Sidestep and sneak peek: spatial actions in augmented reality games

We propose a novel concept of game, which allows players to experience tangible interaction with the virtual world of digital games by mixing motorized scenery (object support) with dynamically generated spatial augmented reality. A specific hardware, which includes a turntable platform, on where players can setup customized polygonal shaped scenery to play the game projected onto its surfaces, and a single, or a pair, of focus free laser pico-projectors pointed toward the platform is proposed as a game console able to run this experiment. The turntable platform orientation is synchronized with the game play in a way the physical object rotates aligned with the projected virtual reality in relation to the player’s fixed perspective. By designing 3-dimensional animations, which are rendered and projected in accordance with the surface orientations, we were able to enhance the illusion of depth toward these planar structures during the game play. The use of spatial augmented reality is justified by exploiting the characteristics of projected 2-dimensional light onto 3- dimensional objects in order to extend the game possibilities. As an example, the number and orientation of polygons found on the support can be directly associated with the complexity of the game universe, affecting the game difficulty, scale and game play. In this paper we discuss about spatial actions, which are actions players can perform at object support creases. When synchronized with motor movements, these actions extend the sense of volume in relation to the game avatars providing a tangible connection between players and digital content