My SCAD's Journal: September 2006

Game Concept

In this project, I define a set of facial expressions to be recognized in the game. This set of facial expressions is extracted from the facial movement patterns using in the neuromuscular retraining therapy and oral facial myofunctional therapy. Due to the selected facial expressions have a close relationship to the facial physical therapy, the game has multiple purposes or functions which are entertainment and medical treatment.

Game Overview

FDR (Facial Dance Revolution) combines pulsating music with specific sound effects to create an interactive audio and visual experience. Utilizing the facial recognition software, players can activate the sound effects by showing their expressions that appear on screen at the right time. This game let players move their heads, exercise their facial muscles and drop the beats at their own homes.

Background Story

Somewhere out there, there is a secret garden. It is a dream garden of an old legend. The garden layout looks like a maze, people will very easy to get lost in it. In fact, it is a dead garden like a desert. Whoever can get through the garden and make all the plants relive, his dream will come true. Therefore, people called it a “Dream Garden”. Inside the garden, all the plants are not showered by water. They are showered by the sound. In the other words, the notes are the lifeblood of the secret garden. If someone goes into the garden, make all the plants in full bloom; then the fairy will reveal itself and make your dreams come true. One day, a boy who lost his voice comes to the secret garden. He tries to go through the garden and look for the fairy. He hopes the fairy can help him to find back his voice. The journey of rescuing the dream garden is started.

Game Play

“Music is life; music is full of vitality” - is the slogan of this game. In this game, a player is going to rescue the dream garden. At the beginning, the garden looks like a desert. The land is dry and the plants are dead. The task of the player is to rescue the plants inside the garden. By watering the notes, the plants will relive. The player has to show the required expression that appears on screen at the right time in order to generate the notes. Meanwhile, a specific sound effect will be generated together with the notes. The way to present is similar to the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) game. When the player starts to gain scores, notes are falling down slowly. At the same time, the plants are growing slowly. Once the player gains enough scores, the plants will come into blossom. The main character will jump out from the plants and lead the player to the next level. If the player can’t gain enough scores within a limited time, the plant will become a man-eater and eat away the player. The game is over.

There are three levels (easy, middle, and high) in the game. Each level has different tempe game is to pass through the three levels and proceed to the exit of the garden. The ending scene will transit from eye level view to top view of the garden. The camera will continue to zoom out till the whole picture of garden is seen. It is a garden, as well as a symbol of music – a note.

What can be set by the player?

The mapping table of facial expressions vs.sound effects

Facial expressions to be recognized

Different set of sound effect

Background music

The speed of each level

Any metaphor is used in the game?

In the game, I have applied few metaphors:

Plants relive -> a metaphor of recovering

Notes -> a metaphor of water, the lifeblood of life. It is transmitting a message of “everything is alive when music comes”.

Lost of voice -> lost of communication. The gardener’s voice is back represents the ability of communication is back.

A maze -> a metaphor of disordering. Find the way out of a maze implies saying goodbye to the disordered life.

Is this game for single player or multiplayer?

This game can support both single mode and multiplayer mode. In the multiplayer mode, multiple expressions might require at the same time.

Game Flow Chart

The World Layout

The key location is a garden. The top view of the graden will be look like a music note as below.

The whole picture of the garden

Reference image: A corner of labrinth in Bedhampton, U.K.

World Feature #1 - Level 1

The second scene of the garden is a dead tree. If the player starts to gain points, the notes will fly in to the dead tree. After the dead tree absorbs the notes, it starts to grow new branches and leaves. Slowly, it becomes a healthy tree. Eventually, the tree blossoms out beautiful flowers. At last, a wind will blow away some petals which bring the player to the next level.

Front View

Top View

Tree - version 1

Tree - version 2

Tree - version 3

World Feature #2 - Level 2

There is a dry pond in the garden. If the player starts to gain points, the notes will fall into the pond and become water. The pond starts to have water slowly and back to a pond with full of water eventually. After the pond is full, water lilies will start to grow up and come into blossom. At last, a main character will jump out from the blossom and lead the player to the next level. Alternatively, if the player starts to lose points, the water lily will become a man-eater and kill the player.

Angle View

Top View

Reference 1: Pond's Style 1

Reference 2: Pond's Style 2

Reference 3: Water Lilies in Full Bloom

World Feature #3 - Level 3

The third scene of the garden is an old trellis. If the player starts to gain points, notes will spread out from a watering pot. A creeping plant will grow from the ground and climb along the trellis until it covers the whole lattice. Finally, a fairy comes out from the creeping plant. The fairy brings the gardener to the exit of the garden. Meantime, the gardener’s voice is back – his dream comes true.

Front View

Reference Image

World Feature #4 - Music (tentative)

Background Music:

    Level 1: The Blue Danube Waltz, by Johann Strauss II

    Level 2: Hit the road, Jack! Don’t you come back, no more!

    Level 3: Mambo No.5

Sound Options:

Animals: such as frog, cock, cat and dog etc.

Human voice: such as “Ah”, “Oh”& “Uh” etc.

Objects: such as pots, tables, percussion instruments etc.

World Feature #5 - Facial Expressions Recognition

Smile

Pucker the mouth

Open the mouth

Head nodding

Head shaking

The Physical World

Installation

Camera

The whole game is in a third person view including when the time the plant eat away the player. To present this situation, the screen will become black in a flash. In the level, the camera is in an eye-level view. When the last stage of the game is finished, the camera will move to the top view of the garden, slowly zoom out until the whole picture of the garden is shown.

Weather

It is a sunny daytime scene.

Time

There is a real-time clock to measure the elapsed time for each level. The rule is one song for each level. It takes less than 5 minutes for each level. The exact time depends on the length of the song.

Game Style

Two options of game style are considered in this game. The reference images are as below.

Style 1: Virtual 3D Look with Details Texture and Natural Lighting