Sniper Scope
The user interface is a vital element of a computer game. This application is an experiment on how closing one eye could be used as an augmenting interface for a shooter game.
Background
During the last decades, the controls of computer and video games have gotten increasingly complex - however, recent developments, such as the Nintendo Wii 87 or the Sony Eye Toy 88, show that a game may well profit from simple and intuitive controls.
This principle is based on a common eye operation - from the outset, it is already clear how to use the functionality.
Concept
In this example, closing one eye in a shooter game activates the sniper scope. While it is a simple and intuitive action, the implications in a hectic environment like a computer game (and in the prototype, also a game that was hectic by itself) were to be investigated.
I was curious if this would be a valuable addition to the game - valuable as either a fun element or as a helpful feature.
Implementation and user test
The prototype was implemented using a version of Quake III Arena 89. The game does not have a sniper rifle built into the game, but a zoom functionality for every weapon in the game.
The keystrokes for the zoom functionality can be edited; I modified it to be activated while holding down the 'X' key. At the time of development, my modified face-finding application was so processor intense that the game was not playable without a significant lag, so I used the VNC 90 software to spread the game and the eyelid tracking workload over two computers. The keyboard event for the 'X'-key was generated by Java on the tracking computer and sent through the VNC protocol to the other computer, which was hosting the game.
The users were able to close either eye to activate the sniper scope: both eyes were triggering the same action. Every user had time to play around with the game; the test group consisted of both experienced and non-experienced players.
Summary of findings
The game used in the initial prototype was very hectic, which many users annotated. As the game itself did not require explicit 'sniper' action, the prototype worked rather as a demonstration of the principle. While some users found the functionality to be slower than a button and inappropriate for the hectic game, others experienced the functionality as helpful and 'cool'.
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Closing one eye to activate the sniper scope could be used as a intuitive input, or to make a difference from other products on the market (as the input scheme of first-person shooters has not significantly changed in the recent past) - however, fast games are not eligible for this and the algorithm needs to be optimized.
In the further development of this idea, the perspectives concept arose, in order to allow a similar feature, but in a more calm context.
