Snowmobile Simulator
Feel the thrill of the snowmobile!
The project's goal was to make a physical snowmobile simulator for the Tietomaa Science Centre. The simulator gives users the experience of driving a snowmobile as realistically as possible, following the rules of snowmobile trails. It is now available for testing in Science Center Tietomaa in Oulu.
Gameplay
You begin the game by getting on a snowmobile that has been transformed into a game controller. The controller is a snowmobile frame mounted on a motion platform.
The game also responds to the player's upper body movements, allowing the player to make sharper turns with the snowmobile. The game takes place on a snowmobile trail near Nallikari in Oulu.
Players must follow the designated route and adhere to speed restrictions; otherwise, the game will warn them of excessive speeding. Players also need to watch for other traffic on the route. The objective is to travel as far as possible before running out of gas or before time runs out.
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The snowmobile simulator aims at giving people change to try out snowmobile without taxing the environment.
Technical execution
The game was developed in partnership with Tietomaa Science Center, which designed the physical components for the snowmobile frame controller. The snowmobile is installed on a 3DoF motion platform obtained from MotionSystems.
Clever development team established the communication interface between the snowmobile and integrated it with the motion platform using Unreal Engine 4.
The game graphics were created using map and laser scan data of Oulu Nallikari. This map was adjusted to suit the simulator's requirements, and a special snowmobile trail was designed.
Furthermore, Microsoft Kinect was utilized to track the player's movements and translate the motion into control commands.
Where to play?
The snowmobile simulator is currently located at Tietomaa Science Center, which is under renovations.
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More information about the snowmobile simulator will be provided by the Tietomaa Science Center was the renovations are complete.