PowerPlatformer

Inspiration

Everyone on the team had varying levels of experience with Java, so we wanted to do something with that so each of us could have a part in the project.

What it does

Our project uses a Myo armband to allow users to control a JavaFX game using their muscular impulses. For example, waving out moves the character right, waving in moves it left, and spreading fingers makes it jump. It is a new technological twist on the classic concept of a platformer game.

How we built it

The user's muscular data is harvested using a Myo armband, which returns the information to a computer running a Lua script we created. The Lua script views our JavaFX game as a Java application and controls it by turning the muscular commands into key presses. We based the movement of the player and the creation of the level from YouTube videos.

Challenges we ran into

The majority of our struggles came from integrating our Lua script, which read the input from Myo armband, with our JavaFX game. Reading the Myo using Java rather than Lua required the use of Maven and Java language bindings written by a Myo developer. Hours of problems solving lead to running the game as a java application controlled with Lua scripts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

That big challenge we faced led to our biggest accomplishment, which was being able to use the Myo armband in our final product. As the hours of struggled ticked by, it seemed like we would have to scrap the most notable part of our project, but finding a solution and creating a working product to demo feels fantastic.

What we learned

We learned more about how Path environment variables interact with the Command Prompt and the development of projects through Maven. Furthermore, we gained a better understanding of how to use Java packages and import statements through the Command Prompt, specifically in the realm of creating our own packages, compiling it, and accessing its data through .jar files. We also got a lot more experience with JavaFX in how to store and displaying variables objects.

What's next for PowerPlatformer

PowerPlatformer just sets the stage for stereomyography in game control. Now that we know this technology works, it’s on to integrating it into existing games and maybe the design of muscle-sensing games.