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February 25, 2005
multiplayer
I have been thinking about having more than 2 players to the game. But first before I go into that I should talk a little bit about the technical constraints I first came across when making the game multiplayer.
The initial problem I had with multiple players was the fact that the wireless video could not be on the same frequency or 2 seperate streams of video could not be coming into the console at the same time. In fact, when I was first developing the game, I almost cried when I found out that the 2 cameras were on the same frequency and there wasn't a way to change the frequency on the camera (note: the recievers have tuning dials). The live video feed would conflict with each other, and I could not get 2 seperate images. But by chance while poking around the board on the camera, I somehow was able to change the frequency of one of them, thus making the first prototype possible. To this day I am not sure what I did, but it worked. Phew.
I was window shopping on my favorite site geeks.com and found this multi camera console.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=4CH-REALTIME-N&cat=VID
This camera system would allow me to make a 2 player game into a 3 or 4 player game. I don't have to depend on chance again to change the frequency of the cameras -- they are already on different frequencies. This automatically makes the idea of multiplayers beyond 2 possible!
I guess on one hand, I pictured the game to one day be played in a much larger space with more players (like in some abandoned warehouse with players jumping out from behind crates or something... the possibilities are endless -- muhahahaha) -- but this would change the game overall. First of all, it would change the whole spectator experience. Maybe it the spectators would have to watch the game on monitors each representing the cameras of each player. This is technically possible, although a little more difficult. I wonder if the player-audience relationship would be less dynamic in this case. Also I suspect the wireless devices would have more potential errors with the added distance and movement. Oooo, then certain "safe zones" could be created where rf signals can't reach... but I am going on a tangent. Oops.
So the more I think about it, the more I believe Hit Me should be a 2 person game in a smaller space. There is more of a solid relationship between the player and the audience. It's less confusing to watch. I mean, imagine what sumo or fencing would be like if there were 4 players. It would be confusing! You can witness so much more of the action when there are only 2 players. (Plus that it would be technically simpler, that's for sure!)
In conclusion, maybe some day in the future I would consider more players playing at once, even teams playing against other teams (like capture the flag or something). But for now, I will stick to the 2 player structure.
Posted by kaho at February 25, 2005 07:24 PM