15+ Exciting and Realistic Natal Gameplay Ideas

Ok, guys, appearance of Natal was really surprising. And game developers didn’t have much time to think how Natal could be implemented in their particular game. But Natal is already scheduled to arrive on shop shelves in a year or so.

Let’s collect/generate/systemize as many Natal gameplay ideas as possible. It’s fun and it can give some ideas to developers. So they would bring even more fun to us.

First of all, let’s develop the ideas shown by Microsoft itself.

Chapter I. Microsoft Natal vision

1. Fighting games

You’re standing in front of TV. Your avatar approaches the enemy, the game switches into a fighting mode.

Then the avatar repeats the folowing moves of your body:

a) Punches: straight punches, hooks, uppercuts and elbow blows (with either left or right hand)

b) Feet kicks and Knee blows (with either left or right leg)

c) Blocks: you may protect your head, your torso or your belly (with either left or right hand)

d) Dodging: both left and right

e) Knee kicks and Uppercuts with a leap (stronger blows)

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: High

2. Racing games

You’re holding your hands in front of you, clutching imaginary wheel.

You rotate “the wheel” and the car turns left and right.

You are tilting your right foot forward to accelerate and back to brake. That’s the simplest version shown in Burnout Paradise Demo. But let’s go a little further:

a) you are using both of your feet to press clutch, acceleration and break pedals. Just like in a usual car with manual transmission

b) you are using your right hand to shift gears

c) you are pressing the center of imaginary wheel to use horn

d) you can switch turn signals on/off with your fingers

e) after all, you can take your left hand out of car window and show some offensive gesture to other drivers

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Low

3. Playing someone Godzilla-like

You’re playing Godzilla. It repeats all of your movements and smashes stuff around.

The game also recognizes your face expressions to turn on special abilities. You say “o-o-o” and laser beam shoots out of Godzilla’s mouth.

You grin baring your teeth and Godzilla switches into berserk bloody mode.

To make things more interesting you can also:

a) catch objects with your hands and hurl them at your enemies

b) kick objects just like they are soccer balls

c) jump a bit to make thumping more effective

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: Average

4. Soccer

Ninendo Wii made a significant step forward in soccer games.

For example, you may point at some player to pass him the ball. Or you may point at some spot in the field to send ball there.

And what about Natal? Well, straight motion-capture is hardly going to work. You can’t run for 60 meters here and there as your soccer team does. The thing which is possible is to combine two approaches:

a) Wii-like gestures to control your team running. You control a player and point at some field spot with your finger to make him run there. You point at another player to send him a pass. You make some complicated gesture to turn on some tactical scheme.

b) And here we add Natal motion-capture to kick the ball. Just move your feet as you are kicking the ball. And the player will kick it accordingly.

You may also control your goalkeeper. You stretch out your right hand to the right and goalkeeper instantly jumps right. You quickly lower your hands – goalkeeper jumps at the ball and covers it with his body.

To tell the truth, I don’t see much fun in that. I’d better just go out and play real soccer.

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Average

5. Skateboarding

You’re standing at an imaginary skateboard. Your avatar rides skateboard at some slow speed. What can you do?

a) Accelerating. Turn forward to TV and slide backward with your left or right foot.

b) Turning left and right. Turn to TV with your side. Then tilt your body forward and back – you avatar will turn left and right. The more you’re tilting your body – the steeper your turning is.

c) Riding on two back wheels. Just raise your forward feet and hold it in the air.

d) Ollie. You may just jump. But it would be tiresome. Here’s more humane version. Bend your knees to lower your torso a little and then rise quickly. The quicker you rise the higher your ollie is.

e) Ollie with a flip. Just clap your hands while your avatar is still in the air.

f) Grinding. Your avatar is approaching a rail. Jump with a left 90-degree turn when he is just in front of it. Jump with a right 90-degree turn when he is at the end of a rail.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: High

5a. Skateboarding

There may also be alternative approach here where you don’t have to stand, jump or rotate:

You’re sitting at the couch holding your hands in front of you, palms down. And your palms represent skateboarder’s feet. So, when you tilt your palms, your avatar turns left and right. When you raise one palm higher, your avatar balances on two wheels. When you slap with one hand – he makes an ollie.

This approach is much less tiresome but it requires higher precision to register all slight movements of your palms.

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Low

6. TV Quiz Shows

It’s simple here. The quizmaster asks a question.

You quickly “push the button” to answer.

You answer by voice, quizmaster says whether you’re right or not. You can easily play this game with your friends at party. Natal device can recognize faces and speech. So it won’t confuse you with your friend even if you exchange places while playing.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: Low

7. Menu Interfaces for all games.

Just wave with your hand in any direction. The menu will scroll accordingly. Make some gesture and the item will be chosen. Simple and nice.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: Low

Ok, that was about Microsoft vision video. And now let’s think further.

Chapter II. Main Game Genres

8. Shooters

In shooters you are basically doing two things:

1) walking here and there
2) shooting enemies

Natal is probably not good for walking. Your room is small. You get tired quickly if you walk. So I’d prefer travelling across the level using old good gamepad in my left hand. But when it comes to shooting, Natal is awesome. I’m just holding out my right hand as I’m carrying a gun. So I aim and pull imaginary trigger with my finger to shoot enemies.

If I want to shoot, say, bazooka, I raise my right hand to my shoulder so my avatar switches from gun to bazooka.

If I want to throw a grenade, I approach my right hand to my belt and close the palm (taking grenade). Then I make a throwing movement opening my palm and my avatar hurls the grenade at enemy soldiers.

And if I have some team AI soldiers at my disposal I can use gestures of my left hand to give them orders:

a) “Stop!” – I raise my left hand high over my head.
b) “Attack!” – I point forward.
c) “Outflank!” – I point left or right.

If the game is something about special forces, you can also:

a) throw a hook to climb somewhere: put your right hand behind your back to “take hook” and then “throw” it high above you so it would cling to something.

b) use night vision goggles: just raise both of your hands to your eyes to put goggles on

c) set up a mine somewhere: put both hands on your bellow to “take mine” and then, while holding your arms together, “stick the mine” to some door or floor or wall.

More ideas:

a) Grab your enemy and throw him on the ground. If your avatar is close to enemy soldier you can close your palms in front of you “to grab enemy”, raise them a little and then lower quickly. Your avatar would hurl enemy soldier on the ground.

b) Silent kill. Apporach your enemy quietly from behind. Raise your hands to your eyes to “grab enemy’s head”. Quickly “rotate his head” to break his neck. Eek, that’s nasty.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: Average

9. Role-playing games

Three basic classes in role-playing games are Fighter, Wizard and Ranger. Here’s what you can do with Natal for each class:

Fighter:

a) Fighting with short sword and shield. Act like you’re holding a sword in your right hand and shield in your left hand. Use swing and thrust blows to attack and “move your shield” to block enemy assaults. You can also push back your enemy with a kick.

b) Fighting with two short swords. You can use each hand to perform sword attacks as well as block enemy blows by “raising your swords” in appropriate ways.

c) Fighting with two-handed sword. Your attacks are stronger but you always have to hold both of your palms together. If you separate them your avatar drops his sword. If it happens, you have to bend to pick it up again.

Wizard:

a) Casting spells. Make complicated gestures with your hands to cast this or that spell. This would be real fun I guess.

b) Hurling magic at enemies. Raise your hand high above you and then point somewhere forward with it. Your avatar will cast a lightning or fireball in that direction.

c) Gathering magic plants while travelling. Bend forward and “pick up a plant” with your fingers.

Ranger:

a) Shooting arrows. Raise your right hand above your head “to take arrow”.

Hold your left hand straight forward pointing at the enemy. Bring your right hand close to your left hand and then take it back “drawing a bowstring”. Open your right palm to send an arrow.

b) Sneaking. Lower your head below your shoulders and your avatar would switch into crouch mode. Raise your heels to stand on your tiptoes and your avatar would switch into silent stealing mode.

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Average

10. Adventures and quests

Use natural gestures to interact with objects and explore the world around you.

You can:

a) Open doors, windows and cupboards.

b) Pull levels, push boxes, press buttons.

c) Pick up objects from ground and shelves.

d) Examine objects as you’re holding them in your hand. Bring them closer to your eyes to zoom, rotate your palm to rotate the object.

e) Throw objects.

f) Communicate with characters. Greet them by raising your hand. Shake head to say “No”. Nod to say “Yes”.

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Low

11. Strategic games

Have you ever watched “Minority Report”? The very impressive feature in this movie is their gesture-based interface. You just use complicated gestures to give orders to computer. One day Natal would do the same for strategic games.

Just as an example:

a) Scroll map. Wave your left hand right and left, up and down. The map wil scroll accordingly.

b) Select unit. Point at some unit with your left fist. Open and close your palm “to take” this unit. It will be selected. Or move your open palm “to grab a handful of units” to select them simultaneously.

c) Move units. Point at some spot with your right forefinger. Selected units will go there.

d) Defence mode. Make a palm down gesture with your right hand. Selected units will start fortifying.

e) Build something. Make a palm up gesture with your right hand. That would bring up building menu. Wave left and right to scroll through buildings. Point at some building with your forefinger to start construction. Or close fist to exit from menu.

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Average

12. Vehicle simulators

Tanks, Airplanes, Ships, Submarines, Trains… It can be anything.

Vehicle cabin and your hands are shown on screen. So you just use natural gestures to control your vehicle as you’re really sitting in its cabin. Rotate wheels, push buttons, pull levels, use radio, etc. It’s not a game anymore. It’s a real simulator. )

Natal precision required: High
Your endurance required: Low

Chapter III. More, More Ideas

13. Dancing and fitness

Simple and nice. Repeat all movements of your virtual instructor as accurately as possible. And he will “scan” your motions and give feedback. “Lower your left elbow a bit! Raise your head! Smile, Dude!”

It’s also possible to make a dancing version of karaoke. So you can compete with your friends who’s dancing better in this or that style. The challenge is to repeat all motions of virtual dancer as precisely as possible. Let’s call it dancioke.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: High

14. Western games

What are three main things in Westerns? Horses, revolvers and lassos. Can we implement Natal for that? No doubt, and that would be fun:

1) Riding a horse.

Clap your heels to spur your horse and accelerate. Hold your fists in front of you as you’re holding reins. “Draw reins” close to you to stop your horse. Draw just one rein to turn left or right.

2) Shooting revolver.

Clench your right fist and draw out your right forefinger. That’s your revolver. Now just aim at enemies and “shoot” – hit the upper side of your right fist with your left palm (in a slightly backward movement). Your avatar will shoot at enemies.

3) Throwing lasso.

“Take” lasso from your belt, “rotate” it in the air a couple of times and “throw”. Fun.

Natal precision required: Average
Your endurance required: Average

15. Erotic games

I’ll not get into details here and leave it to your fantasy. I’ll just remind that Natal recognizes not only your movements but also your speech and facial expressions. That can be fun to play. And even more fun to watch someone else playing.