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It could be worse, as far as I know there's nobody trying to make a pin-less bowling alley with a big LCD screen at the end of the lane.
by evan_ 3y ago
It could be worse, as far as I know there's nobody trying to make a pin-less bowling alley with a big LCD screen at the end of the lane.
- gpm 3y agoWii Bowling?
- evan_ 3y agoHmm... sensors read the vector/spin/color of the ball as it travels down the lane and models its trajectory, the real ball drops into a concealed pit at the end of the lane just before where the pins would be, the screen shows a real-time physics modelled result of the pins dropping complete with a virtual representation of your ball. You could get fancy and have cartoon character pins for kids... maybe best not to think about this anymore.
- laxd 3y agoLet's not forget the potential ad space in between turns.
- xp84 3y agoAds? You also forgot adding pay-to-win mechanics! Player 3, you’re up next! Would you like to buy a pack of 4 Mega Magnets? Your ball will attract any pins it comes near. Only 600 Gems! Special Offer today only!
- evan_ 3y agoKids already get the raised bumpers, now their ball can explode at the end of the lane
- Calamitous 3y agoNever before have I been so repulsed by a thread on HN.
- TehCorwiz 3y agoThey already do that on the scoreboards.
- inopinatus 3y agomotion capture markers in the bowling suit you rented on arrival transform you, in the eyes of everyone's VR goggles, into the temporary skin that came with your Frozen 3-themed Game & Ice Cream combo ticket. you appear as kristoff, your buddy appears as elsa. actually eating the ice cream is prohibited without an active Disney+ subscription, be sure to link your account prior to arrival. more sophisticated players snicker quietly to one another about your plebeian choice of a mass-market skin; they are of course using limited-edition outfits that were bought or earned. bowling professionals and top amateurs enjoy individually rigged tailoring bearing sponsor logos. no-one looks like themselves. each strike builds up "golden balls" that can be spent as an in-alley currency for powerups e.g. allowing you roll again, or to penalise an opponent. gameplay never supplies enough of the golden balls but you can buy more with real money, or earn small increments by orating the slogan of an apparel company to the satisfaction of a performance-judging ai. the ai has a reputation for penalising foreign accents but this is hotly denied. after the game you are awarded special tokens that can only be spent on hats
- addaon 3y ago> the real ball drops into a concealed pit at the end of the lane just before where the pins would be The sexy way to implement this (horrible) idea is to have a smoke/fog curtain at the end of the lane, and project onto the fog. The ball could slide through silently, and then the synthetic image (and sound!) would be cued.
- evan_ 3y agoI imagine the wind from the ball passing through would disrupt a sheet of fog too much to see the pins bounce around, but it would be cool to see 10 narrow columns of tightly collimated fog with pins projected on them. Maybe there's a big sheet of glass suspended at an angle around the last quarter of the lane. The ball rolls under the glass into darkness and is visually replaced seamlessly by the virtual ball shown on a screen hanging on the ceiling, facing away from the bowlers- a Pepper's Ghost effect. The first issue with this of course is that it would only work from certain angles; the possibly larger issue is that you'd have people rolling bowling balls at a giant sheet of glass.
- addaon 3y agoLaminar fog curtains show visible disruption, but it recovers surprisingly quickly. e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4C_I0yCX8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4C_I0yCX8
- xnx 3y agoCould use a water curtain instead that only stops specifically at the time and area the ball will pass through it, similar to this water stop sign: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325904/Water-stop-sign-Virtual-barrier-curtain-water-halts-lorries-driving-small-tunnels.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325904/Water-stop-...
- cptcobalt 3y agoCouple it with a nifty Peppers Ghost effect, good sound effects, and you'd have a damn compelling product.
- solarkraft 3y agoReminds me of Topgolf. It's fun to see the occasionally considerable difference between the motion trackers and hole sensors. You'd see the ball stranding on the field, but then the hole would light up and you'd get the points.
- cjbgkagh 3y agoWouldn’t even need a full lane, just catch the ball early and simulate the rest. Not something I would play but I don’t bowl either.
- hex4def6 3y agoGenius! It does make me think how much you could virtualize the experience while still requiring the same mechanics / ball control. Sort of like those virtual gold driving ranges. Here's an idea: instead of requiring the whole 60ft lane, just have a lane ~10 ft long with a trap at the end. Based on the measured spin, angle etc, you could project the trajectory down the virtual lane. Use one of those head-tracking techs (Dimenco screens?) This would allow you to have like 3x-4x the number of bowling lanes in the same building footprint.
- JohnFen 3y agoAs much as I really hate that idea, I'd prefer it over the strings.
- mminer237 3y agoThere are a couple of businesses near me that have sport simulators like this: https://www.sportssimulator.com/promaxedition https://www.sportssimulator.com/promaxedition The focus is golf, but they do have a bowling mode where you throw the ball and the camera picks it up and simulates it on the projector. It's not attempting to replace the bowling alley in town though.
- geraldwhen 3y agoThe golf sims are really fun. It’s maybe one of the best AR experiences. Real clubs, real ball, and software and hardware to track the shot and put it in on a course.
- quartz 3y agoMerely an arcade game... for now: https://www.betson.com/amusement-products/lane-master/ https://www.betson.com/amusement-products/lane-master/