Active-Adventure: The Winds of Orbis 'The Winds of Orbis: An Active-Adventure' will be the Entertainment Technology Center's first interactive game for children that uses the Wiimote and DDR floor pad to put the guest into the shoes of an on-screen hero. This student-pitched project will use the expertise of resident medical experts to construct a measurable workout for the guest that focuses on progression through structured cardiovascular exercises and repeated body movements. There will be a devoted focus to take the player's mind off of burning calories and into game world immersion through revolutionary gameplay, a powerful art style, and a compelling narrative. Our objective is not to replace traditional exercise for children; it is to offer an alternative to sedentary videogame-playing kids that would not otherwise consider a healthier outlet.
	Dr. Allevable's Lab As part of the Regenerative Medicine Partnership in Education’s spring program, our project involves the development of interactive content for a kiosk that allows guests to explore of tissue engineering. This will become part of a newly planned exhibit by the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, Inc. (PTEI). The installation will include party-style games and a translation of the website “Dr. Allevable’s Unbelievable Laboratory.” Our focus is to create an interaction that involves active participation from the guest using the kiosk unlike most kiosks that function solely as access points to static information. We aim to address young visitors and adults. Adults may be able to facilitate the interest of the younger visitors and keep them engaged. Although user interaction is primarily touch-screen based we might consider using buttons as well.
	Alternate Reality x: Deep Sleep Initiative The Alternate Reality eXperiment (ARx): Deep Sleep Initiative is a student pitched project exploring the use of the alternate reality game (ARG) genre across multiple media. While other games use video game consoles or board games with pieces as their platforms, an ARG uses the real world combined with many media channels (internet, telephony, live action events, SMS, etc.) as its platform. There is significant discussion today regarding this emergent genre and this project looks to explore the mechanisms of creating an ARG that, unlike most ARGs, is self-sustainable with individualized interactions utilizing various print and technology mediums.
	Bandology Bandology is a casual MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) about being in a band. Bandology began as an ETC student-pitched project in the Spring of 2007, and is now in its second semester. One of the great strengths of online gaming is the ability to play with countless other people all over the world, but in order to interact with these other people, players are required to be online simultaneously. Bandology hopes to solve this problem and allow players of all types to play together by allowing for variable time commitment in their play. Additionally, creating a casual MMOG presents many challenges that would otherwise be non-issues in traditional hardcore online games. Hardcore online games benefit and reward people who are able to spend more time playing the game, thereby hurting the chances for casual and hardcore players to play together on a level playing field. Bandology allows groups of players to play cooperatively and collaboratively in a virtual band without having to be online and playing simultaneously.
	Project CA- Cultural Awareness Project CA aims at creating a 4-5 minutes short animated documentary addressing the issues of working in multi-cultural groups in a light-hearted manner. It will allow the audience to better understand issues when working in multicultural groups and thus avoid conflict or miscommunications arising from cultural diversity.
	Dragon Question Dragon Question is originally a BVW project in Adelaide, Australia. Best described as an Interactive Storytelling Station, its charming story, combine with fun interactions and adorable characters, became a favorite amongst visitors to the BVW show. Now, we are here to further work on and explore the boundaries of this new platform.
	Classroom of the Future The modern education system has not changed much in the past 50 years. Our Goal is to create an environment where “digital natives” have the ability to experience education instead of watching it. We will develop a hardware and software strategy that will allow others to create immersive digital content that captures the students’ attention.
	Immunology Team Immunology of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University aims to design an educational module about the immune system and regenerative medicine. To make this experience both entertaining and educational, our goal is to create a simulation and strategy style video game by incorporating game design based on medical information, immersive graphics and real time technologies.
	Project iMobile Project iMobile is a student pitched project for developing social interactive mobile experiences for the unique mobile platform of the iPhone, an Apple product. The iPhone provides intuitive interactions not available previously for mobile experiences, including: multi-touch screen, light sensor, proximity sensor, and the orientation sensor (accelerometer), as well as common mobile features such as Bluetooth, internet access, e-mail access, and more. The project will create multiple smaller applications to orient the team to the development for the iPhone platform. The culminating product will be a complete experience meeting the goals of something interactive, social, mobile, and intuitive. We welcome any and all input at our website forum.
	Robot Hall of Fame The Robot Hall of Fame was created by Carnegie Mellon University in April 2003 to call attention to the increasing contributions from robots to human society. It has since been housed as a kiosk at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. The ETC’s Robot Hall of Fame project brings together a diverse team to create an experience for the permanent Robot Hall of Fame exhibit within the Carnegie Science Center’s new RoboWorld exhibit, due to open in 2009. The team will develop the physical design and interactive content for the experience.
SHARP Japan Description coming soon
	Sonology This project is to explore the possibilities of sound and audio as the primary element of interactive entertainment. The core technology is the use of a game engine to create 3D sound environments that can be navigated and interacted with intuitively and without relying on graphics. The goal of the project is to show that audio can successfully be the primary element of interactive entertainment. We plan to create an experience that is unique and demonstrates both the creative potential and emotional power of an audio experience.
	Synthetic Interview Studio Synthetic Interview Studio is a project at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. Synthetic Interview is a unique, patented technology developed by ETC & SCS faculty member Scott Stevens and colleague Mike Christel which allows an individual to have a conversation with a character or persona as if that person were present in real-time. Our team of five students is working with a variety of clients nationwide to develop innovative web based interviews and physical installations using Synthetic Interview technology. Current projects include producing several interviews with NASCAR personalities for FOXSports, designing and developing an exhibit about Pittsburgh native George Westinghouse for the H. J. Heinz Regional History Museum, and expanding and documenting the Synthetic Interview toolset for future use. Our team goal is to create immersive experiences which allows guests to have a meaningful conversation with a digital character.
	WMS Gaming The WMS Gaming Team is focusing on building a system which combines virtual or computer generated elements along with real, physical gambling tools to create a system to enhance the gambling experience. The idea is to design a system which allows a group of people to gamble and enjoy the experience together.
	Projecx: XBOX Live Arcade The goal of Projex team is to create a game with simple mechanism targeting at hardcore gamers. Before the end of semester, we will have a complete game and ready to be played on both XBOX and PC. We are aiming at XBOX Arcade.

For a list of past projects and innovations, check out our Project Archives.