Penspective : a Perspective-Aware Game Map Editor with Natural Interaction

Current WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers) interfaces used in most computer game map editors impose complex interactions to level designers. In this paper we present a novel map editing tool based on a Natural User Interface (NUI) that uses common drawing objects, such as pens and erasers, to build and edit map elements, as well as hand gestures to manipulate them. As a proof-of-concept, we have implemented a tile-based map editor featuring a 3D NUI with multitouch capabilities. The real-time prototype, built using two Microsoft Kinect devices and a regular LCD screen, displays the levels in 3D while adjusting the perspective according to the location of the user. Keywords—level design; sketching; natural interaction; 3D user interface; post-WIMP; off-axis perspective projection; depthsensing; Kinect.