HCI Technology Task

HCI Technology Task

  
1. HCI stands for Human computer interface. It is a way of making a piece of software and designing it to be as user friendly as the designer likes. HCI can be developed in different ways depending of what the software is being designed for.

 

     2. Screens:

Every game uses a screen of some sort so that the player can see the environment of the video game. PC screens mainly display PC games. TV screens can be used to display PC games but they are not as effective as a computer screen. TV screens also display games from most home consoles such as PS3, Wii etc. Recently 3D gaming has hit the mainstream hard after 3D TVs were released, Nintendo also released their own 3D console called the 3DS. Not only does this handheld have a 3D screen, it also uses touch screen technology, much like many IOS’s such as the iPhone, which can also display games.

 Keyboards:

Keyboards are used across many different platforms. It is most commonly used for PC games, but it may also be used on many other different platforms such as the X-Box 360, the PS3, and the Nintendo Wii. Game companies also like to merge game pad peripherals and keyboards together to create a controller that is handy for messaging your friends.

In early 2012 Nintendo released a blutooth keyboard for the DSi and DSi XL. The keyboard was bundled with a Pokemon spin off game that taught children how to type quickly.

WASD is the most common control set on a keyboard, depending on what type of game you’re playing. Usually if it is a 2D platformer, WASD is used 2 dimensionally (W-jump A-left, S-right and D-duck/dig). Keyboards are used for PC games like Minecraft, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.

Joysticks:

Joysticks are input devices that function on a ball and point pivot joint. They are used mainly for three-dimensional gaming, like controlling a plane. Joysticks come accompanied with a series of buttons at the stage of the device. The joystick is a device that is mainly used for PC gaming, and such games as ‘X3 Terran Conflict and Independence War’.

Pads:

 

Gamepads have been a vital part of home console gaming for many years.  They are much more complicated compared to joysticks in the early years of game development.  Usually you will find to analogue sticks on modern gamepads. One of them will control the players direction and the second one will control the camera angle. On the N64 gamepad the player had to use the left and right trigger buttons to change the camera angle which was seen as tedious. Gamepads are used for games like ‘Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda and Halo.

Touch Screens: 

Touch screens began to be implemented as methods of gaming after the release of the first touch screen console was released in 2004. It revolutionized gaming as it made the gaming environment more interactive. The player can sometimes manipulate the environment, complete puzzles and solve brain teasers with I more accurate style of controls. Games like the Professor Layton series, Angry Birds and Gravity rush all use touch screen controls.

Steering Wheels:

The steering wheel was used mostly in arcade games before they became a gaming peripheral for home consoles and games such as ‘Live for Speed’. Nintendo created an ‘add-on’ for their Wiimote. It was a plastic wheel that you could clip the remote inside and it would simulate driving games.

Pointing Devices:

Pointing devices have mostly been used on PC’s but then in 2006, the Wii utilised motion sensors which allowed the player to point a cursor and activate commands through the Wiimote. The mouse is normally used to control the players view in the game environment. The Wii cursor isn’t a major part in gameplay. It’s usually just used to select items. However it was used effectively in ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ when the player had to collect starbitz.

Motion Detectors: 

Motion controlled gaming was first released by Sony when they created the ‘Playstation Eye Toy’. Sony admitted that it didn’t become as popular as they hoped. And then in 2006 motion controlled gaming became mainstream when Nintendo released the Wii in 2006. Then Microsoft and Sony released ‘their own’ motion controlled peripherals. Sony released the PS Move which was virtually used in the same way as the Wiimote and Nunchuck. However, Microsoft’s ‘Kinect’ was more comparable to the controls of Sony’s ‘Playstation Eye’ in which you’re body was the controller.

Camera:

Cameras have become huge in the video game industry.  Ever since the Gameboy camera cart was released in 1998, rival game companies have tried to create camera controls that immerse the player into the game environment. Sony’s ‘EyeToy’ read the gestures of the player and through this the player could challenge a game and reach a goal by using their upper body as a controller. Microsoft’s ‘Kinect’ works in the same way. Nintendo have released a new method of playing a game by using the cameras on the 3DS. The 3DS has a new ‘Augmented Reality’ function which allows the player to merge a game with the real world on the 3DS’s screen.

Compasses:

Compasses are rarely used in video games, even by today’s standards. But recently video games and game consoles have started to incorporate elements of ‘Augmented Reality’ which is the method of merging reality with a three-dimensional gaming environment.  The compass mechanic allows the player to rotate around a centre point (in some cases it’s a card with a specific image on it) and the game will stay in the same place, this means that the player can view the game from different viewpoints. This method of gaming has been used on the PSP in a game called ‘Invisamals’ and it has been used often on the 3DS in almost every game released. 

Headsets:

Headsets have become quite common with home consoles recently and can be used is useful ways. Mainly what springs to mind when you mention headsets is cooperative gaming. Headsets allow players to communicate over long distances while playing games together, this way they can strategise what they need to do next to advance. This can be used in games like Borderlands or LittleBigPlanet. 

GPS:

GPS is a rare feature in any video game. World of Goo was a game that was released on the Nintendo Wii three years ago, and I it’s success, became an IOS game later on in a couple of years. This game has a feature where the player can build an infinite tower of ‘goo balls’ (an item found in the game) and as the player goes higher and higher they’ll start to see clouds appear on screen. These clouds represent other player’s heights and scores when they have tried to build their towers. The game uses GPS to locate the player and it will say on the cloud the player’s country and will show their flag next to it. This is essential the same for Pokemon Black version and White version 2 except the GPS tracking feature is used when players trade pokemon over the internet. When they look at the stats of a foreign pokemon they can view the country it has come from the name of the player they traded with and the pokemon’s name will be in that countries native language.