Microsoft shows off Project Spark's Kinect capabilities in hour-long video

Microsoft has been hard at work on gaming making… erm… game Project Spark. The company has released an hour-long video that shows the game as well as its capabilities with Kinect, including performance capture and gameplay. Check it out:

In Project Spark, players use the Xbox One’s Kinect and SmartGlass to build environments using pieces such as mountains, rivers and towns. Players can also create events like inter-character battles. Players can start with either a blank map or a pre-designed level, but are always given the tools to customise the level’s topography, add flora and fauna, and even program specific behaviours for objects.

You can also use the Kinect to do some nifty things. For example, the Kinect sensor can capture players’ facial animations, body motions and voice that could then be used to create a custom character with its own dialogue and voice acting in the game. You can even record their own body motions and set them up as attack animations.

A taste of what Project Spark is capable of

Earlier, Game Designer Claude Jerome had stated that Project Spark is “all about giving players options.” This includes things like the ability to add a single flower versus a whole field of flowers by simply changing the size of the flower’s paintbrush. All of the worlds created in Project Spark will be shareable. Other players who enter shared worlds can duplicate the worlds if they want to make changes.

Project Spark doesn’t quite have a release date yet, but the beta for the Windows 8 version is going to start soon. It will also be getting a beta on the Xbox One later.