Action trigger gesturing

1. A data-holding subsystem holding instructions executable by a logic subsystem to:

render a spell-casting game for display on a display device;

receive a virtual skeleton including a plurality of joints, the virtual skeleton providing a machine readable representation of a game player observed with a depth camera;

recognize a gesture of the virtual skeleton;

track a path of a left hand joint of the virtual skeleton and/or a path of a right hand joint of the virtual skeleton during the throwing gesture;

calculate an original aiming vector within the spell-casting game, the original aiming vector orientated so as to minimize a distance between a line orientated with the original aiming vector and two or more points constituting the path; and

direct a spell along the original aiming vector within the spell-casting game.

2. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , further holding instructions to direct a spell at a primary target within a threshold distance of the original aiming vector within the spell-casting game.

3. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , further holding instructions to resolve a spell with a first magnitude if the original aiming vector is within a first threshold distance of a primary target, to resolve the spell with a second magnitude, less than the first magnitude, if the original aiming vector is within a second threshold distance, greater than the first threshold distance, of the primary target, and to resolve the spell with a zero magnitude if the original aiming vector is not within the second threshold distance of the primary target.

4. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , further holding instructions to resolve a first spell if the gesture is a one-handed gesture and to resolve a second spell, different than the first spell, if the gesture is a two-handed throwing gesture.

5. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , further holding instructions to select a spell to resolve responsive to identifying a second gesture associated with the selected spell prior to recognizing the gesture, the second gesture being one of a plurality of different gestures, each such gesture associated with a different spell castable within the spell-casting game by a player character controlled by gestures of the game player.

6. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , further holding instructions to:

recognize an third gesture of the virtual skeleton;

track a path of a left hand joint of the virtual skeleton and/or a path of a right hand joint of the virtual skeleton during the third gesture; and

calculate an after-touch aiming vector within the spell-casting game from the path of the left hand joint and/or the path of the right hand joint during the third gesture.

7. The data-holding subsystem of claim 6 , further holding instructions to redirect a spell along the after-touch aiming vector from a starting position derived from the original aiming vector.

8. The data-holding subsystem of claim 6 , further holding instructions to redirect a spell at a secondary target within a threshold distance of the after-touch aiming vector.

9. The data-holding subsystem of claim 6 , further holding instructions to resolve a spell with a first magnitude if the after-touch aiming vector is within a first threshold distance of a secondary target, to resolve the spell with a second magnitude, less than the first magnitude, if the after-touch aiming vector is within a second threshold distance, greater than the first threshold distance, of the secondary target, and to resolve the spell with a zero magnitude if the after-touch aiming vector is not within the second threshold distance of the secondary target.

10. A method of executing a spell-casting game on a computing system, the method comprising:

receiving at the computing system from a depth camera depth information of a scene including a game player;

at the computing system, recognizing from the depth information a gesture of the game player;

at the computing system, tracking a path of a left hand of the game player and/or a path of a right hand of the game player during the gesture;

at the computing system, calculating an original aiming vector within the spell-casting game, the original aiming vector orientated so as to minimize a distance between a line orientated with the original aiming vector and two or more points constituting the path;

at the computing system, recognizing a third gesture of the game player;

at the computing system, tracking a path of the left hand and/or a path of the right hand during the third gesture; and

at the computing system, calculating an after-touch aiming vector within the spell-casting game from the path of the left hand and/or the path of the right hand during the third gesture.

11. The data-holding subsystem of claim 1 , wherein the distance is a sum of squares distance.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising directing a spell along the original aiming vector within the spell-casting game.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising directing a spell at a primary target within a threshold distance of the original aiming vector within the spell-casting game.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resolving a spell with a first magnitude if the original aiming vector is within a first threshold distance of a primary target, resolving the spell with a second magnitude, less than the first magnitude, if the original aiming vector is within a second threshold distance, greater than the first threshold distance, of the primary target, and resolving the spell with a zero magnitude if the original aiming vector is not within the second threshold distance of the primary target.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resolving a first spell if the gesture is a one-handed gesture and resolving a second spell, different than the first spell, if the gesture is a two-handed gesture.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising selecting a spell to resolve responsive to identifying a second gesture associated with the selected spell prior to recognizing the throwing gesture, the second gesture being one of a plurality of different gestures, each such gesture associated with a different spell castable within the spell-casting game by a player character controlled by gestures of the game player.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising redirecting a spell along the after-touch aiming vector from a starting position derived from the original aiming vector.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising redirecting a spell at a secondary target within a threshold distance of the after-touch aiming vector.

19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resolving a spell with a first magnitude if the after-touch aiming vector is within a first threshold distance of a secondary target, resolving the spell with a second magnitude, less than the first magnitude, if the after-touch aiming vector is within a second threshold distance, greater than the first threshold distance, of the secondary target, and resolving the spell with a zero magnitude if the after-touch aiming vector is not within the second threshold distance of the secondary target.

20. An entertainment system, comprising:

a peripheral input to receive depth images from a depth camera;

a display output to output an interactive interface to a display device;

a logic subsystem operatively connectable to the depth camera via the peripheral input and to the display device via the display output;

a data-holding subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to:

receive from the depth camera one or more depth images of a world space scene including a computer user;

model the computer user with a virtual skeleton including a plurality of joints;

translate a position of one or more joints of the virtual skeleton as a gesture of the virtual skeleton;

track a path of a left hand joint of the virtual skeleton and/or a path of a right hand joint of the virtual skeleton during the gesture;

calculate an original aiming vector within the interactive interface, the original aiming vector orientated so as to minimize a distance between a line orientated with the original aiming vector and two or more points constituting the path; and

direct an interface action along the original aiming vector within the interactive interface.