IDAT309 Proposal – Integrated Media Environments

IDAT309 Proposal – Integrated Media Environments
Title: Helicopter Flight Simulator

Purpose
The purpose of my media project is to create a Helicopter Flight Simulator using two different technologies. I plan to incorporate a 3D environment in the form of a helicopter and a small island with a Joystick and microphone. The idea behind the microphone is to make the game more challenging physically instead of mentally. It would be hard to keep a sustained exhale to keep the helicopter in flight and functioning correctly. As far as I’m aware this has never been done before, so it will be an interesting implementation of hardware and software.

Description
The Island would look either like Manhattan or Tahiti depending on the time constraints. I would prefer to have an Island look like Manhattan, but I will be happy with a simplistic design in the form of Tahiti. The environment surrounding the island would be water. The helicopter will be a Sea Rescue type but more specifically a Sea King design.

Logistics
The helicopter would fly around the island using the Joystick as the controls. In theory; using the Cougar Pro Joystick I could get full accurate controls consisting of pitch and roll control, yaw control, and lift/throttle control. I would use the Cougar Pro Joystick for all the controls apart from the throttle/lift. I would like to use the microphone as the throttle. When blowing into the microphone the helicopter would lift and you would manoeuvre using the Joystick. When not blowing into the microphone; the helicopter would be stationary or plummet to the ground.
In order to make the 3D environment and helicopter I will be using Autodesk 3ds Max 2010. To make the game environment I will be using Adobe Director as it is a powerful multimedia application authoring program.

The things I would like to utilise and incorporate are:
1. Collision detection - Not going through obstacles such as floor and buildings.
2. Non-steady movement - Helicopters in real life don't hover in the same spot unless you are moving the control input to correct wind conditions and other physics based problems. I would like to make the helicopter move and sway unless the user (pilot) is counteracting those forces.
3. Spinning blades - This would just add to the realism.
4. Close to accurate controls - I would like to have accurate control for pitch and roll control, yaw control, and a collective stick for lift/throttle control.
















Inspiration
I will be using inspiration from Microsoft Flight Simulator X which has Helicopters in addition to planes to help make the game. I don’t expect to get anywhere near the accuracy or detail that flight simulator has, but I will use it for inspiration and a sort of benchmark.
As far as inspiration for the control methods I’ll be using an unoriginal joystick mixed with a unique way of propulsion. The idea for the microphone came to me when I was playing SimCity DS on the Nintendo DS which I had to blow into the microphone to put out a fire.

The inspiration for the design came from Manhattan island and a vastly contrasting Maldives and Tahiti. The reason for the two contrasting inspirations is backup plans for the scale of the project. I’ve never used Adobe Director before so I can’t say how long it will take me. I’m aiming to create a small city within an island, but if that fails, I will design a minimalistic 3D island with surrounding water.

Project Plan
I will go about the Project by working on each part of the design separately. When all these parts are created I will then position them and design the environment around them. This will give a unified appearance, and make the scene more realistic. I will then go on to import the 3D environment into Adobe Director and add the controls to the helicopter. I suspect the longest part of the project will be learning Adobe Director and adding controls to manipulate the helicopter, so I will hold back on the design at first. If I find the overall design lacking volume and detail, I can always go back and remake them after.

Pictures of the peripherals

Microphone:



















Cougar Pro Joystick:




















Pictures of the Islands and Helicopter

Manhattan:











Tahiti:















Sea King Helicopter:















Gantt Chart

Control Device

My control input of choice would be a Couger Pro Joystick as it has all the control functions needed to control a helicopter. It has a twist grip which would be assigned to the Yaw of the helicopter, it also has a dedicated throttle lever on the base of the joystick. The rest of the controls such as pitch and roll would be controlled using the movement of the joystick. It also has 12 assignable buttons and a view HAT if needed. This would save me from implementing other joysticks for the throttle and other controls as it conveniently has the appropriate controls in one place.

Final Idea - Helicopter

I have decided to go with my helicopter idea as it will give me a challenge that I haven't come across. I would be integrating hardware with software with a 3D game element. The helicopter will be based on a Sea Rescue helicopter such as a Sea King. The environment I will need to work on and develop, but my initial idea would be to have a small City/Island with surrounding water.

An example of the helicopter:





An example of the City/Island:

Idea 2 of 2 - Helicopter

My second idea is to produce a basic helicopter simulator. The aim would be to have a helicopter flying around a 3D environment using a joystick type device. The things I would like to utilise and incorporate are:

• Collision detection - Not going through obstacles
• Non-steady movement - Helicopters in real life don't hover in the same spot unless you are moving the control input to correct wind conditions and other physics based problems. I would like to make the helicopter move and sway unless the user (pilot) is counteracting those forces.
• Spinning blades - This would just add to the realism
• Close to accurate controls - I would like to have accurate control for pitch and roll control, yaw control, and a collective stick for lift/throttle control.

Although my programming skills are quite lacking, I have proposed the above ideas to push myself to add more complex features.

Idea 1 of 2 - Spider

One of my initial ideas was to make a 3D spider in a suitable environment such as a house; made to scale with the spider. I got inspiration from a flash game entitled "Spider 3D". Here is the link to the game: http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider/

There are no aims or objectives, but it's more of a physics based game. You control the spider with the keyboard or mouse. You can also alter the appearance and movement of the spider in such ways as; longer legs, thicker legs, smaller body etc... The spider itself is hardware AND software driven with some sort of basic artificial intelligence utilised.

My multimedia project would be somewhat similar, but with no artificial intelligence, just hardware based using a joypad. The spider would move around the 3D environment possibly eating insects found nearby.

Brainstorm

Brainstorm of Ideas:

• Spider in a 3D world - Spider walking round a small environment eating insects from the floor.
• Car driving around a City - Car driving around a large city.
• Bee Game - Bee flying around landing on flowers collecting pollen.
• Helicopter flying -Helicopter flying around a 3D environment.
• Car parking game - The objective would be to park the car in certain parking spots in an allocated time.

Integrated Media Environments

The purpose of this Media project is to integrate different technologies/mediums using a 3D environment. There are two appraoches which I will research and consider. They are:

• Software Integration
• Software and Hardware Integration

The software integration would entail a 3D environment mixed with a 3D multimedia supporting program such as Adobe Director. This method would use the controls built into the application to control the 3D environment.
The hardware integration would entail a 3D environment mixed with a hardware device such as a modified mouse, microphone, joypad or joystick.