An immersive augmented reality racing experience
Chaos Karts is an innovative "augmented reality" gaming experience which combines electric go-karts with a computer game system and position sensors to allow players to feel like they are inside a computer game.
The game engine generates a racing track which is projected onto the floor and players can collect virtual objects by driving over them to gain points and 'power-ups', such as weapons which they can fire at their fellow players to slow them down.
There are also objects such as bombs which must be avoided - driving over these will slow down or stop your kart for a few seconds, allowing your competitors to overtake you.
Creating animated environments projected on the four walls of the karting venue to create an immersive experience for players, matching and blending with the four different track designs.
My involvement with Little Lion Entertainment began during the COVID Pandemic when their head of product Jon Crawley asked me to create some animations for a play at home version of their Crystal Maze Live experience.
During the development of Chaos Karts, Jon asked me if I would be interested in creating a series of animated environments which would be projected on the four walls of the karting venue.
Each level has a different themed look, in a style reminiscent of 90s console games. I created matching environments for "Nevada Desert", "Daytona Beach", "Asteroid Belt" and "Red Dwarf".
Jon provided me with moodboards for each level which the team had created.
The first incarnation of Chaos Karts was in a temporary structure in London, and the media server being used to display the wall projections only allowed for an output large enough to cover two of the four walls, so the other two walls were simply mirrored. The canvas size was effectively 8530 x 1200 pixels - roughly four times bigger than HD video.
After the success of the initial prototype in London, in April 2023 work began on a new version of Chaos Karts at the former Granada TV Studios in Manchester. The media servers were of a higher specification so we would now be able to project video across the full four walls without any mirroring. This new canvas was 18,000 x 1096 pixels.
The Manchester venue also has a second "pit stop" room allowing the track to divert through this room on some levels. There are two openings in the wall for the karts to drive through and these are incorporated into the environment designs.
There are a few techniques used to make these environments feel expansive:
My twenty years of experience with Adobe After Effects has left me well equipped to handle these technical challenges, with a number of tricks employed to keep things running fast.
Each level has a unique themed environment with immersive visuals.
A futuristic space station with vehicle entry ports and control panels. The pit-stop openings are designed as airlock entrances.
This environment was designed by a competition winner. A fantasy land populated by bees, with trees that drip honey, and honey waterfalls!
A futuristic version of Tokyo with an adundance of neon, flying vehicles and occasional appearances of a Godzilla-like creature roaming the streets!
This level is set in deep space, surrounded by stars, colourful nebulae and a sci-fi wormhole.
A pre-visualisation showing how the animations look to players as they drive around the track. This helps ensure the scale and perspective work correctly from the player's viewpoint. This environment is "Bee Land" - one of four new tracks that I was commissioned to animate.
I can help bring your ideas to life with creative animation and projection techniques.
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