Post by Monika on May 22, 2010 9:00:25 GMT -5
The following is a product work log of sorts, created for my benefit. It was posted here to 1) garner ideas from fellow YourStorians, 2) have a safe place in case it is mistakenly deleted from my computer.
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After a long chain of events (that I will not currently delve into) led me to see Anthony Le's Iron Man and War Machine armors, I began to think that they looked very, very amazing but, alas, had little use aside from cosplaying. So then I said to myself "Self, what if you were to make that suit...but add tons of (indoor-friendly) weapons? Then it would have some sort of pragmatic use in Nerf Wars or paintballing or something of that nature."
As if it were destiny, the next day (yesterday) Andy Kite, a pal of mine, invited me to go LARPing in Towne Lake. Unfortunately, weather got the best of the event plans, but I was able to discuss the rules with the event planners. Essentially, the rules are as follows:
1) You can be either a 'Wizard' or standard melee/range fighter, which I shall term 'Warrior' and 'Ranger' for now.
2) Wizards are armed with water balloons (to simulate spellcasting) to throw at people.
3) Warriors can be armed with any sufficiently insulated (foam, or in the case of Lucco's weapon, carpet padding) weapon, such as swords, spears, axes, etc.
4) Rangers can be armed with any weapon (save for guns, I believe) made of foam or whose projectiles are made of foam. Examples would be a low powered bow with foam arrows, foam throwing axes, etc. Darts and missiles in themselves cannot be thrown and must be propelled through other means.
5) When any of your limbs are struck via a weapon or water balloon, you must keep that limb behind your back (simulating its loss) for the duration of the battle. If your head or chest are struck by a weapon/balloon, then you are 'dead' and are out for that round. If your hands or feet are struck, nothing happens. Shields are legal to block attacks, but cannot kill in their own right.
6) LARPing is what would be classified as a 'last man standing' event, where the last person alive (or last team alive) is declared the victor.
7) It is entirely legal to disarm your opponent, or (as Lucco managed to do) break their weapon, rendering them defenseless against an attack.
8) This is not so much a rule as it is a possibility, but combinations of the character roles are possible. So if you wanted to be a dual wielding swordsman who managed to fire a bow at the same time, then you could do so.
Rule 7 and 8 are where I got to thinking. Why should you be limited to just a sword or two? And better yet, what happens when your weapons are disarmed or - even worse - broken? You would need some sort of auxiliary weapon for any shot at victory, and chances are that by the time you pull that foam dagger out of your pocket you already are on the verge of death. Besides, daggers have very poor range and when you've got Adamczyk (yes, he was there) wielding a 6 foot tall spear, poor range is the last thing you need.
Clearly, the ultimate solution would be not only a weapon that had long range, but one you did not have to remove from a sheath and one that would permit you to use other weapons as well - a hands free weapon, if you will. Ironically, the only way I saw to accomplish this was to design a weapon that you wore on your hands, and that is how I came up with the idea for Power Gauntlets.
================Power Gauntlets===============
The following is a description of the weapon and a list its practical applications, as well as necessary materials for its construction.
The "Power Gauntlets" (tentative) are a set of gauntlets (a.k.a. thick gloves that protect the hand and forearm) that contain a missile compartment hidden inside the top. Upon a voice command given by the wearer, the top lifts open, revealing the foam missiles which then shoot forward in the direction of wherever the gloves happen to be facing.
Applications are as follows:
- Because the gauntlets (made of a high impact plastic) protect your hands and there is no penalty for your hands being hit, if you're manly enough you can safely intercept blows that might otherwise hurt. Granted, all weapons you may be attacked with are probably made of foam, if someone shows up with thick carpet padding on his sword and hits you, it may damage your hands a tad.
- Because the gauntlets are worn on your hand as armor, you are still physically able to wield swords, spears and the like. This effectively increases your weapon count by 2.
- Because the firing mechanism is designed to be voice activated, you are able to maneuver your way out of situations that would otherwise be impossible to survive. Say you had successfully intercepted a sword attack with your hands. Now, your opponent obviously cannot attack because his sword is being held, but you cannot attack either because the moment you let go of his sword, he'll deliver the finishing blow. With "Power Gauntlets", while holding the sword you can merely say the word "Fire" and missiles will shoot from it, damaging your opponent and allowing you to escape or defeat him.
- Since the weapons are not a gun, aside from being legal, they render aim quite a bit easier. Entirely supported by your forearm, there is little risk of dropping it or shaking uncontrollably, sending the missiles off target. Of course, that's only if you can keep your forearms straight for a short period of time, but I'll assume that no one is so weak that they can't keep straight arms for several seconds.
With the applications and description out of the way, now comes a list of materials and their uses.
1) Urethane plastic, which will be used to form the exterior of the gauntlet. It is able to withstand some abuse and is the next best thing to steel for LARPing defense.
2) A method of opening the top latch to reveal the missile shooting device. This can be accomplished with some actuators.
3) A method of getting the device to respond to the wearer's voice, which can be created with readily available voice recognition software and a well placed microphone.
4) A missile shooting device. This is where things get hairy, because I have no idea how to accomplish this.
The parts are not all that expensive and I hope to have figured out the missile shooting and created a working prototype by July.
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And this is my progress so far. The initial concept and nothing more. If anyone has any ideas on the firing mechanism, GIMME A HOLLA.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a long chain of events (that I will not currently delve into) led me to see Anthony Le's Iron Man and War Machine armors, I began to think that they looked very, very amazing but, alas, had little use aside from cosplaying. So then I said to myself "Self, what if you were to make that suit...but add tons of (indoor-friendly) weapons? Then it would have some sort of pragmatic use in Nerf Wars or paintballing or something of that nature."
As if it were destiny, the next day (yesterday) Andy Kite, a pal of mine, invited me to go LARPing in Towne Lake. Unfortunately, weather got the best of the event plans, but I was able to discuss the rules with the event planners. Essentially, the rules are as follows:
1) You can be either a 'Wizard' or standard melee/range fighter, which I shall term 'Warrior' and 'Ranger' for now.
2) Wizards are armed with water balloons (to simulate spellcasting) to throw at people.
3) Warriors can be armed with any sufficiently insulated (foam, or in the case of Lucco's weapon, carpet padding) weapon, such as swords, spears, axes, etc.
4) Rangers can be armed with any weapon (save for guns, I believe) made of foam or whose projectiles are made of foam. Examples would be a low powered bow with foam arrows, foam throwing axes, etc. Darts and missiles in themselves cannot be thrown and must be propelled through other means.
5) When any of your limbs are struck via a weapon or water balloon, you must keep that limb behind your back (simulating its loss) for the duration of the battle. If your head or chest are struck by a weapon/balloon, then you are 'dead' and are out for that round. If your hands or feet are struck, nothing happens. Shields are legal to block attacks, but cannot kill in their own right.
6) LARPing is what would be classified as a 'last man standing' event, where the last person alive (or last team alive) is declared the victor.
7) It is entirely legal to disarm your opponent, or (as Lucco managed to do) break their weapon, rendering them defenseless against an attack.
8) This is not so much a rule as it is a possibility, but combinations of the character roles are possible. So if you wanted to be a dual wielding swordsman who managed to fire a bow at the same time, then you could do so.
Rule 7 and 8 are where I got to thinking. Why should you be limited to just a sword or two? And better yet, what happens when your weapons are disarmed or - even worse - broken? You would need some sort of auxiliary weapon for any shot at victory, and chances are that by the time you pull that foam dagger out of your pocket you already are on the verge of death. Besides, daggers have very poor range and when you've got Adamczyk (yes, he was there) wielding a 6 foot tall spear, poor range is the last thing you need.
Clearly, the ultimate solution would be not only a weapon that had long range, but one you did not have to remove from a sheath and one that would permit you to use other weapons as well - a hands free weapon, if you will. Ironically, the only way I saw to accomplish this was to design a weapon that you wore on your hands, and that is how I came up with the idea for Power Gauntlets.
================Power Gauntlets===============
The following is a description of the weapon and a list its practical applications, as well as necessary materials for its construction.
The "Power Gauntlets" (tentative) are a set of gauntlets (a.k.a. thick gloves that protect the hand and forearm) that contain a missile compartment hidden inside the top. Upon a voice command given by the wearer, the top lifts open, revealing the foam missiles which then shoot forward in the direction of wherever the gloves happen to be facing.
Applications are as follows:
- Because the gauntlets (made of a high impact plastic) protect your hands and there is no penalty for your hands being hit, if you're manly enough you can safely intercept blows that might otherwise hurt. Granted, all weapons you may be attacked with are probably made of foam, if someone shows up with thick carpet padding on his sword and hits you, it may damage your hands a tad.
- Because the gauntlets are worn on your hand as armor, you are still physically able to wield swords, spears and the like. This effectively increases your weapon count by 2.
- Because the firing mechanism is designed to be voice activated, you are able to maneuver your way out of situations that would otherwise be impossible to survive. Say you had successfully intercepted a sword attack with your hands. Now, your opponent obviously cannot attack because his sword is being held, but you cannot attack either because the moment you let go of his sword, he'll deliver the finishing blow. With "Power Gauntlets", while holding the sword you can merely say the word "Fire" and missiles will shoot from it, damaging your opponent and allowing you to escape or defeat him.
- Since the weapons are not a gun, aside from being legal, they render aim quite a bit easier. Entirely supported by your forearm, there is little risk of dropping it or shaking uncontrollably, sending the missiles off target. Of course, that's only if you can keep your forearms straight for a short period of time, but I'll assume that no one is so weak that they can't keep straight arms for several seconds.
With the applications and description out of the way, now comes a list of materials and their uses.
1) Urethane plastic, which will be used to form the exterior of the gauntlet. It is able to withstand some abuse and is the next best thing to steel for LARPing defense.
2) A method of opening the top latch to reveal the missile shooting device. This can be accomplished with some actuators.
3) A method of getting the device to respond to the wearer's voice, which can be created with readily available voice recognition software and a well placed microphone.
4) A missile shooting device. This is where things get hairy, because I have no idea how to accomplish this.
The parts are not all that expensive and I hope to have figured out the missile shooting and created a working prototype by July.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And this is my progress so far. The initial concept and nothing more. If anyone has any ideas on the firing mechanism, GIMME A HOLLA.
