Gaming, Woodcraft and Teamwork!
A team project where the player must align pipes correctly using a Wii remote. The ingame goals would then have effect on a custom built wooden tower. The game was programmed in Java.
This project was made by four people working on both software and hardware. The game uses the Nintendo Wii remote to get input from the player.
Gameplay
The player must align pipes from the fictional tesla coil to “relay electricity” to a specific point in the game. The game communicates to the Arduino to power servomotors that operate three doors and an elevator. These doors were gates on the rails and the elevator was a metal spiral elevator that would move the ball to the top of the tower.
The game was complete if the player manager to bring the ball to the top of the tower, this would then turn on the plasma globe and register the time it took.
Woodwork
The tower base is made of wood and has a metal screw elevator. A conductive metal ball has to be elevated up and then roll down three rails. One side of a rail is powered and the other is grounded. The metal ball conducts electricity to blue LED’s on the rails when it passes by. Once the ball has reached the bottom of the tower within the time limit, a switch turns on the plasma globe on the top of the tower and the game is won.
Lessons learnt
This was actually my favourite project to work on. It combined the talent of everyone in our team. We had a very skilled woodworker (who doubled as a good project leader as well) and we all were coding. This project taught me that effective team work with good group synergy, produces great results.
