1. Tipsy Tree
Stephen Aldriedge & Krista Murphy
Concept: The goal of our project was to create a two player
game that immerses the users in a virtual environment even
though it is on a small scale.

2. Conceptual Research
From the beginning we knew we wanted
to use Android devices. After discussing
multiple options we decided that our
project would utilize Augmented Reality.
Although Augmented Reality in itself is a
challenge, we still wanted it to be
interactive so we searched many
Augmented Reality games. The biggest
strain this has on our project is that every
part of the project needs to be as efficient
as possible. When choosing what our
gameplay would be like, we also decided
to take advantage of the accelerometer
in the phone. The biggest inspiration for our
gameplay was “Coin Shower Flower”, a
mini-game from Mario Party.

3. Technical Research
• Learned about networking, specifically socket
programming with UDP.
• Accessing Android sensors.
• Which targets track best for the distance the user
will be standing.
• Learning way around Unity Engine
• Spent lots of time looking through the C# docs

4. Development & Design
Once we knew what the main components of our game would be (2
players, a platform that tilts, and an augmented character that was
trying not to fall off the platform) we still needed to come up with an
environment and narrative for the game’s character. We chose a
raccoon for the main
character. He will be living on
the top of a tree, an idea
inspired by Stephen’s favorite
childhood book” Go Dog,
Go!”. This explains each
players’ role very well. The
player controlling the
platform is the wind
swaying the tree back
and forth. I did a
series of sketches to
come up with a look
for the raccoon and
environment.

5. Process - Krista
• Concept
• Sketches
• Modeling
• Rigging
• Animate
• Texture
• Design interface
• Help with Unity

6. Process - Stephen
• Test AR with Unity
and Qualcomm SDK
• Develop a system to
send data between
devices
• Reduce processing
load by putting all
physics
computations on the
non-AR device
• Implement game
physics and other
game functions

7. User Experience
• 1st – The prototype still needs a lot of development such as:
controls that are relative to the camera, add a jump
button, better collision detection with the treetop
• 2nd – We had Eugene test our prototype and these were his
comments: The joystick needs to have more space from
the edge, not sensitive enough, internet can slow down
the game, bring the tree higher on the target, likes style,
void in the ground, develop environment, add another
light
• 3rd – Eugene was able to catch onto the navigation
quickly, some loss of tracking momentarily, wanted to
explore the space more

8. Independent Games Festival
We looked into the Game Developers
Conference, but it was only open to
professional entries. The Indie Games
Festival is more easily accessible festival
that is a partner with the GDC. This annual
festival has a special competition for
Students, and is the longest-running and largest festival relating to
independent games worldwide. This year the competition will be
held from March 5-9, 2012 in San Francisco, California. There are 8
student Showcase winners that win up to $3,000. The deadline was
October 31st, but we can submit
next year. This competition seems
to be our best option because it is
geared towards students, they
accept almost 1,000 entries, and it
is in the US.
Colorbind, 2011 Finalist

9. Future Design
Start Menu
Target
User Interface