Table-Top-Tank

Inspiration

Our source of inspiration is the classic Japanese children's game, "Tonton Sumo." This simple pastime involves placing paper wrestlers on a ring and making them fight by tapping the box beneath them to create vibrations. We were determined to recreate the concept of "intense excitement born from simple operation" within the context of VR/MR.

While traditional VR games often prioritize experiences isolated from the real world, we utilized MR (Mixed Reality) to create the unprecedented value of "turning one's living space into a game field." This feeling of "tactile" immersion, where you use your hands to control your avatar on a familiar table, is the core idea of this project.

What it does

TableTopTank transforms the user's home table into an augmented reality battlefield.

Personal Battlefield: Utilizing the Meta Quest passthrough function, users see their own table and room directly as the game screen.

Intuitive Controls: We adopted Hand Tracking for a more intuitive play experience. The tilt of the left hand controls and rotates the tank for movement, while the right hand controls the missile firing of the robot tank using a table-tapping gesture inspired by Tonton Sumo! This achieves intuitive and rhythmic gameplay without the need for physical controllers.

Expandable Core Gimmick: The rhythm and number of times the player taps the table are key to the gameplay. While the beta version currently triggers missile fire, future updates are planned to evolve this tapping action into diverse mechanics, such as triggering special attacks or even temporarily evolving the robot itself.

Target Audience: We target a wide range of VR/MR users, from children to adults, across North America.

How we built it

The project was primarily built using Unity and Scene API / Depth API / Hand tracking API.

During development, we focused on the following technical elements:

MR Spatial Awareness and Meshing: To recognize the user's table surface and interface with an accurate physics engine, we leveraged Scene API features (Scene Mesh generation and Plane Detection) and Depth API for depth information.

Hand Tracking Integration and Gesture Recognition: We utilized the Hand tracking API to build a custom gesture recognition system that accurately detects hand movements and translates them into in-game controls (tilt for movement, tapping gesture for attack trigger). We spent time fine-tuning the hand acceleration and contact detection to capture the rhythmic feeling of Tonton Sumo.

Asset Pipeline: We established a pipeline for efficiently creating and integrating customizable tank models and effects, which is now complete as a Beta Version.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenges encountered during development were specific to MR and Hand Tracking technology.

MR Accuracy and Stability: Maintaining the accuracy of occlusion processing between the real world and virtual objects was difficult. To preserve immersion, we had to implement advanced occlusion processing using depth data and mesh information obtained via the Depth API.

Hand Tracking Operability: We focused on achieving intuitive and comfortable operability regardless of the user's room brightness or individual hand movements. We dedicated time to adjusting the sensitivity and responsiveness of gesture recognition to ensure operability that can be equally enjoyed by anyone, regardless of their body size or hand size.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The achievement we are most proud of is elevating the "excitement" of a traditional Japanese game into modern entertainment using cutting-edge MR technology.

The physical and intuitive control experience—"where the movement of your own hand directly affects the world in front of you"—is something conventional games cannot offer and has received high praise from testers. We are proud to have reached a Beta Version status that reliably delivers the core game loop and an engaging MR experience.

What we learned

Through this project, we gained important lessons in MR application development.

Intuitive UI/UX Design: We strongly realized that in a controller-free Hand Tracking environment, a more natural and intuitive UI/UX design is required to approach zero learning cost for controls.

Value of Physical Interaction: We learned that designing a simple physical action, like tapping a table, to directly connect to an intense gaming experience dramatically enhances the value of the MR experience.

What's next for TableTopTank

The future outlook for TableTopTank focuses on deepening the game experience, community building, and business expansion.

Deepening Game Gimmicks:

Tonton Sumo Special Attack: We will introduce mechanics where tapping rhythm and frequency (e.g., 100 taps) trigger more powerful special attacks or temporarily evolve the robot.

Strategic Utilization of Real-World Environment (Future Requirement): We will advance development on a feature that uses the Scene API to automatically recognize real-world obstacles like cups and books on the table and integrate them as cover into the game's strategy.

Completion of Multiplayer Functionality: We will implement online competitive modes, creating an environment where players worldwide can compete on their home tables. This will be achieved by overcoming the complex challenge of synchronizing the real-world positions of players with the virtual tanks and table objects.

Community and Business Expansion:

Promotion to eSports: To vitalize the player community, we plan to host regular game tournaments and competitions to increase the game's competitiveness.

Original Merchandise Development: In addition to physical merchandise like cover, weapons, and items based on the game's original design, we aim to develop and sell official obstacle goods (e.g., a physical item that, when placed, automatically generates a virtual cliff, mountain, sea, or castle in the game) to deepen user engagement through both digital and physical facets.

Robot Customization: To stimulate users' desire for collection, we will introduce an in-game monetization system that allows for robot tank skin changes, acquisition of powerful weapons, and customization of appearance.

Built With

• depth
• handtracking
• scene
• unity