These last months I’ve been working on my Diplom Thesis and now it’s slowly coming to an end. The topic of my thesis is Face Detection and Tracking for Computer Games on Mobile Devices. I started out working on the Nintendo DSi, but then had to change to the Nokia N900 because the company I worked at went insolvent.

I’ve implemented two different face detection systems on the Nokia N900 of which one works pretty well. On top of that I’ve created a very simple game – a technology demo – that uses the player’s head position as the input. The game is called BurgerFace and looks like this:

BurgerFace Screenshot

The goal is to pick up the burgers that increase the score and dodge the knives that cost lives. I’ve also created a video that shows the game in action:

Now I need to evaluate how well this input method works and if it’s fun. For that, I need your help. I’ve put the game online. Download it here (764 KB). It’s a .deb package that can easily be installed on your N900 by opening the file after downloading it (it depends on SDL, SDL_mixer and SDL_ttf and yes, it’s optified). It can also be uninstalled easily through the application manager.

Please download the game and play it as much as you like. Afterwards, take the survey that asks you some questions about the game and the input method. You can either take part in the survey on your computer or directly on the N900. If you want to do it on your N900 you can easily open the survey directly from the game.

I’d be very happy if you played the game and took the survey as that would greatly improve my thesis.

Update: I also posted this on Maemo Talk.

Update: The survey is closed now. Thanks to all participants! The download is still online though.

Today, I got the confirmation from the university that the time for my diploma thesis has officially begun. So I won’t do much besides working on it for the next six months.

I’m working on the thesis in cooperation with SnapDragon Games. Therefore there is the small disadvantage that I can’t really say what my thesis is about. On the other hand, the advantage is that my topic is very exciting and pretty much on the “bleeding edge”. And maybe you’ll one day see my work in a published game – who knows.

I guess I’ll run some posts on related stuff – like Latex, reference management or C++, but the actual topic has to stay top secret for now.

Wish me luck.