Alternate controller video game in which players must use their shadows to complete the level.

Overview

Silhouette is an alternate control game that forces players to use their shadows to win. The game is a 2d puzzle platformer and gameplay involves players "freezing" their shadows onto the game screen to create platforms and structures that will advance their character through the level. 

The game utilizes a projector and webcam to display and capture the players silhouette.

The first and most important step in the process was being able to take in images and convert them into game objects within Unity. To achieve this I positioned a phone, being used as a web camera, opposite of the projector screen. The images captured are then run through a thresholding function which removes any pixels below a given brightness value. The thresholded image then gets converted into a sprite and has collider applied allowing for the character to physically interact with it. To test this process I used high contrast images with basic shapes and captured them in front of my webcam.

Development

To give players the freedom to use their entire body while placing shadows I needed a way to allow for hands-free camera triggering. To do this I hooked up a Teensy microcontroller to a pedal which could trigger key presses and send them to a computer to activate the camera.

Once the image conversion process was taken care of I began building elements of the game. I added coins which the player must collect before they can proceed through the next level as well as turrets which actively track the character and must be blocked.