Racc-Moon

Logo
walk sprite 1
walk sprite 2
crouch/charge sprite
idle sprite
jump sprite
Picture of product
Background

Inspiration

As amateur coders/designers and new hackathon participants, we wanted to make a project that didn't require sitting and coding the whole time. Combining our passion for video games and growing interests in technology, we created Racc-Moon, a game that encourages physical movement while making it fun and easily accessible. It is also simple, so anyone can play it!

What it does

Using a webcamm and MediaPipe pose estimation, the game tracks the player's movements:

Moving left or right by shifting your body
Jump in real life to make raccoon jump in-game
The higher you jump, the higher your raccoon jumps
Endless platforms until you reach the moon

How we built it

Tech Stack:

Python for core language
Pygame for game visuals, logic, spirte animation
OpenCV for real-time webcam access and image processing
MediaPipe for tracking player pose landmarks
Copilot for understanding and finding errors in the code

Core Mechanics:

Horizontal Movement: calculated by detecting player's lateral displacement
Jumping: detect vertical position changes of the hips

Challenges we ran into

Small shifts trigger unwanted and weird actions in game
Trial and error to convert real life measurements into game measurements
Researching and learning what tech stack to use
First time meeting each other, took great communication to complete this project

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We have not used MediaPipe before, so learning and implementing it in less than 24 hours was satisfying
Using Pygame (known to be more simpler than other languages)
Ended up completing the game (fully working and playable) with two of us being first time hackathon particpants

What we learned

Computer vision is so advanced and more accessible than expected
Importance of balancing tech with user eperience, constantly playtest to keep it fun and have a good game design
Got stuck many times, but got through it as a team
Simpler ideas sometimes make for better hackathon projects :)

What's next for Racc-Moon

Let users set a baseline position before starting the game (users are different size)
Multiplayer to race friends
Power-ups and obstacles (ex. jump boost, flying eagles)
Fitness metrics