Face tracking

[BFishY]

Face tracking uses a regular webcam to track your face and give you control in-game

FaceOff Paintball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybfxs4QYcvE

More info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWkpdtFZo...er&list=UL

Which brings me to Amnesia and future games
If these guys use this technology it would make the user experience more realistic and scary, as a person has to lean to the side to poke his head out of a closet he's hiding in. (If you enable this feature)

They already have the mouse involved in unique ways, why not go farther? If you have a webcam (which many of us do due to MSN, skype, and other chat/video programs) you could have more control over the game and make the experience more realistic.

Just throwing it out there :p
Sooner or later games will come with this standard (Most likely Valve will end up being the first) But why not look into it and be the first?

[kailip]

This seems so... annoying.

Whatever, could be interesting, if optional.

[mattwestwick]

A lot of games will emerge this year with tracking as part of their controls. I don't know if it will catch on but it would be welcome as an optional extra.

It's been known about since this guy made this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw and very few games have bothered to incorporate it so that tells you something.

I'm working on face-tracking and 3d interfaces myself but it's more musically orientated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dubjRZRMj4M
Game developers know that if you are going to make a serious game then users are not likely going to sit there for two hours bobbing their head. It's more of a novelty type thing suited to party games or arcade machines.

My current project combines face-tracking and hand motion tracking to manipulate a 3d environment. If combining the two actually works well enough then I might pursue it further. But frankly a 2d control system works just fine and anything more is not going to be a religious experience. I'll see what I come up with.

[Spooder Wekd]

This technology has been around for years. The problem with this and motion control is that it forces the player to be in the game. If you look away in real life. Suddenly you're doing circles in game. With motion control, if you put your hands down, suddenly something is happening that you don't want. Also, people like controllers, and are used to them. Motion controls/head tracking never accurately recreates the thing the character is doing in game, so it actually takes away from the immersion that the immediate feedback of a controller gives.

[mattwestwick]

I think the problem is not with people accepting motion control over standard controllers, but rather the intelligence of motion control.

At the moment it is not sophisticated enough to overcome conditions in which unintentional movements would affect gameplay negatively. However in a year or so I think motion tracking will be just as worthwhile as controllers.

As the kinect proves, a lot of people want an alternative to controllers. At the moment it's a gimmick but I can see 3d work and gaming environments coming soon. All you would need next would be holograms and touch receptors and you have a decent virtual reality.

[kailip]

I don't like this thing of motion control.

It's cool, yeah, but it's kinda stupid. you stay moving like a retarded in the front of a screen... lol

[Bek]

Isn't this kind of a cheap (perhaps better) version of Track IR? I could imagine this being interesting in Flight Sims mainly with Eyefinity setups. I'd LOVE to try eyefinity and Track IR.

[mattwestwick]

So I tested the paintball game:

Leaning round corners with head tracking is not worthwhile. Without going into detail it provides no tactical advantage over key leaning and is a distraction.

What I really liked was the "handycam" aspect of head tracking. Turning the sensitivity up high added a really subtle camera movement that helped with immersion and actually felt very natural.

To clarify. The handycam feature does not make the character lean it just moves the viewpoint around based on which way your head points. Since your head actually moves very little when you look at points on screen with your eyes, the subtle change in panning and tilt really complement your view.

Try it out at least but don't expect it to improve gameplay, just enjoy it for the ambience.

[Spooder Wekd]

So I tested the paintball game:

Leaning round corners with head tracking is not worthwhile. Without going into detail it provides no tactical advantage over key leaning and is a distraction.

What I really liked was the "handycam" aspect of head tracking. Turning the sensitivity up high added a really subtle camera movement that helped with immersion and actually felt very natural.

That's my argument, motion controls just destract, it's easier just to use buttons.

The handycam thing could be cool. But try looking at your monitor and moving your head around, you can still see perfectly. You actually can not really tell you are moving. So the handycam thing may be cool, but not realistic...

[mattwestwick]

"But try looking at your monitor and moving your head around, you can still see perfectly. You actually can not really tell you are moving."

What? Please rephrase that, I have no idea what you mean.

The reason I liked the handycam part was that as our eyes move around a screen we have a tendency to move our heads a little bit. Using this slight movement to direct the on-screen perspective feels really nice. The only problem with it is that with increased sensitivity comes decreased stability, i.e. the view shifts around from ambient movement.
But this is nice since it's already programmed in a game like amnesia to simulate the players viewpoint by having it bob around and tilt with walking.