Game: Don’t Look Back
Great games transcend their genre by being artistic and telling a story through their graphics, sound and gameplay. Few games manage to do this so convincingly as ‘Don’t Look Back’ which uses minimal graphics and old-school gameplay to convey a surprisingly deep and impactful narrative. This is a game that can be completed in an hour or two, but the emotions will stay with you for a long time after that.
Program: Fresh Paint
Especially if you have a touch-screen Windows tablet, Fresh Paint or Sketchbook Pro can offer you a fantastic drawing experience that will allow you to express yourself and create beautiful images. By drawing directly onto the screen with a range of brushes and tools you can really feel as though you’re painting – but without having to deal with the mess of paper and colours that this normally involves.
App: RJDJ
RJDJ is an app for iOS that I still can’t believe doesn’t get more attention from the media and that can provide a true ‘experience’ through your device. This app is essentially an ‘augmented reality’ app, except it relies on sound rather than images and information. It works by listening to the world around you through your device’s microphone and then enhancing and altering those sounds through the headphones. This then creates a ‘soundscape’ that changes the sounds around you into music or that creates the effect of being on another planet. A trippy experience that is well worth trying out…
Website: Planet4.Org
When you’re confined to your bed it can feel very much as though your wings have been clipped. With Planet4.Org however you can launch off right to Mars – by sifting through thousands of images captured by NASA’s satellites. What’s exciting about this though is the fact that those images have never been seen by anyone else – NASA is using crowdsourcing to scan those images for anything unusual, meaning you could potentially be the person to discover signs that water once existed on Mars, or even ancient signs of life.
Hardware: The Oculus Rift
Another true ‘experience’ you can have from the comfort of your bed with new technology is to try virtual reality for yourself. You’ll have to order a development kit from Oculus, which can take several months to arrive, but then you’ll be able to experience the most convincing and compelling virtual reality that’s currently available. It’s really rather amazing.
Hardware: The Leap Motion
And while you’re at it, why not try a new form of input too? Don’t worry, the Leap Motion doesn’t involve any leaping, rather it creates a ‘Minority Report’ style input for your computer allowing you to interact with on-screen elements by using your hands to manipulate them as you would in real life.
Hardware: The Celluon Magic Box
Another piece of high tech hardware you can get your hands on right now is the Celluon Magic Box. This projects a keyboard onto any surface that you can then type into. It’s a bit of a gimmick right now and rather temperamental, but it still looks and feels like the future.
Game: Skyrim
If you want to lose yourself for hours in exploration, then there is still no better world to do it in than Skyrim. Even this long after its release, the first moment you step outdoors is a breathtaking one, and for someone bed-bound the amount of freedom and adventure it can provide can be truly liberating.
If you want to ask or share anything just leave it in the comments below.
