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Creating a TV show all about technology is tough due to the rate at which it changes and having to appeal to a mass audience, meaning not that much appeal for geeks. The Gadget Show broadcast in the UK does a better job than most, and its latest build segment has to be the best they’ve done.
Over the course of six weeks they managed to research and build what has to be classed as the ultimate first-person shooter simulator. The games used to test it: Battlefield 3.
The aim of this build was to create a simulation as close to being there as possible. That meant full body movement, holding and using a gun, and even force feedback across your entire body.
It took a meeting of minds and companies to make it happen, but the end result is going to have FPS fans drooling for a room big enough, and a home kit version to make this happen for them.
Here’s a rundown of all the kit used to make the simulator possible:
Igloo Vision Dome
First you need an enclosure capable of displaying a very large HD image and the Igloo Vision Domefit the bill perfectly. It’s 4 meters high and 9 meters wide with 5 HD projectors mounted on the roof allowing for a full 360-degree screen. Battlefield 3 only requires 180 degrees, so a solution was required to stop the player turning and seeing the blank other half behind them, which we’ll come on to below.
Omni-directional treadmill
In order to make movement realistic, you need to let the player move freely around the dome. In order to do this without running into the screen they used an omni-directional treadmill from Swedish company MSE Wiebull. Combined with 10 infrared tracking cameras it’s possible to walk and run in the game without ever reaching the edge of the dome.
Ambient LED lighting system
Lighting that changes with what’s happening on a screen can have a big effect on the overall experience, as Philips demonstrated with its TV lighting systems. For the simulator, Extra Dimensional Technologies came up with an 800 LED lighting system hooked up to the game. The lighting is able to monitor and react to what is happening on-screen in real-time.
Force feedback
One side-effect of the real-time lighting system is the ability to track when a player gets hit by a bullet. Usually in games like this you get a quick red color flash on-screen based on the direction the bullet came from. In the case of the simulator, those flashes were used to get one of twelve paintball guns to fire at the player.
Three turrets each consisting of four guns were setup around the edge of the dome and pointed at the player in the center. On a bullet hit the appropriate gun would fire a paintball at the player. Not only did this reinforce the act of being shot in the game, it apparently hurt too, making for a very real experience.
Solving the 180-degree screen problem
As mentioned earlier, Battlefield 3 only requires a 180-degree screen, so if the player turned around in the dome they would see a blank screen.
This was solved by turning to APS Events & Media who rigged the 5 HD projectors in the dome to rotate with the player. By doing so, it doesn’t matter how much the player rotates they will always be looking directly at the display, never behind it.
Holding a real gun
For the gun, the team turned to the appToyz appBlaster, which is meant to work with an iPhone or iPod touch for interactive shooting games. In this case it was modified to allow the two triggers to aim and fire in Battlefield 3. It was also linked up wirelessly to the game using Mobile Mouse
Crouching and jumping
While the omni-directional treadmill deals with most movement, it can’t handle crouching and jumping, which are an important part of the game. So a Kinect motion sensor was hacked to monitor for this type of movement and relays it to the game.
Tannoy surround sound speakers
Probably the easiest part of this simulation was the sound. A good sound card in the PC running the game was hooked up to a Tannoy surround-sound speaker setup in the dome to give the player immersive sound feedback alongside the movement.
Calibrating and playing a level
As you can imagine, a lot of calibration was required, but the end result is a simulator that allows a player to move around freely, feel pain from being shot, and become totally engrossed in the game. It also turned out to be a very good workout with players leaving the simulator exhausted and drenched in sweat.
Check out the full build and level playthrough in the video below, then tell me you don’t want one of these at home.
More at The Gadget Show
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