Mar 10 2007
Super…Einstein? Wii-mote App at UIUC’s Engineering Fair
Albert Einstein contributed a lot to modern science. It looks like he’ll continue to contribute to the world, though not in a way you’d expect.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s engineering campus is holding their Engineering Open House this Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10. When someone stopped by my office to let me know there was a Wii remote project there, I thought, “Cool, a new homebrew project.” I headed out with the intention of checking it out, asking the makers a few questions, and maybe posting a little bit on it.
Still posting on it, obviously, but wow. I’ve seen a lot of games made by fans online that use a bluetooth-enabled computer, games that include laser-tag or even devil sticks, but this particular project has impressed me the most. The game is still in development, but it’s got three polished levels of gameplay with more layers than many of your typical platformers. More details, pictures, and screenshots after the break.
Freshmen computer science-majors, Kevin Dressel, Cameron Kikoen, and Yuzuko Nakamura are working on a new game, of which I’m told the working title is “Einstein and the Universe of Discourse.” In the game, reality is all out of whack as you start in a level with no colors, sound, or sense of time. As Einstein, your job is to run and jump through the level, “solutionizing” the enemy equations, and completing the stage to restore either color, sound, or time to the level. By restoring color to a level, for example, you can then return to a level with the power to turn invisible and be invincible to certain enemy attacks as you attempt to restore sound and time to the level!
The game is supposed to consist of around ten levels when the game nears completion, each of course needing multiple run-throughs as you restore various aspects of reality. In the three levels currently completed (two at a desert pyramid, one below the pyramid in a crystal cavern), there are actually multiple paths leading to different level exits. Take the low route to continue your game in one direction, or take the high route to reveal a completely new path!
Super Einstein is definitely more polished than most Wii-mote games I’ve seen so far. The art style takes heavy influence from the Paper Mario games, and the flying E=mc^2 enemies are even modeled after Bullet Bill himself. Speaking of those enemy equations, there are several giant pendulums swinging in your way in the levels. Did you know they’re actually made up of the actual pendulum equation?
The game was designed to use the Wii remote through Bluetooth using the cWiiMote app, with some custom threads by Kevin, Cameron, and Yuzuko to take advantage of the remote’s accelerometers. The directional pad can be used to move left or right, and the remote itself can be tilted to adjust your speed or flicked to make Einstein jump. Eventually, once all ten levels are in place, the level difficulty will be adjusted to balance better throughout the entire game.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to see the game upon its completion, as Kevin, Cameron, and Yuzuko are all aspiring to become professional game developers. It would be great to play one of their early projects before they all make it big in the game industry! For more information on the club they’re a part of, head to the Gamebuilders website.
 
 
Thanks to Cameron, Kevin, and Yuzuko for sharing about their project with me at the Engineering Open House!
Related Link: Klockner Moeller
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