Skip to main content
Up and Coming
April 4, 2013

Controlling movement with a Wii Balance Board

9 Months ago my wife and I implemented the Wii Balance board in UDK to explore it's use as an input for character movement. This is what we came up with:




This one shows the variable speed a bit better:




We stopped developing it when we reached this point because we didn't feel that further development without a HMD would be fruitful.

Sensitivity can be increased significantly but it makes it really hard to see how it's working, it also makes stopping a little bit harder.

Once we get our Rift we will get back to this, well after we port it to Unity.

**update May 2**

We've done a bit more work on this after getting our Rift and it's actually very compelling! once we get some Unity build issues sorted we will be posting a Wiiboard enabled version of the Tuscany scene for the community to try out.


    131 replies

    Participant
    May 8, 2013
    Thanks Aaebel, I had not seen that, cool :D

    v0.2 is now ready to go with many improvements:

    - Bluetooth management with permanent sync!
    - Actions can be customized.
    - Jumping support!
    - Better compatibility with official Wii board.
    - Made it clearer when actions are not enabled.

    Download latest version from:
    http://www.greycube.com/site/download.php?view.68

    - If you use the jumping option while standing up and using the rift,
    please film and upload to YouTube when you fall over.

    - Now with the options, I recommend people try flipping strafe and turn,
    as I actually found it quite natural to navigate.
    Participant
    May 8, 2013
    Just tried to run it and got my very first BSOD on Windows 8 with this new laptop. Awesome. I really need to downgrade to Windows 7... Totally worth it, though. I want this to work so bad!

    I would love to throw some of my ideas out and hope that it sticks. I have spent the past three weeks trying to find a way to use the Wii Board for game control. One question I have right now is whether or not it is possible to allow for two Wii Boards? Also, I see that the source is included with the zip, but is this project going to be considered open source?
    Participant
    May 8, 2013
    The code is currently only designed to handle a single Wii device being available, but as I now have two boards, I can look into handling multiple devices in the next couple of days.

    The program is just a fun test, something I put together to try out various feet control options and decided to share, I have no long term plans for it, but the code is there for people to do what they like with it.

    EDIT: Spoke to Infinimitsu by PM, and Windows 8 issues seem to be down to the permanent sync which sends a pin code, I will try to recreate the problem, but if anyone else is using W8 and has problems, untick the box.
    Participant
    May 9, 2013
    It's alive! I unchecked "Permament Sync". Works fine. Not sure where the BSOD came from.
    May 9, 2013
    Looking nice, going to be snagging one of these later this month, probably about the time the hydra and Rift show up.

    I'm curious how your jump input works, is it actually the player jumping?
    Participant
    May 9, 2013
    Looking good. One question though; is this tied into lateral Rift tracking? For example do you turn your avatar with the Rift then move using the Wii-Board, or are you still reliant on a thumbstick to turn the avatar?
    Participant
    May 9, 2013
    Jumping works by holding the action while there is no pressure, with a 2 second timeout to stop it being held, if you say take a break. You can jump while standing, but lifting your feet while sitting was more practical for directional jumping.

    If your going to get a board, get an official one, I picked up mine cheap off Ebay.

    It has no connection to the Rift, it just like using a keyboard and mouse with your feet, so when combined with the Rift, it will depend on if the program has separated body and head movement.
    Participant
    May 10, 2013
    Hi everyone. I I wanted to join the forums to say how happy I am that I can finally use the Balance board on the PC. I don't have a Rift yet, but I do have a Razer Hydra and a Balance Board so I was excited to try and combine the two. I made that other video mentioned and now put together a new one with the latest software version of the Wii Balance Walker. Huge thanks to whoisrich for his work on the program.


    Participant
    May 12, 2013
    Thanks once again for the great demonstration video :)

    Just finished up v0.3 which has lots of 'behind the scenes' improvements.

    - Fixed bluetooth name check not actually being used.
    - Fixed bluetooth crash where installation needs more time to finish.
    - Fixed issues caused by lifting the board while connected.

    - Added multiple device support, you will be asked which is to be used.
    You can even use two copies of the .EXE for dual balance boards.

    - Actions and mouse movement updates are now separate from device updates.
    This has improved performance and makes mouse turning much smoother.



    Download latest version
    May 12, 2013
    Hello, great work !
    I was planning to create a system like this using an android phone in my pocket but it was far from being accurate. The only this that went well is the crouch detection.
    Do you think the Wii balance board can detect a crouch position ?