The SurfaceScapes project is a student pitched project at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center. The team is creating a proof of concept for table top role playing on the Microsoft Surface table. They have chosen to use Dungeons and Dragons 4.0 as the rule set for their build due to its great user base, as well as its focus on physical objects. By combining digital and physical elements, the team aims to enhance both the storytelling and narrative aspects of D&D as well as make combat encounters more engaging.
SurfaceScapes is exploring various uses of the technology such as virtual dice and having the table read physical dice; meaningful usage of miniatures on the table; user interfaces that are unobtrusive but still easy to navigate; and the ability to merge other physical objects with the virtual space. All this technology is being looked at from the standpoint of creating a more seamless top table top gaming experience that improves immersion.
On Sunday the team posted a video to demonstrate what they accomplished during the first seven weeks of the project. Initially, this video was only intended to be shared with Microsoft, Wizards of the Coast, and Penny Arcade who have all shown support during the course of the semester. However, the video became viral and appeared on a number of major game and tech news outlets. The team would like to thank all those who provided feedback and showed enthusiasm for the project, and would also like to thank Penny Arcade, Wizards of the Coast, and Microsoft for their support. The team is extremely excited about the project and all the attention it has received and is working diligently on their proof of concept.
The team is eager to receive further feedback and has set up a forum to engage the community.
Please visit the SurfaceScape team site:
http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/surfacescapes/
Some of the articles written about the project:
http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/10/19/dungeons-dragons-done-r...
http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2009-10/video-play-dungeons-and-dr...
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/d-and-d-microsoft-surface/
http://kotaku.com/5385175/dungeons--dragons-on-microsoft-surface-is-for-...
http://www.destructoid.com/dungeons-dragons-played-on-microsoft-surface-...
Congratulations to the team!