So I think I'm going to mess around a bit with making a minigame controlled through the Managed Library for Nintendo's Wiimote. I've went out and bought a bluetooth adapter and a Wiimote/nunchuck, and have started messing around with it a bit.

But I'm a little low on itty bitty ideas as far as what small minigames I could do with the Wiimote, and I could use some brainstorming help. Some other small game ideas that have already been done are things like balancing a virtual broomstick on your hand, or playing a little drumset.

The ideas should be very small minigames -- nothing too huge.

So how about it? Anyone have ideas that they'd like to see me make into a quick little homebrew Wii game?

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited September 16, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by gump (edited September 16, 2007).]

Catching butterflies and putting them in a jar. - endless empty field; control movement with nunchuck thumbstick (2D movement only) and swing with wiimote 3D space. After you catch a butterfly you have to place the jar with the nunchuck and try to twist the net force it to fly into the jar. AI for the butterflies could be consist of inverted gravity (with an invisible ceiling so they are never out of reach) and travel at 1.2X gravity at an angle determined by a random number generator. The net would require some physics engine work.

Paddleball!

Rock skipping

Ball bearing maze- you know those wooden mazes will a ball bearing that you have to tilt and twist to get the ball through the maze without falling in a hole, sometimes you have to tilt straight down to get it to jump over a hole.

Marimba instead of a drum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimba

Pancake flipping

fly swatting

Ball in a cup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_in_a_cup

Tossing cards in a hat.

Gump: Is this the sort of graphical look that you're going for? This isn't functional -- it's just a rough mockup.

Cohort: I like those a lot! The butterfly one sounds like it could be a fun base mechanic for a larger adventure game -- I could see that being part of a larger adventure game of collecting magical butterflies of different types -- sortof like an entomologist version of Pokemon.

I *really* like some of the physics based ones that you have listed -- the pancake flipping one is just great. I really like the idea of throwing cards into the hat, as well as the ball in the cup idea (but I like how you could move the hat around and have easier variation). A lot of yours are physics-based -- I might have to see about linking into a physics engine/library if I wanted to do some of those ideas justice.

Thanks so much for the ideas! It's really helping -- please keep them coming if you have any more.

--clint

Also, how many Wii games have you played? These are the ideas that have already been done.

Paddleball - Wii Play

Ball bearing maze - Rayman raving rabbits

Pancake [food] flipping - Warioware

fly swatting - Warioware

[This message has been edited by gump (edited September 17, 2007).]

I haven't played many/any Wii games at all actually -- I think I played Wii Boxing at a store kiosk in Cincinnati once, and we played a couple games of Wii Tennis at GarageGames in Oregon when we were out there this past spring.

Thanks for letting me know about what games had already been done -- that's very helpful! I was very interested in the food flipping one, but I'm glad to know that it's already been done.

I'm trying to stay away from games that are 3d or too heavily physics-based.

I might be able to do something nice with the stone skipping one -- that one sounds intriguing.

--clint

------------------
O Praise Christ, O Praise Christ, He Is Holy, He Is Holy - O Praise Him

We're standing on the shores of forever - where stars are shining brighter than before. And peace is the Prince of the moment. Our hearts are so weary from the war.

quote:

---

Tightrope Walking? A maze game where you avoid touching the walls?

---

Warioware has balancing on a ball which is very similar. Ditto for the avoid-the-walls game.

quote:

---

Originally posted by gump:
Have you read up on how the infrared sensor works? It's only used by the Wiimote for determining the approximate location of the TV screen.

---

Referencing WiiLi.org:

quote:

---

During R&D, Nintendo discovered the motion sensors were not accurate enough to use the remote to control an on-screen cursor. To correct this, they augmented the remote with an infrared image sensor on the front designed to locate two IR beacons within the controller's field of view. The beacons are housed within a device misleadingly called the Sensor Bar.

These two sources of IR light are tracked by a PixArt sensor in the front of the Wiimote housing. By tracking the locations of these two points in the sensors 2D field of view, the system can derive more accurate pointing information.

---

I decided to whip up a quick graphic to put up on the WiiLi wiki to visualize how the Wiimote uses the two points of light to determine where the player is pointing the Wiimote.

Hrm. Their upload script isn't letting me throw the image up there. I'll try again later. Anyways, here it is.

So because of such precise pointer data, I thought it could be used to give a pretty accurate feeling of swinging a sword at the blocks, and it giving reasonably good control of the sword. Hopefully they wouldn't swing so fast that the Wiimote wouldn't have time to lock on to the sensor bar or anything -- I suppose this is something I'd have to test. It may be that accelerometers are the only sensors that can handle such sword-swinging movement speeds -- I dunno'.

quote:

---

Originally posted by gump:
Supposedly even candles, which emit in the infrared, can be used. So if you have any cheap IR lights just center 2 above or below your screen separated by about 6.5 inches.

---

Legaianlight: Thanks for the ideas! Regarding the ball game and controlling the slant of the hill, that sounds a lot like Super Monkey Ball and Neverball. Good idea about the tight rope walking -- I'll have to keep that one in mind!

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited September 17, 2007).]

------------------
yeah, im a little crazy
Check out my crazy sig that I made:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Realm Master:
Is their any way I can get some of your wii games when your done making them han?
The ninja one looks like fun!

---

Definitely! I haven't finished any of them yet though -- I made a rag-doll simulator controlled by a Wiimote with C++ and OpenGL on my Mac a few months ago, but I haven't released that one yet.

Not enough people have Macs though, and low-level OpenGL is a bit of a pain to work with. I just want to do some rapid development, so I switched to Windows and C#. All I've gotten so far with that is to connect up the SDL.Net RPG walker demo to be controlled by the Wiimote d-pad -- nothing amazing, but at least I've connected the Wiimote to a game.

But yeah, I plan on open-sourcing the game and releasing it for free whenever I decide on a minigame to create. These are some great ideas being thrown around, and if you guys still have ideas, I'd love to see more of this brainstorming continue.

Thanks a lot for the discussion! I really appreciate the help. Gump, I'm really glad you've played so many Wii games -- your experience and knowledge in this area is really helping. I'd probably be off making a pancake-flipping game if you hadn't let me know that such things were already old-hat.
(but the idea is still very very cool -- maybe I should just clone it anyways...)

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited September 17, 2007).]

http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/cookingmamacookoff/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews

I remember seeing this at Blockbuster and thinking "no thanks".

or maybe a good hello world type game could be a "virtual" Bop-It

Or maybe one of the many carnival skill games.
Like dunk the pastor.
or Virtual Skee-ball... with tickets!

------------------
Sam Washburn

Check out my CCN SpeedGame 2 Blog

[This message has been edited by samw3 (edited September 17, 2007).]

*goes all nostalgic for a bit*

Man, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Basically it would be Wii Bowling except with Skeeball. <dreaming> I wonder if Skeeball would pay to develop a game like that for Wiiware. </dreaming>

Bop-It is a really good idea -- that could really work well! Especially if I could send sounds through the Wiimote speaker, it could *really* be turned into a little Bop-It thing.

Many of these physics-ish games wouldn't have to be have a physics engine integrated in necessarily. For instance, the card-tossing or "dunk the pastor" games could be implemented easily enough with faked physics, but in order to be close to something like Wii Bowling, I think the Skeeball game would probably have to use a physics engine.

Part of the trouble is that because the Wiimote is so close to a pop-culture virtual reality machine, it seems like most of the games will do best if they're 3d from the perspective of the player.

I guess I'm hoping to get by without doing full-on 3d here, though if I need to (for something like the ninja game), I'd implement a 2d pseudo-3d sortof thing.

--clint

quote:

---

Originally posted by gump:

Also, how many Wii games have you played? These are the ideas that have already been done.

Paddleball - Wii Play

Ball bearing maze - Rayman raving rabbits

Pancake [food] flipping - Warioware

fly swatting - Warioware

---

I only played the tennis game for about ten minutes when visiting garagegames. Sounds like Rayman and Wario are chaulked full of minigames.

25 carnival style games.

------------------
O Praise Christ, O Praise Christ, He Is Holy, He Is Holy - O Praise Him

We're standing on the shores of forever - where stars are shining brighter than before. And peace is the Prince of the moment. Our hearts are so weary from the war.

[This message has been edited by legaianlight (edited September 17, 2007).]

This reminds me of a browser game (404) that Opera released when they published their Wii API. It was a 2-player game where you tried to rock your opponent's ball off of the balance platform, while keeping yours on. It was really cool, but sadly the link no longer works because Opera apparently published the API too early, and they took it back down. Sadly, I wasn't even able to find a cached version of it to show you. :-\

Still, really great idea! You're right -- this wouldn't be hard at all to do in 2d.

--clint

------------------
~~~boogie woogie woogie~~~

If you took immortal pongbat and updated it so the pong pads could be manipulated like in the Wii Play laser pong game that'd be awesome.

Here's a screenshot of the proto, showing a cutting swoop with actual Wiimote data:

So now I need a few things. Anyone interested in helping on these? I'll break them up into a few categories -- creative, artistic, and technical.

Creative:
C.A) What name should it go by?
C.B) Anyone interested in doing some foley (sound fx) work for the game? I could use some swoop/swish samples, ideally at least one sound that could be looped and faded in/out to make a dynamic swoosh sound (sortof like a lightsaber).

Artistic:
A.A) Once a name is decided upon, a logo could be good. Cheesy B-grade Ninja movie artwork could be a sweet theme.
A.B) For Mene^2's sake, we should at least acknowledge that this game could do pretty well as a lightsaber game. We should consider getting some alternate graphics to make this fan-made Star Wars game as an alternate "skin" pack of graphics/sound. Maybe we could make these as separate themed levels that you travel between, sortof like a fighting version of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
A.C) Instead of just chopping wooden blocks, I was doodling yesterday and considering that maybe it would do well to chop multiple kinds of objects. Feathers at first, then sticks, then bricks, then eventually spinning ninja stars. Anyone feel like doing some in-game artwork for this? If they were animated (such as spinning-stars / rolling-bricks), then that would be cool too.

Technical:
T.A) Any thoughts as to what algorithm/guideline should be used to determine when a block is chopped? Right now, I'm pushing the last 20 Wiimote readings into a queue and saving all of those points to draw lines between them. This will be the "trace" that is tracked, and used to see if it intersects with any blocks, and if so, then it clears them from the screen.
T.B) I'm guessing that, with whatever algorithm we use, we'll probably need at least a line intersection algorithm, such that if the line from the Wiimote intersects the object, then it kills it. I could look up one of these algorithms, but if someone else was willing to dig it up (and possibly implement it in C#), that would be very helpful as well. I view this as a good opportunity for a young programmer to want to have a part in a small (but real) group project. The function prototype should look like:

bool LineIntersect(Point line1Start, Point line1End, Point line2Start, point line2End)

I could see this turning into a really fun swingfest of (pseudo) epic proportions. Imagine you and your friend, each with your Wiimotes, battling against extreme odds in a variety of themed worlds. Training dojo, attacking ninjas, outnumbered Jedis, honorable Medieval Knights, heck even a Harry Potter theme where you're chucking out Sectum Sempras -- any fantastic situation you can think of we could have a themed level for it, you and your buddy defending yourself against extreme odds.

Does this sound cool at all? Am I on a good track with it? Regardless, I think we need to start small and not do too much work on the other "themes" until we get at least the training dojo completed.

I think we could have this playable in a few days -- I don't want to see this project take more than a couple weeks.

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited September 18, 2007).]

Uni-cycle balancing.

quote:

---

Originally posted by JeTSpice:
Uni-cycle balancing.

---

Anyways, sat down for a little while last night and chunked away on Niinja a little bit more. Slashes work much more properly now, and I got some rudimentary enemies put into the game -- just simple blocks that get removed and respawned when you slash over them.

Next up is to get the enemies to animate or something.

I'm not entirely sure how well this will work. Preliminary testing seems to show that it degrades into a scribble fest more than a sword-slasher. Maybe requiring more precision will help, I'm not sure.

What good is an update post without a screenshot? Here's proof. When it starts to get fun, I look forward to uploading a video or something.

I didn't get much response for help with the categories I listed a few weeks ago -- those are all pretty much still open should anyone have interest in them. Though I will say that Sam Washburn did a great job looking up a whole bunch of cheesy B-grade martial arts movie posters for theme suggestions -- that was great.

Anyways, here's the screenshot showing some of the enemies (just blocks for now) along with a pretty good slash across the screen.

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited October 08, 2007).]

Interesting thought -- that could perhaps really help.

--clint

If a bird's eye view, more sword combos might be possible (probably be easier to code, make graphics for). So the player guides the sword around, controlling a little swordsman, who can block, parry, thrust, etc. Perhaps the buttons make the ninja walk or something.

If more simple, perhaps little icons of ninjas pop up, like in an arcade shooting gallery, and slower motions control the sword.

Some scribbling is cool, because in fighting games, you can thrash on the controls and get some crazy results.

quote:

---

A.B) For Mene^2's sake, we should at least acknowledge that this game could do pretty well as a lightsaber game. We should consider getting some alternate graphics to make this fan-made Star Wars game as an alternate "skin" pack of graphics/sound. Maybe we could make these as separate themed levels that you travel between, sortof like a fighting version of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

---

------------------
MM out-
Thought travels much faster than sound, it is better to think something twice, and say it once, than to think something once, and have to say it twice.
"Frogs and Fauns! The tournament!" - Professor Winneynoodle/HanClinto
I reserve the full right to change my views/theories at any time.

quote:

---

A.B) For Mene^2's sake

---

I just read that as Sake (the japanese alcohol) instead of sake. LOL!

Han: Let's rally around swords! Whose with me!?

Jet: ...how about a unicycle...

So, getting back on topic, if we do a graphical approach to the game, using some really simple geometric shapes like (hate to say it) South Park, then I could do some graphics for it. Is it going to be like a shooting gallery? Guys pop up and you slash 'em and they fall away or get ripped in half or something?

Using simple geometric shapes can be good because unprofessional artists can create/mimic the ninjas to create jedi's and knights and stuff for the various levels. The unifying graphical theme is just that it looks cute/funny/cartoonish. Legos and Star Wars kind of paved a little of that road, so it might be an easy stretch of the player's imagination.

What say you! Onward! Ho!

Clint, I'll PM you about sound effects.

***
Maybe the enemies spin out of control and fly off the screen in all directions. There could be this kind of "baloon game" element where if you hit the enemy on the legs, he spins wildly out of control off screen. But if you hit him in a certain way, he rips in half or something.

Here's another quick mock-up that takes about 15-20 minutes:

going crazy with the pics tonight...

okay, last one for tonight...

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 08, 2007).]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JeTSpice:
I just read some of the post and realized I totally ignored Han's proposal. I guess there were some entries between the time I read and responded.

Han: Let's rally around swords! Whose with me!?

Jet: ...how about a unicycle...

---

I originally wasn't leaning towards having you slashing dudes, though I'm still open to considering it. I don't particularly enjoy cutting up people, and so that's why when I began remaking Air Locked, I had big nasty bugs for enemies (see the bottom of this page for reference), so as to not feel as bad for killing a few hundred thousand of them.

It's not that I think we need to shy away from all human death in our storylines, it's just that it's not something that I want to treat glibly, and so I tend to not use people as mindlessly killed targets.

So that's why I've leaned towards making this game something more along the lines of the Police Trainer games, where you've got targets (such as feathers, logs, bricks, and eventually throwing stars) that you have to deflect. Star Wars would be deflecting blaster bolts (with possible expansion to aim your deflections back at the shooters), and perhaps a pirate would have a coconut/rock/dagger/skull progression or something.

That said, as I've thought about it since reading your post last night, I *would* be totally down with having a zombie slasher. I enjoy a good Zombie basher as much as the next guy, and I think having a cricket bat ala Shawn of the Dead would be fantastic.

Hopefully I'm not *too* inconsistent in my standards -- I'm very open to criticism if you think I am. These ideas are still somewhat young in my head, and so I'm trying to cope with them well.

But yeah -- *totally* like the art style that you've created, Jet -- thanks so much! I think that's a great look-and-feel for the game.

In Christ,
clint

------------------
MM out-
Thought travels much faster than sound, it is better to think something twice, and say it once, than to think something once, and have to say it twice.
"Frogs and Fauns! The tournament!" - Professor Winneynoodle/HanClinto
I reserve the full right to change my views/theories at any time.

------------------
>>>--supercoder--<<<

quote:

---

Originally posted by JeTSpice:
Inanimate objects are even easier to do graphics for. Since we can use this graphic style, whatever you want is what I can do. I'll get to work on a variety of them. If you want to use levels with characters, but not use body parts being cut or stabbed, perhaps the characters react as though they are being punched.

---

Sweet, sounds great Jet!

I think we'll be safest if we stick with the ninja theme at first.

As far as the objects go, even if they're inanimate, it's not that I wouldn't want them animated -- I think the feathers/leaves should at least sway as they fall down the screen, sticks and bricks and logs should roll (so they keep their axis, but are spinning like a football), and ninja stars should be flashily spinning. They should also have a split version for when you hit them successfully.

Does that sound reasonable?

As far as names for the game, here's what I've come up with as options. Please feel free to vote for them, or suggest your own names.

Wiinja
Niinja
Super Ninja Sword Training
Super Ninja Awesome Powah! (SNAP!)
etc.

Thanks a lot for the feedback and help!

--clint

Super Ninja Sword Training - 1 vote

------------------
MM out-
Thought travels much faster than sound, it is better to think something twice, and say it once, than to think something once, and have to say it twice.
"Frogs and Fauns! The tournament!" - Professor Winneynoodle/HanClinto
I reserve the full right to change my views/theories at any time.

Nevertheless, I've still been able to make a little headway on this project. JeTSpice did an excellent job of rendering me some spinning logs, and I now have them happily animating and spinning through the air at you in the game. Here's a quick screengrab I made last night:

I'm thinking about making a "Ninja Leetness Meter" that measures how much you're wailing your sword about, and how much you just get the job done with as few sword strokes as necessary. If you survive a level but your leetness meter is too low, I'm thinking that it could give some cheesy line that sounds like some mistranslated statement out of Street Fighter or some cheesy anime.
"You have won battle, but at cost of honor? No!"

So it's going decently well -- hopefully we can wrap this up somewhat soon. Jeff did a *fantastic* job of getting me spinning log sprites -- the poor scaling I'm doing in those screenshots really doesn't do them justice.

I could also use a backdrop for the game area (a few of these for different stages. Maybe a dojo to train, but definitely a classic martial arts movie grassy hill:

Perhaps a castle or forest setting could also work well.

I was originally leaning towards Niinja as a name, but the more I think about it, I like the association that Wiinja has with the Wii name just for pure marketing reasons -- it will help people find it and know what it is more quickly. As such, I'm thinking that might be the name direction that we want to go.

Anyone interested in whipping up some logos? If we could do something cool with the Wii font to make it look Nintendo-ish, that could be sweet.

Cheers!

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited October 24, 2007).]

Maybe I missed in a post up above, but I assume you are developing this on a Windows PC? If so, what Bluetooth connector are you using? Does your computer have one built in or did you have to get a 3rd party device?

I know my Mac has bluetooth connectability but I didn't think I could use the MS C# IDE on it.

Also, I was searching online and found a bunch of funny Wii accessories at WalMart.com (images link to the respective webpages):

...I just don't know what to say. I guess if your little brother runs through at the wrong time, he could lose an ear! I'm foreseeing many episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos revolving around Wiimotes.

[This message has been edited by mastallama (edited October 24, 2007).]

And yes, I'm developing this on the Windows PC. The built-in Bluetooth on my Macbook works fine with the Wiimote when I'm in OSX, but it doesn't work when I'm booted into Windows (apparently this isn't uncommon for laptops). So I checked some Wiimote compatibility lists online, and bought a $15-ish Bluetooth adapter from Wal-mart, and it works great! I don't remember which model it is off-hand, but I can try to remember to find out for you.

A few days ago though, I got tired of setting up the Bluetooth and lighting the candle for the IR every time I wanted to test my game, so I hacked it in so that it works with the Wiimote if it finds it, otherwise it works with just the mouse. I think there's still a bug in the detection, but it usually works the second time I run it.

Anyways, here's an updated screenshot. The logs are flying towards you pretty well now.

I also thought other people might like to check out this (VERY) alpha software, so I packaged up the source so that people could check it out. There should be a binary built somewhere in this directory tree too.
Wiinja_2007_10_24.zip (6.9 M)

Thanks a lot for everyone's help and discussion on this -- it's very much appreciated. Particularly Big props out to Gump for the idea and Jetspice for the excellent graphics.

So yeah -- the game is interesting to dink around with, but it's not all that fun yet. Now that we're at the prototype stage, we can bat around ideas for what's needed to make it more fun. Thoughts, anyone? Does this have potential? If so, how do we draw it out?

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited October 25, 2007).]

The voice should be "Uncle."

"I am not uncle. I am monkey's uncle. Hari Kari for you!"
(Edit: As in, he says this if you do poorly)

And, do you want other objects?

[This message has been edited by JeTSpice (edited October 26, 2007).]

------------------
MM out-
Thought travels much faster than sound, it is better to think something twice, and say it once, than to think something once, and have to say it twice.
"Frogs and Fauns! The tournament!" - Professor Winneynoodle/HanClinto
I reserve the full right to change my views/theories at any time.

quote:

---

So yeah -- the game is interesting to dink around with, but it's not all that fun yet. Now that we're at the prototype stage, we can bat around ideas for what's needed to make it more fun. Thoughts, anyone? Does this have potential? If so, how do we draw it out?

---

1. Object health. Some items require multiple hits to destroy.
2. Wiinja health. Missed items hurt the player. Less damage to player when objects are damaged. Health regenerated after each stage. Potential of either having limited continues or using a continue takes away points.
3. Sword response time. Need to allow only one new swing between 400-600 milliseconds.
4. Sword range. Objects are thrown from far away, but cannot be hit with sword until they're within a certain range. Objects are within range for about 2-3 seconds. Alert flashing symbol (red comic-looking pow symbol) highlights objects briefly when they come within range. Which leads to...
5. Wiinja throwing stars. Trigger button throws stars at objects off in the distance. Stars do less damage than sword. Early in game objects can always be destroyed with 1 or 2 sword swings. Later stages require objects to be damaged by stars in order for a sword to destroy them.
6. Combos for points. One sword slash can hit multiple objects in range.
7. Dodge moves. 1 and 2 buttons near the home button allow the player to dodge left and right. For example, if an object about to hit the player is on the left side of the screen they'd need to hit the 1 button to successfully dodge. The negative to dodging is that the player cannot throw stars or swing sword for a limited amount of time. So it's
8. Focus. Hitting objects gives focus points; combos give more. Holding the A button initiates a slo-mo mode that expends focus bar points.
9. Wiinja frenzy. When focus bar is full double-tapping A button initiates a frenzy. Have some sort of full-screen effect and a "rushing sound" combined with a thudding heart. All frenzy mode really does is remove the rules regulating the sword. No range limit, no need to make a straight cut across the whole screen, no delay between swings, and the sword damage increases.

Otherwise, this starts getting complicated, but the nunchuck could be used. Perhaps a combination of movements with the Wiimote and nunchuck could do combo sword attacks. Or the nunchuck could control a "shield arm" that if timed right could deflect objects from hurting the player as much. Or both.

Different types of throwing objects which can be switched with the D-pad. Different types of melee weapons other than sword. A battleax would have a longer delay between swings but it's damage is higher and the portion of the screen affected (larger slash radius) is higher. A whip could be done where the player makes a snapping motion. etc

Other than that, instead of having static scenes it could be like Rayman Raving Rabbits and you move through a 3D scene. Have an actual story. Environmental damage to physics objects could allow interactivity. For example, ninjas could be hiding in the trees/tall grass and you need to use the sword to slice the grass down to see the enemy. Slicing the wooden legs of a water tower could bring it tumbling down. etc.

Now the top 9 points could be implemented while keeping this project small. Obviously the last 3 paragraphs get complicated and require more resources. But if the basic gameplay is 100% functional it's possible this Wiinja concept could be pitched to publishers. Interested in that possibility?

quote:

---

So I checked some Wiimote compatibility lists online, and bought a $15-ish Bluetooth adapter from Wal-mart, and it works great! I don't remember which model it is off-hand, but I can try to remember to find out for you.

---

Can you look it up for me?

[This message has been edited by gump (edited October 27, 2007).]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mastallama:
Hey Clint,

Maybe I missed in a post up above, but I assume you are developing this on a Windows PC? If so, what Bluetooth connector are you using? Does your computer have one built in or did you have to get a 3rd party device?

I know my Mac has bluetooth connectability but I didn't think I could use the MS C# IDE on it.

Also, I was searching online and found a bunch of funny Wii accessories at WalMart.com (images link to the respective webpages):

...I just don't know what to say. I guess if your little brother runs through at the wrong time, he could lose an ear! I'm foreseeing many episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos revolving around Wiimotes.

[This message has been edited by mastallama (edited October 24, 2007).]

---

There was once a joke ran by a geek site about a helmet you wear with the wiimote on it--it was only a photoshop mod.

Honestly tho? One thing I always wanted for the Wii was a far better classic controller---one that would be a shell for the remote to slide into----overall I am not uber-Wii-fanboy but I want one again for when Smash Bros Brawl comes out in February---Sonic all the way baby--prolly will be the first unquestionably AAA 3D game Sonic has ever been in! (I liked SOnic Adventure 2 Battle on the GameCube but alot of people didn't).

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http://tags1.ps3tag.com/uploads/Z/Zookey48031742.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks a lot!

--clint

1. Shorter slashes recover for the next attack more quickly(maybe shorten the last slash 2 pixels(one from each end) per {time unit} until it is gone then allow the next attack).
2. Straight stab- have the "cursor" be a short line that is angled in the direction of the last movement then press what ever action button without moving the "cursor". Could be more powerful because of the increase in the amount of accuracy required.Probably slow to recover.
3. A shop to buy other weapons and upgrades.
4.maybe the ability for weapons to run out or break(maybe it got stuck in the wood).basic weapon should never break.

Then again, don't want to make the controls too complicated...needs playtesting.

What motions can it detect? Roll, Pitch, Yaw? Acceleration? Centripetal force? Can you put it anywhere in your livingroom and it can detect where it is and where it's facing?

If I don't rotate it but just move it up/down, in/out, left/right, can it detect how I'm moving it?

Based on what what the wii can do, I can render 2d sword sprites.

So I was thinking, how could you have sword slashing with a mouse?

Left click = Wiinja star
Hold right click = slash

The way it works is that it does not matter what portion of the screen you are aiming at for stars. When the right click is pressed the aiming reticle is hidden. The player then makes a motion with the mouse and releases the button. The starting position and direction of the slash on-screen is dependent on the angle of the mouse movement. For example, if the player jerks the mouse to the left horizontally the slash would start on the right-middle portion of the screen and slash leftwards. When the right-button is release the aiming reticle reappears.

While not as fun as using the Wiimote it should be pretty fun.

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Some ideas I came up with for Wiinja(in a little over the time it took me to read all the posts). Note:I have never owned a wii or ever got a good look at one.

1. Shorter slashes recover for the next attack more quickly(maybe shorten the last slash 2 pixels(one from each end) per {time unit} until it is gone then allow the next attack).
2. Straight stab- have the "cursor" be a short line that is angled in the direction of the last movement then press what ever action button without moving the "cursor". Could be more powerful because of the increase in the amount of accuracy required.Probably slow to recover.

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A combination of gyro input and line drawing could determine strength/length of slashes.

For a straight stab, other Wii games can detect when you move the Wiimote closer to the screen. I don't know exactly how they detect that but here is my hypothesis: the size of the IR lights. I noticed when configuring the Wiimote sensitivity that moving the Wiimote closer increases the size of the two dots representing the position of the IR lights.

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Originally posted by gump:
For a straight stab, other Wii games can detect when you move the Wiimote closer to the screen. I don't know exactly how they detect that but here is my hypothesis: the size of the IR lights. I noticed when configuring the Wiimote sensitivity that moving the Wiimote closer increases the size of the two dots representing the position of the IR lights.

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Yeah, there is a size value for each of the two IR "dots", but I think that might also be dependent on the brightness of your IR source. It's also not very accurate -- just a one byte value (0-15). So you could use that to tell how close you are, but I'm guessing that a more reliable/sensitive/accurate method would be measuring the distance between the two dots. The further the two dots are apart, the closer you are to the screen.

Incidentally, since the slashing action is currently based off of the IR sensor, it currently works better if you stand back further from the machine, because the Wiimote is more likely to pick up the IR sensor as it flashes past. As it stands right now, if you slash past the screen really fast and you're close to the IR emitter, then there's a chance that you won't get any sensor readings and it won't register the slash. The further back you are, the less likely that is to happen because of the field of view of the Wiimote's IR sensor.

So if you're standing further back, you will have better slash response, but poorer thrust response.

Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

I've been pretty busy today and yesterday, so while I've been reading and enjoying all of the game suggestions surrounding Wiinja, I haven't yet formulated many/any conclusions nor taken time to type up a reply. Basically, I really like that other people are thinking about the game -- thanks so much for your input, especially Gump! I'm very encouraged that people feel that the game has potential. The Wiimote Library is licensed under the Microsoft Public License, but as far as my code is concerned, any of my code or designs can belong here to the community for people's free use, whether commercial or private.

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited November 01, 2007).]

I'd imagine that other games don't use just the one byte size value. Other Wii games I've played allow the player to slowly zoom in.

If I ever do code a Wii game I'll definitely need to read up on the technical factors more. I didn't realize they were not using gyros. Perhaps Brethren could answer simple questions like these.

Basically, he used the IR sensor of the Wiimote to simulate a surfaceless multitouch interface. The best part about it is how good of a job he does explaining how everything works, particularly the IR sensor. Gump (and others), if you want to know more about how the Wiimote sensors work, I highly recommend watching this vid.

Cheers!

--clint

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>>>--supercoder--<<<

quote:

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Originally posted by supercoder:
ur next game should be sqwiigie, u wii-wash car windows for $ when they stop at red light & dodge flying cigarete butts!

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--clint