HagenbergE2cE20AustriaE2eE20MyE20companyE20E22MopiusE22E20isE20developingE20mobileE20softwareE20withE20aE20specialE20focusE20onE20SymbianE20OSE2eE20mopiusE20E7cE2018E20MarchE2cE202008E2017E3a08E20PlayE20allE20theE20gamesE20youE20wantE20onE20yourE20mobileE20phoneE20usingE20mobiPadE2eE20TheE20articleE20E84TenE20plausibleE20thingsE20thatE20wouldE20beE20reallyE20coolE20onE20NE2dGageE93E20recentlyE20suggestedE20thatE20aE20BluetoothE20gameE20controllerE20shouldE20beE20releasedE20forE20mobileE20phonesE2eE20ItE92dE20greatlyE20increaE2eE2eE2eX qfnZdistributionQUxhttpE3aE2fE2fblogsE2eforumE2enokiaE2ecomE2fX qfnZtopicQUqfnTopicZentertainmentQRqdcZtypeQUqrdfsZE52esourceQRqmarsZrelevanceQNx100X qfnZtopicQUqfnTopicZgamesQRqdcZtypeQUqrdfsZE52esourceQRqmarsZrelevanceQNx100X qfnZtopicQUqfnTopicZseriesE5f60QRqdcZtypeQUqrdfsZE52esourceQRqmarsZrelevanceQNx100X qfnZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogContentQ qfnZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogE45ntryQ qfnZtypeQUqfntypeZCommunityContentQ qfnZtypeQUqfntypeZE52esourceQ qfnZtypeQUqfntypeZWebpageQ qfnZupdatedQDx2008E2d03E2d19X qfnZuserE5ftagQSxentertainmentX qfnZuserE5ftagQSxgamesX qfnZuserE5ftagQSxs60X qmarsZdescriptionQSxAsE20anE20AssistantE20ProfessorE2cE20IE27mE20teachingE20SymbianE20OSE20atE20theE20UniversityE20ofE20AppliedE20SciencesE20inE20HagenbergE2cE20AustriaE2eE20MyE20companyE20E22MopiusE22E20isE20developingE20mobileE20softwareE20withE20aE20specialE20focusE20onE20SymbianE20OSE2eE20mopiusE20E7cE2018E20MarchE2cE202008E2017E3a08E20PlayE20allE20theE20gamesE20youE20wantE20onE20yourE20mobileE20phoneE20usingE20mobiPadE2eE20TheE20articleE20E84TenE20plausibleE20thingsE20thatE20wouldE20beE20reallyE20coolE20onE20NE2dGageE93E20recentlyE20suggestedE20thatE20aE20BluetoothE20gameE20controllerE20shouldE20beE20releasedE20forE20mobileE20phonesE2eE20ItE92dE20greatlyE20increaE2eE2eE2eX qmarsZlanguageQUxhttpE3aE2fE2fswE2enokiaE2ecomE2flanguageE2d1E2fenX qrdfZtypeQUqfnZE45E78cludedFromGeneralE4cistingsQ qrdfZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogContentQ qrdfZtypeQUqfntypeZBlogE45ntryQ qrdfZtypeQUqfntypeZCommunityContentQ qrdfZtypeQUqfntypeZE52esourceQ qrdfZtypeQUqfntypeZWebpageQ qrdfZtypeQUqmarsZManagedE52esourceQ qrdfZtypeQUqwebZInformationE52esourceQ qrdfZtypeQUqwebZPageQ qrdfZtypeQUqwebZE52esourceQ qrdfZtypeQUqrdfsZE52esourceQ