Turning a climbing wall into a video game • Hacker News Board

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#21

Post by solidpy » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 7:36 PM UTC

raisedbyninjas wrote: post #4

Timing could be automated with a webcam and CV to just watch for any motion near the markers. With a recording of each run, you could push ghosted runs through the projector like racing games.

Maybe it would be more accurate with sensors in the holds (maybe a low range IR sensor on each one). Starting/stopping the timer then would just be a matter of touching the right hold.

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#22

Post by runnr_az » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 7:46 PM UTC

That's cool and all... but I can't help but think, "I spend my entire day staring at screens -- rock climbing is an escape from that kind of thing."

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#23

Post by carapace » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 7:52 PM UTC

Um, safety? Seriously though, I don't want to be "that guy" but the very first thing I thought was "shouldn't you be paying attention to the wall and your body?" To me this seems like driving and txting at the same time.

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#24

Post by solidpy » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 7:52 PM UTC

gumbykid wrote: post #20

weaksauce wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a clone that someone in r/climbing made and put up on github. Not sure how good it is though but I'd assume he's open to pull requests.

The code is okay. The main mode has all the features - timer, high score, ordered score board, different layouts. The other modes are more in testing and need some additional features, but are functional. No motion sensing. It's far too complicated for such a simple game and a full time student with a job. A solution would be to make it on a tablet and whenever a climber hits a "hold", the person using the tablet cou…

An easy way to check would be to give the users gloves of a distinguishable color they are not wearing (it just have to cover the back of the hand) and check for that color to cover the dots.

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#25

Post by gumbykid » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 9:00 PM UTC

solidpy wrote: post #24

gumbykid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The code is okay. The main mode has all the features - timer, high score, ordered score board, different layouts. The other modes are more in testing and need some additional features, but are functional. No motion sensing. It's far too complicated for such a simple game and a full time student with a job. A solution would be to make it on a tablet and whenever a climber hits a "hold", the person using the tablet cou…

An easy way to check would be to give the users gloves of a distinguishable color they are not wearing (it just have to cover the back of the hand) and check for that color to cover the dots.

That's one way (tape on the back of hand so it doesn't impact climbing). Another way is to make it a distinguishable shape and color (white triangle) that a Kinect could be coded to recognize. The problem lies in that for motion detection to be fun, it should be interactive, as in create new shapes on the fly and such. Instantly recognizing them would be tougher to implement, since I have little experience in motion detection.

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#26

Post by gumbykid » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 9:01 PM UTC

solidpy wrote: post #24

gumbykid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The code is okay. The main mode has all the features - timer, high score, ordered score board, different layouts. The other modes are more in testing and need some additional features, but are functional. No motion sensing. It's far too complicated for such a simple game and a full time student with a job. A solution would be to make it on a tablet and whenever a climber hits a "hold", the person using the tablet cou…

An easy way to check would be to give the users gloves of a distinguishable color they are not wearing (it just have to cover the back of the hand) and check for that color to cover the dots.

Oops, make the shapes distinguishable, not the glove/tape

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#27

Post by HAL9OOO » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

Cool project, I could see this type of idea expanded into showing real time replays on fields/training programs.

Re: Turning a climbing wall into a video game

#28

Post by lifeformed » Tue, Oct 20, 2015, 11:15 PM UTC

Pretty neat. It'd be cool to see some enhancements to the interface. For example, having some feedback on hitting the white dots would be nice. Maybe they turn red, or the surrounding area flashes a color. Also, a countdown starting timer could be projected near the players head so they know when to start. Also some indicator arrows that are always shining near the player so they know where the other dots are, which may be hard to see depending on the wall's shape.