Kalugny's Blog

Since the prototype isn't running for most of you (especially all of you with Macs :| ), I made a 45 second video showing the initial gameplay of the prototype.

There have been a few advancements since my last (and first) post, but let's just stick with the TL;DR:

A prototype consisting of:

not-so-bad eye detection!

3 levels of platforming action, that would keep you busy for up to four minutes!

cheap graphics!

and less

Do notice that:

Use W, A, D keys to move and jump.

You should have a webcam to use this (the one in your laptop should do).

After level 3 the game just gets stuck, so close it.

It's a very very early prototype that hasn't been tested, so expect things not to work.

If you don't see your face, try to face the camera and remove your glasses.

Unzip this to a folder and double-click "run.bat" to run.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/869329/dontlook_17.7.14.zip

Lately I've been prototyping an input system that watches a user's face and detects when they shut their eyes or blink. I think this can be a cool control scheme for a game, and I've been trying to find a cool concept to use it with.

THEME: JOKE/TOY

Cyclops Simulator: 1st person view of someone that shoots lasers from his eyes. The only way to stop shooting is to close your (real) eyes, but then of course you don't see (but do hear) what's going on. I imagine this as being a Surgeon Simulator/Katamari Damacy kind of looneyness where you shoot baddies and goodies alike and cause all kinds of funny, semi-controlled mayhem.

THEME: BLINKING CHANGES THE WORLD

A rouge-like where the dungeon is procedurally re-created every time you blink (instead of every time you die). The hero, monsters, treasure and everything else stays where it is, but the walls and the layout of the level changes. This means you can be fighting a monster, blink and find it at the other side of the wall (or the other way around). 

A platformer (in the vain of Super Meat Boy) where there are two (or more) states of the world. A blink alternates between these states, making some platforms appear or disappear, for example. Combined with the basic interface of platformers (jumping, running), this adds an extra layer of skill and control.

THEME: GAINING CONTROL BY LOSING CONTROL

After-image: A 1st person puzzler (like Antichamber) where the world is totally dark, but if you close your eyes for a little while and open them, you can see for a few seconds a glimpse of the world as an "after image", and you can navigate and solve puzzles. Alternatively, when you close your eyes something "grows", like a bridge rises where there was a gap. When you open them it slowly fades away, and you must quickly find your way and close your eyes again.

A 2d puzzle platformer where you become invulnerable and unaffected by gravity when you close your eyes (that is, you are exactly in the same place, unharmed, when you reopen them). The world around you is constantly moving and changing - monsters, saws and platforms move about. You have to time your movements and your eye openings-closings so as to position yourself in the correct places at the right times to finish each level.