Carcade

Carcade is a concept for an in-car videogame for the passengers, which captures the landscape and uses it as a videogame environment. Existing objects, for example trees and architecture, are recognized by the camera and enhanced by videogame assets. The game is influenced by the manner of driving of the car. If the driver accelerates, the game becomes increasingly difficult. If the car comes to a stop a different game situation evolves. You can see a Carcade concept video 1 (Quicktime) here.

We developed a small game concept and a functional prototype, with which we did a test drive on the street. A webcam is connected to a laptop running camera tracking software which recognizes the horizon and objects in the environment. The player has to maneuver a spaceship and collect points whilst trying to avoid crashing into oncoming enemies. Our functional prototype consists of a webcam, which is connected to a laptop, running camera tracking software. The software recognizes the horizon and objects in the environment and uses them for the game. The user has to maneuver a spaceship through the actual landscape outside and collect points whilst trying to avoid crashing into oncoming enemies.

Made in collaboration with Martin Kim Luge and Korbinian Polk at the University of the Arts, Berlin; Department of digital media.