AvaCheckers
The Best Checkers You'll Ever Play
Taylor Glenn tcg@cise.ufl.edu
Cyrus Harrison cdh@cise.ufl.edu
What's AvaCheckers?
AvaCheckers combines aspects from various fields of communication with Virtual Reality technologies to create a gaming experience like no other. For the first time, play a game of checkers with an opponent over the internet like they were sitting right in front of you.
AvaCheckers features the use of Haptek brand Virtual Characters to represent each user. This means privacy and low bandwidth, and because Haptek characters are so lifelike, you'll forget that the person across from you isn't real. On top of this, if you have Shutter Glasses, play Avacheckers in 3D!
Who want's to play a game of checkers using a mouse and keyboard? Nobody. What if Grandpa wants to play, but doesn't know how to use a computer? With AvaCheckers and a single webcam, anyone can play just like they've been playing their whole lives. You don't even need a keyboard, talk to your opponent using a microphone.
How You Play
It works like this: The webcam tracks colored dots placed on your hands. When you hover over a checker, you pinch your fingers to pick it up. The correct checker gets picked up and you can move it to another location and drop it by pinching again. Your opponent sees a Haptek Character do the same thing you just did on their end. That's it. All you need to do is bring it!
Why Use Virtual Characters?
You might think that using a Virtual Representation of yourself is inferior to video, but there are many benefits of this choice. Privacy is the obvious reason, you don't always want the other person to be able to see the real you, or even where you are. Also, a virtual character can do things that you can not, like morph into a monkey to mock the other player. The bandwidth requirement of real-time video is enourmous, and even then, is typically of poor quality. Virtual Characters may also be customized to be whatever you'd like, and will always show up in perfect fidelity on the other user's screen. Another good reason to use Virtual Characters is that they may interact with the virtual world, whereas video of you may not.
Check Out the technology behind our Virtual Characters at Haptek's Website.
How The Webcam Tracking works
Using a single webcam to do 3D tracking is impossible, right? Wrong! Our tracking system looks at the changing size of the colored objects as they get closer to the camera. In this way, it can figure out the 3D position of the dot. This does require that the dot remain level to the user, however. It is not a problem for avacheckers, as the hand must usually be parallel to the board.
Look At the Pinch Gloves
VR Makes You CRAZY!