Holo-cade

Playing the Game
Hologram Display

Inspiration

When brainstorming ideas on what to hack and discussing how impressive something like ironman's holographic CAD was, one member of our team recalled an example of a simple hologram that had become popular several years back. When revisiting some of those tutorials we were unbelieving of its simplicity and decided to make a quick mock up fully expecting failure. When the test was in fact a success our team was impressed by the effect as a result of the simple setup to make a 2D space look like a 3D hologram when designed with the right visual elements. We then started considering the theme of the hack-a-thon as well as our display to create ideas that would take advantage of both. Initially we started considering retro games and something that could make use of the 3D perspective. Eventually we got inspired to make it so the user could interact with the display in a tactile way using a hand sensor, but when unity physics proved to be a bit too challenging on top of everything else for 36 hours we pivoted to using the gestures and display to create a fun new gaming experience.

What it does

Holo-cade is a modified version of the classic space rails shooter arcade game StarFox with holographic effects that would be displayed on a holographic display and be controlled just with the users hand rather than a controller. Thus providing a modern visually unique user experience to a retro game.

How we built it

The frame for holo-cade is laser cut wood and it's display is clear plastic. The user interacts with holo-cade through the leap motion sensor that detects hand gestures that have then been mapped to certain actions in the game. The main display is a mod of star fox made on unity to take advantage of the holographic display and its visual effects.

Challenges we ran into

Hardware issues: Slow computers, compatibility, setup
Fabrication: laser cutter trouble
Cool technology what can we do with it
Using unity: Good physics for interactive game and setting it up for sensor interaction

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting the sensor working and having it control the game/system
The simple elegance of the actual hologram and it's design
Modding a game on unity when not having used it prior

What we learned

We learnt some curious things about the nature of optics since the hologram only displays on one side of the plastic, shows double depending on thickness and layers.
We learnt the basics of unity such as textures, physics and assets.
We learnt about how the leap motion sensor works and interacts with a computer.

What's next for Holo-cade

Short term, we would like to get a better display to improve user experience by reducing lag and increasing graphics quality. A mid term goal to increase viability would be to try and run the games through an on system processor rather than displaying from our computers. And lastly, our long term goal would be trying out new games with more complex physics to take more advantage of the full range of hand gestures detectable by the leap motion sensor we are using. Later the gesture mapping technology could also be used to improve accessibility by detecting sign language or allowing for gesture based control for those who may struggle to use a traditional laptop UI.