This is a volunteer project for a local museum in a small community near my home. It's not a game but a guided tour of the town as it was built, about 100 years ago. This is a 'nearly complete' version.

You can download it from:

http://michaelswaan.com/

Click the button that says A7 project & etc.

You have no control in the project, it just takes off. You may have to adjust the screen-size with ALT_Enter & f5. It will have a dedicated machine to run on.

You can pause the program (but not sound) by pressing SPACE. It's a long program, but maybe you will stick it out. The number keys jump about 3 stops each, for example if you press 9 the program goes to it's second-last stop.

Check it out.

Oh yeah, I'm and old guy (60) so don't be too harsh.

Michael

Hi Michael,
I am currently downloading the project, sounds interesting! So, it is basically sort of crossover between a screensaver / infotainment / historic reconstruction? Would you mind to post some screenshots here, to attract more people?

Hi, I ran it and if you worked it out alone, then respect! I guess it could be hard to work out an entire, existing city. I really like the intro and the idea that a person walks through a city and looks at places, together with old photographs and some historic background through voiceovers.

Though, I sometimes had hard times to figure out what in the 3D scene matches with the stuff in the photo. Maybe, if the person would just walk into the same spot and look into the same direction as the original photographer, it could be easier, I suppose.

Here are some remarks:

- I wish there were (optional) subtitles
- In the corridor towards the curling club, there are two trees, against which the walking person collides, then it collides against a house - is this intended?
- Are the animated avatars indicating, that an old man / young boy is speaking? A real photograph would be way cooler to get to know these people
- There is a full screen video playing when you tell about the burning school (am I right?)... it causes the application to go into windowed mode, why don't you play it fullscreen? Or better: why don't you do it in real 3D? The photoring and the photo-standups are a great idea, why not making the school fade into a grey, historic version, let burn in 3D with particles and stuff and when the scene is over, all fire and smoke vanishes and the "today" building is reappearing again?
- you are sometimes telling about buildings and landmarks; it would be cool if you could draw some overlays for the stuff you are talking about
- I think some houses are floating?

Other than that a nice project and I wish you the very best!

HeelIX;

Thank you for taking the time to download & run my project. I appreciate your comments.

Your suggestions are very useful...

"Though, I sometimes had hard times to figure out what in the 3D scene matches with the stuff in the photo. Maybe, if the person would just walk into the same spot and look into the same direction as the original photographer, it could be easier, I suppose."


Easier to find some better photos.


"- (optional) subtitles"

? do you mean visual words of audio track, like closed caption in movie? Good Idea.

"- In the corridor towards the curling club, there are two trees, against which the walking person collides, then it collides against a house - is this intended?"

Thanks, I will reposition these

"Are the animated avatars indicating, that an old man / young boy is speaking? A real photograph would be way cooler to get to know these people"


I will be showing the project to the Museum people on Feb 27th. I will bring this up for discussion. I chose animation style for a 'change of pace'.


- There is a full screen video playing when you tell about the burning school (am I right?)... it causes the application to go into windowed mode, why don't you play it fullscreen? Or better: why don't you do it in real 3D? The photoring and the photo-standups are a great idea, why not making the school fade into a grey, historic version, let burn in 3D with particles and stuff and when the scene is over, all fire and smoke vanishes and the "today" building is reappearing again?


I play the video, captured with CamStudio, in windowed mode because it doesn't look good in full screen.
I wanted to run the 3d scene in real time, but I couldn't get it to work. Your ideas are great. The school didn't burn down, but because of the cold, all the water sprayed onto it turned to ice & the building was ruined.

you are sometimes telling about buildings and landmarks; it would be cool if you could draw some overlays for the stuff you are talking about


I will definitely try to get this working, perhaps an arrow overlay that points to the place being discussed.

"I think some houses are floating?"

I will check my set-ups more carefully.

Thank you for your words of encouragement, as well.

Michael

60 is not old. Apart from that it only tells me you're experienced. This significantly raises the bar for you!

Looks like a real nasty piece of work you did there. Pretty impressive. That museum should show a picture of you right in the front hall.

Here are some thoughts that came to my mind:

• Don't let your horse drink coffee again! It's animated way too fast.
• The wheels on the train constrict and expand, that looks pretty odd.
• The train is not exatly on the rails.
• You should give the user a few more information concerning the program. They should be able to see how long the text for the current POI is and at what position the stream is at the moment. They should be able to see what's next and what was previously on the tour.
• Users should be able to pause rewind or fast forward the audio track. Subtitles as HeelX already suggested would be great.
• Users shoudl be able to skip to the next POI or go to the privous one. (Not with the number keys, you have to provide something that makes the user aware of this option. What about a timeline of the tour on top of the screen?)

Great work overall! Keep it up!

This is fantastic!
I opened the compiled WMB and took a fly around the town myself XD

As another indie programmer, You're doing a great job.
Keep up the good work!

Uhrwerk,

These are good ideas to provide the user with more information and interaction with the program. I could provide a panel along the bottom of the screen with the information & controls you suggest. Alas, at 60 the mind is not as quick & retentive as it once was. Fact of life.

Michael

DevoN;

Thanks for looking at the project, and for your encouragement.

Michael