To present the new WION service which Geodan set up with its partners we, Geodan Research, were asked to create a nice WION related game. WION services is about preventing digging up cables and other underground infrastructure. The game will be used during conferences at the booth as a public-magnet.
So we came up with a Wii-mote based game which is both simple and fun, at least we hope. You are presented with four maps in sequence. Each map has various cables and tubes hidden under streets and parks. You point the Wii-mote at the screen and a ’searchlight’ appears which allows you to look underground. Somewhere on the map there is a breach which you have to fix. Once you find the breach, you need to dig a hole using your Wii-mote. Once you have created a deep enough hole you need to fix it. This is done by hammering the broken tube until it is fixed, again with the Wii-mote. The time it took to find and fix all 4 breaches is your score.
We use an opensource library which allows to connect the Wii-mote to XNA and build the game with XNA. My task was obviously to help to design the game and do the in-game graphics. Since we only had a week time we opted for a simple style. To create the four background maps I selected four towns on a map and traced them in Inkscape to get a simplified and colorful version. Next I draw a few cables (yellow) and tubes (blue). Finally I selected 20 points where a breach could occur.
Animation showing the original map and the final map
To dig and to fix the player has to make either a dig or a hammer motion with the Wii-mote. We use the accelerometer to determine if the player is digging/hammering hard enough. He has to do it 4 times and the progress is shown as a simple animation:
Fixing animation
I hope to have a movie of people playing the game soon.
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