 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Mark Bolas")
Researchers at USC have utilized mobile technology to create a zombie-themed video game that plays out in both the virtual world and the player's real-life environment.
The concept of MobZombie is easy: The user must flee from undead characters shown on a hand-held screen by physically moving around in the real world; the longer the player evades the virtual zombies, the better the zombies become at stalking.
The game was developed by four graduate students from the USC Interactive Media Division. The four students - William Carter, Kurt MacDonald, Todd Furmanski and Tripp Millican - were members of the first class to graduate USC with master's degrees in Interactive Media last May.
Through the use of Global Positioning Systems and wireless technology, the students designed a game that uses real-time positioning data for virtual game play. Student researchers attached a GPS device to a tablet PC - a fully functional computer with an easily visible flat screen - to track player movements.
"A lot of us are game players, and we were interested in making a game where the real world is the playing world," Carter said. "In the game, if you're running around trying to avoid a virtual object, you have to contend with physical space too."
The dual nature of the game play could be hazardous, student researchers discovered shortly after project development began in the summer of 2002.
"Running into people, or a tree or the street could be a little dangerous. You can get easily involved in the virtual space and forget about what else is around you - like a building," MacDonald said.
Although the project is inactive for the moment, Carter and MacDonald both said they hope that future USC student researchers pick up where they left off. The IMD alumni said they had hoped that MobZombie would be further developed to include features they mapped out but didn't have time to implement.
"We had some really cool concepts for multiple player scenarios, building data and maybe, a feature where, when humans are caught, they could become zombies and can then chase other players in the game," MacDonald said.
Associate professor Mark Bolas and IMD chair Scott Fisher, of the USC School of Cinema-Television, served as the faculty sponsors of the MobZombie project.
MobZombie was one of several game-related department projects that use mobile media technology in new and creative ways, Bolas said. The project was developed in the Mobile Technology Research Lab, one of three department research spaces, which is located in the Annenberg Center for Communication complex. The other two IMD abs, the Immersive Media Lab and the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab, are located in the George Lucas Building and the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, respectively.
The IMD Master of Fine Arts program, a division of USC's School of Cinema-Television, involves three years of intensive coursework that stresses creative expression, experimentation and research in the field of interactive media. The graduate program launched in fall of 2002, and the first graduates received diplomas last spring.
In addition to the M.F.A. program, the department also offers a bachelor's degree in Interactive Entertainment or a minor in Video Game Design and Management.
