Distributed Interactive Game (Distributed DOOM)

Problem

The systems research group is in the progress of developing a new version of the DOOM game, which offers new functionality relying on communication middleware developed at Georgia Tech. The new interactive environment uses ECho, an event-based communication tool, which is integrated into the DataExchange communication library. Information on both systems (ECho and DataExchange) can be obtained from the webpages of GregEisenhauer.

The modified game will support cameras to track and interpret activities of players and the identity and location of objects, and robots to allow object acquisition (e.g., the acquisition of a key using a robot in a playing field, which can be used to open doors in the DOOM game). The game is played on Solaris and Linux systems, additional tasks (like image capturing and robot steering) is performed on Windows NT, where ECho is responsible for the timely transmission of data between these platforms.

Your task in this project will depend on the current status of the game development, but will lie in the area of the following problems:

• Develop a simple Java viewer. NT-based cameras capture the position of the robots and transmit the images to Solaris and Linux computer. A Java program will receive the images and display them in a window.
• Steering of robots. At the moment, our robots are controlled via a simple interface on NT machines. Your task is to enhance the DOOM game with commands for the steering of the robots, and the transmission of these commands from the Solaris/Linux machines (where DOOM is played) to the NT machines (where the robots are controlled).
• ... other related problems (contact sponsors for more details).

• DataExchange and Echo papers
• Doom Source Code
• Java or C/C++

• Source code (either C, C++, or Java depending on the task).
• A short report reflecting the modifications done and the experiences made in your task as well as an outlook on further possible modifications to enhance and enrich the application.