When prompted to “Make anything you want, as long as it’s totally awesome” for a final project, the ensuing week-long whirlwind of art, code and testing resulted in this game. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this simple Kinect game puts the player in the role of Tim the Enchanter, master of fiery theatrics. My favorite part of the project ended up being the clever ways users found to subvert the prescribed fireball trigger, providing an invaluable lesson that the best solutions often come directly from users.

Concept Sketching

Attempts at adapting Tim to the Metal Slug aesthetic I adopted for the game. The version in the upper right was the basis for the finished sprite.

Motion Testing

The most technically challenging aspect was fine-tuning the activation motion that would trigger the fireballs. Here, a classmate helps by "aiming" at targets while the Kinect registers the movement.

Setting the Stage

Once the code was in order (Many thanks to Asim Mittal!), graphics and audio had to be assembled. Here, you can see my original sprite for Tim and a customized Killer Rabbit, blended with other assets acquired from the Metal Slug games.