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The week's noteworthy writing on technology and more.
Researcher proposes Thumb on Hand gestures, no touchscreen necessary (video)
Would you be willing to wear an additional device in order to avoid interacting with another? That's the conundrum posed to us by Christian Loclair, a master's student at the Hasso Plattner Institute. His thesis, titled Thumb on Hand Interaction, proposes that users control their mobile equipment with simple hand gestures that are performed independently of their device's touchscreen. This level of freedom requires that users wear a depth camera on their chest, and builds upon prior research from the Hasso Plattner Institute that required use of both hands. Loclair proposes a diverse new set of gestures that users can perform with only one hand, where one's thumb acts as the primary navigation tool and one's palm serves as a trackpad. Another set of gestures is based on the interaction of one's thumb and index finger, which allows users to control sliders and the like. Perhaps once the research team determines how to implement this technology without making our lives more complex, we'll be able to sink our teeth into this one. In the meantime, you'll find a video demonstration after the break.
ZeroTouch 'optical multi-touch force field' makes a touchscreen out of just about anything
The rise of tablets and smartphones has made the touchscreen a rather ubiquitous interface, but they aren't everywhere quite yet. A group of students from Texas A&M intend to change that, however, with the invention of ZeroTouch: a seemingly empty picture frame that lets you turn any surface into an interactive touchscreen. It might not look like much, but ZeroTouch is packing a series of pulsing LEDs and infrared sensors that turn that blank space into a highly sensitive surface. Basically, the strategically placed LEDs cover the open area in a sheet of invisible light. When a hand or stylus enters the picture (or lack there of), those beams are interrupted, providing cues to a piece of software that tracks the object's movement -- and boom! You've got a touchscreen. Of course, this isn't the sort of thing that's going to make it to market anytime soon, but you can check out ZeroTouch rocking the rippling water effect in the video below.
A cinematic tour of fake computer UIs
When your film or TV show takes place in a high-tech landscape, an important part of the mise en scène is the computer interface that your protagonist / supervillain uses to save the planet / initiate the self-destruct sequence. But time and again, that blockbuster GUI is far too high-tech for the film's setting... or just plain silly. According to a recent NPR interview with Hollywood interface designer Mark Coleran, this is no accident: the convention began in the early 1980s, when most people's computer knowledge was limited to coin-op videogames. "The entire point of those things," he says, "is to tell a story... in two seconds, onscreen." Besides, who among us hasn't wanted access to a smiley-faced "virus launch panel" at some point? Hit up the source links for some examples of UIs that have "gone Hollywood," and feel free to drop any of your favorites into the comments.
Multi-robot command center built around Microsoft Surface (video)
While we've given up on ever winning an online match of StarCraft II, that doesn't mean top-down unit control schemes are only for nerds in their mom's basement with their cheap rush tactics and Cheeto fingers and obscene triple digit APMs (we're not bitter or anything). In fact, we kind of like the look of this robot control interface, developed at UMass Lowell by Mark Micire as part of his PhD research. The multitouch UI puts Microsoft Surface to good use, with gestures and contextual commands that make operating an unruly group of robots look easy, and a console-inspired touch control setup for operating a single bot from a first person perspective as well. There are a couple videos after the break, the first is Mike operating an army of virtual robots, using Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio to simulate his soldiers and environment, but the second shows his first person UI guiding a real robot through a maze, in what amounts to a very, very expensive version of that Windows 95 maze screensaver.
Apple applies for 'disappearing button' patent
You know that little sleep indicator light on the front of your new MacBook Pro -- the one that simply disappears when your notebook is wide awake? Apple wants to do that for buttons, too. Cupertino's latest patent application is for pressure-sensitive, capacitive touchscreen materials it could build right into the surface of its aluminum-clad devices, and identify with laser-cut, micro-perforated holes that let light shine from within. According to the filing, the technology could potentially be used to eliminate existing buttons in favor of a smooth, solid slab, and / or integrate new ones into surfaces that weren't previously considered for use. Engineers imagine light-up controls on a laptop's lid that could be used while closed for things like USB charging and media playback, and local heat and sound sensors that selectively light up interface opportunities when users are in close proximity. Not bad, Apple. As long as you let us keep our nice, springy keyboards, we're all for revolutionizing the rest of modern input.
Xcode 3.2 Daily Tip: Adding actions and outlets in IB
More Xcode daily tips for Mac and iPhone developers. Back in the old times, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (and used less sophisticated IDEs), Interface Builder offered a built-in class browser as part of the project window. This browser allowed to you navigate through the Objective-C class hierarchy, and add subclasses along with instance variables and methods. You could generate files from those classes as a skeleton for further development. Then for a while, the class browser went away. And it was missed. But it is back again. New to Xcode 3.2, the Interface Builder Library pane hosts an updated class browser. This new subpane combines features that have recently been in the Class Identity Inspector (namely, adding outlets and actions to a class) with the ability to generate new subclasses from existing classes. So how does it work? I may be a brontosaurus but I prefer the old style browser to the new style "Lineage" display shown here. The new pane is certainly pretty, and it fits in well with the Library pane concept of collecting elements that are universally used throughout a project, but it lacks a certain ease-of-browsing that the old tree-style presentation used to give. All aesthetic and usability concerns aside, it's important to know that the Outlets/Actions interface has moved from its prior home into a new one. The interaction objects remain essentially unchanged. Use the + button to add outlets and actions, the - button to delete them. Double-click the default types to change them to a different class. You can locate a class by entering a string into the search field at the bottom of the pane. The pop-down action menu on the bottom-left offers a number of class-related functions including subclassing, displaying group banners in the class list, writing out updated class files, and more.
GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth
At GDC09, we got to talk with many people and listened to a variety of panels on all aspects of game design. But there was little doubt as to which panel attracted loads of attention -- the Jeff Kaplan panel on quest design in World of Warcraft.Warcraft has come extremely far in terms of their UI design and quest implementation since the game launched back in 2004. Just between 2007 and 2009, Kaplan revealed that over 8,570,222,436 quests have been completed, while the daily average was 16,641,409. With those numbers in place, it's safe to say that World of Warcraft players are driven by their questing.Kaplan's panel revealed a few tricks of the trade, as well as his beliefs regarding questing, so without further adieu let's get into the meat of his panel.%Gallery-49071%
GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth pt. 2
Mistakes of World of Warcraft Kaplan was quick to note that Warcraft was far from perfect, and he wanted to highlight some of his own mistakes inside of the design. The first mistake was the idea of the "Christmas tree effect," otherwise known as having so many quests in a quest hub that the minimap lights up with exclamation points like a Christmas tree. While players enjoy this, Kaplan wanted to say that the developer loses call control over the player at these points, as the player will not read any quest text in their clicking frenzy. There's no control over what quest leads into what or which order the player will do the quests in. The second was the internet adage of "too long, didn't read." Quest designers don't need to write a book to get their point across with the quests. He brought up that video games had a type of "medium envy," where sometimes they get too preachy with their topics. Games should be fun first, story second. Mystery also falls in this category. The story can provide mystery, but the quest log should never have any mystery to it. The quest log should always point where to go and what to do, but the overall story of those quests may provide some solution to some mystery. Also avoid poorly placed quest chains, like the Chains of Myzrael questline in Arathi Highlands. The Myzrael line was hard to find, ended up spanning 14 levels, and ended with killing an elite mob that was level 44. This quest line was a "brick wall" according to Kaplan, because most players never stuck with it. It's good to have quest chains that span content, but quest chains like this break down trust the player has with the developer. When the player runs into a chain that he can't finish with a monster he can't kill, the player loses trust in the developer's sense of guiding them to fun. He also emphasized to avoid inserting "gimmick quests." His example here was part of the Oculus dungeon where players ride on dragons. These types of quests center around doing something the client may not be able to properly handle. Warcraft was not designed to accommodate vehicles. When developers resort to putting in parts of the game that center around a gimmick, it can detract from the fun of the rest of the game. The horror of collection quests Kaplan's speech ended with an analysis of why people hate collection quests so much, and a few tips on how to make collection quests into a better experience. His problems with the quests stemmed from three areas -- dense creature population, too few of a creature to kill, and having a wide variety of items required for the quest. Having a dense creature population can put off people, especially when there's a lack of the monster required for the quest. If someone has to kill four lions for every one raptor required for the quest, then there's a problem. His other point was that collection quests shouldn't require an insane amount of items. To everyone's amusement, he brought up the Green Hills of Stranglethorn quest chain (a chain he wrote) as the exact thing a designer should never do. Collection quests should be an easily obtainable number of items, and not such a long grind fest with the hope that your required item might drop. Lastly, never have the player question why they're collecting the item required -- it should be clear from the onset. Kaplan brought up the infamous gnoll paw collecting quests, in which gnolls may or may not drop paws upon death, where obviously a gnoll has four paws and not a number between 0 and 1 (which everyone applauded at loudly). Quests should make sense and not become a gimmick in their own right. This causes the player to once again, lose trust. Most of these points that Kaplan has brought up pertain to Warcraft, but can easily be applied to any game on the market. With all of this in mind, perhaps we'll get to see some better design in our MMOs from other developers, now that we're all on the same page... of the Green Hills of Stranglethorn.
Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
Regular columns dominate this week's listing of WoW-related content on our sister site Massively. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.Behind the Curtain: Immediacy in PvPCraig Withers likes to PvP in a tabletop game, but not WoW. Why not? Read his current Behind the Curtain column to find out what's lacking in Blizzard's version of mortal combat.WAR vs WoW: Keen and Graev compare Keen and Graev's blog has started early in the comparison of World of Warcraft and the upcoming Warhammer Online. See what our own Kyle Horner has to say about what's sure to be a hot topic this year. Another rumor regarding Blizzard's love affair with consolesA recent demo of a new console game resulted in a comment leading to speculation: is WoW coming to a next-gen console near you?Behind the Curtain: More Plot PleaseHow much plot is needed to make an MMO enjoyable? Chris Chester poses that question, and his own answer in his weekly column, Behind the Curtain.Building a Better MMOusetrap: Adventures in babysittingGuilds are an essential part of every MMO. In his Building a Better MMOusetrap column, Dave Moss explores ways that Blizzard and other game developers can make guilds even better.As the Worlds Turn: Ramblings of a mad manAdam Schumacher uses this week's As The World Turns column to present his wish list to Blizzard and other MMO developers detailing what he'd like to see this year in MMOs.MMOGology: Keep it simple, stupidMark Nottke has been playing a lot of Dungeon Runner. In his weekly MMOGology weekly column, he compares the simplistic quest, interface and content to WoW's system and you may be surprised at his conclusions.
