Expanding social mobile games beyond the device screen

Emerging pervasive games use sensors, graphics and networking technologies to provide immersive game experiences integrated with the real world. Existing pervasive games commonly rely on a device screen for providing game-related information, while overlooking opportunities to include new types of contextual interactions like jumping, a punching gesture, or even voice to be used as game inputs. We present the design of Spellbound, a physical mobile team-based game, to help contribute to our understanding of how we can design pervasive games that aim to nurture a spirit of togetherness. We also briefly touch upon how togetherness and playfulness can transform physical movement into a desirable activity in the user evaluation section. Spellbound is an outdoor pervasive team-based physical game. It takes advantage of the above-mentioned opportunities and integrates real-world actions like jumping and spinning with a virtual world. It also replaces touch-based input with voice interaction and provides glanceable and haptic feedback using custom hardware in the true spirit of social play characteristic of traditional children’s games. We believe Spellbound is a form of digital outdoor gaming that anchors enjoyment on physical action, social interaction, and tangible feedback. Spellbound was well received in user evaluation playtests which confirmed that the main design objective of enhancing a sense of togetherness was largely met

Motion-based Interaction for Head-Mounted Displays

Recent advances in affordable sensing technologies have enabled motion-based interaction (MbI) for head-mounted displays (HMDs). Unlike traditional input devices like the mouse and keyboard, which often offer comparatively limited interaction possibilities (e.g., single-touch interaction), MbI does not have these constraints and is more natural because they reflect more closely people do things in real life. However, several issues exist in MbI for HMDs due to the technical limitations of the sensing and tracking devices, higher degrees of freedom afforded to users, and limited research in the area due to the rapid advancement of HMDs and tracking technologies. This thesis first outlines four core challenges in the design space of MbI for HMDs: (1) boundary awareness for hand-based interaction, (2) efficient hands-free head-based interface for HMDs, (3) efficient and feasible full-body interaction for general tasks with HMDs, and (4) accessible full-body interaction for applications in HMDs. Then, this thesis presents an investigation into the contributions of these challenges in MbI for HMDs. The first challenge is addressed by providing visual feedback during interaction tailored for such technologies. The second challenge is addressed by using a circular layout with a go-and-hit selection style for head-based interaction using text entry as the scenario. In addition, this thesis explores additional interaction mechanisms that leverage the affordances of these techniques, and in doing so, we propose directional full-body motions as an interaction approach to perform general tasks with HDMs as an example to address the third challenge. The last challenge is addressed by (1) exploring the differences between performing full-body interaction for HMDs and common displays (i.e., TV) and (2) providing a set of design guidelines that are specific to current and future HMDs. The results of this thesis show that: (1) visual methods for boundary awareness can help with mid-air hand-based interaction in HMDs; (2) head-based interaction and interfaces that take advantages of MbI, such as a circular interface, can be very efficient and low error hands-free input method for HMDs; (3) directional full-body interaction can be a feasible and efficient interaction approach for general tasks involving HMDs; (4) full-body interaction for applications in HMDs should be designed differently than for traditional displays. In addition to these results, this thesis provides a set of design recommendations and takeaway messages for MbI for HMDs

Brave New GES World:A Systematic Literature Review of Gestures and Referents in Gesture Elicitation Studies

How to determine highly effective and intuitive gesture sets for interactive systems tailored to end users’ preferences? A substantial body of knowledge is available on this topic, among which gesture elicitation studies stand out distinctively. In these studies, end users are invited to propose gestures for specific referents, which are the functions to control for an interactive system. The vast majority of gesture elicitation studies conclude with a consensus gesture set identified following a process of consensus or agreement analysis. However, the information about specific gesture sets determined for specific applications is scattered across a wide landscape of disconnected scientific publications, which poses challenges to researchers and practitioners to effectively harness this body of knowledge. To address this challenge, we conducted a systematic literature review and examined a corpus of N=267 studies encompassing a total of 187, 265 gestures elicited from 6, 659 participants for 4, 106 referents. To understand similarities in users’ gesture preferences within this extensive dataset, we analyzed a sample of 2, 304 gestures extracted from the studies identified in our literature review. Our approach consisted of (i) identifying the context of use represented by end users, devices, platforms, and gesture sensing technology, (ii) categorizing the referents, (iii) classifying the gestures elicited for those referents, and (iv) cataloging the gestures based on their representation and implementation modalities. Drawing from the findings of this review, we propose guidelines for conducting future end-user gesture elicitation studies

Modelling Physical Activity in Virtual Reality Games

This thesis was inspired by the possibility that virtual reality (VR) games, which are designed primarily to be fun, could also provide exercise. It aimed to gain insights about this by exploring whether people can gain beneficial levels of exercise while playing VR games and how they might use VR games for exercise over several weeks. Furthermore, this work also focuses on how the level of physical activity that can be captured during gameplay and how a long-term user model can be created for individual players, as a foundation for supporting the user in gaining personal informatics insights about their exertion as well as being used for personalisation and external recommendation for VR games. The key contributions of this research are: • The first study of a diverse set of commercial VR games to gain insights about the level of actual and perceived exertion players have. • The first long-term study of VR games in a sedentary workplace to gain insights about the ways people utilise it and the levels of exertion they gain. • Based on reflections on the above studies, this thesis presents a framework and guidelines for designing physical activity VR games. • The systematic creation of a user model for representing a person’s long-term fitness and their VR gameplay, exertion and preferences. • A study of the ways that people can scrutinise their long-term personal informatics user model of exertion from VR game play and incidental walking. These contributions provide a foundation for future researchers and industry practitioners to design VR games that provide beneficial levels of exertion and allow people to gain insights into the relative contribution of the exercise from gameplay

A deeper look into multi-touch gaming

In this article, I am looking at multi-touch tabletop games. I am looking for the best suited genre for multi-touch tabletops and at how multiplayer support should be done on these tabletops and what multiplayer format the technology best suits. I am looking into how user interfaces are best supported for playing games on a multi-touch tabletop. In looking for the answers to these questions, I am using user surveys, interviews, prototyping and workshop methods to gain perspective on the subjects. The article is showing how I, through these methods, came to the conclusion that the simplistic multi-user interaction genre holds the greatest gameplay value for multi-touch tabletops. And that a multi-user game brings players together and envelopes them in cooperative or competitive gameplay offers a social aspect that in turn goes beyond the game

Uusien virtuaalisen todellisuuden liikkumistapojen metsästys: Tuettu paikallaankävelemisjärjestelmä

This thesis explores novel, physically challenging, locomotion methods within virtual reality (VR). In this work, we develop, experiment and evaluate a prototype system capable of employing multiple playing poses. We designed four different movement approaches utilizing position/orientation trackers attached to user's limbs and waist. From these approaches, we decided to proceed further with two of the most promising ones. We conducted an user study (N=10) comparing these two approaches to receive more diverse feedback. The main themes revolving around the study were usability, simulator sickness and exercise. We decided to name the developed movement approaches according to the playing pose: Chair, Supine, Rings and Dip Rack. The two modes chosen for the user study were Chair and Supine. In the Chair mode the player sits on a swivel chair and imitates walking or running by swinging their legs in the air. In the Supine mode the player lies on the ground on their back and swings their legs in the air. Based on the user feedback, we can conclude that there exists potential within the experimented approaches. Due to the small size of our user study we are unable conclude any statistical relevance, but we believe that this work can provide valuable information for future VR locomotion methods, as well as exergames.Tämän diplomityön aihe on uudenlaiset virtuaalisen todellisuuden (eng. virtual reality, VR) liikkumistavat, jotka hyödyntävät fyysisesti vaativia asentoja ja liikkeitä. Tässä työssä kehitämme, testaamme ja arvioimme kehittämäämme prototyyppiä. Kehitimme neljä eri tapaa liikkua virtuaalisessa todellisuudessa hyväksikäyttäen pelaajan jalkoihin, käsiin ja vyötärölle kiinnitettyjä sijainti- ja asentojäljittimiä. Näistä neljästä lähestymistavasta, kahdesta ilmeni muita enemmän potentiaalia, joten otimme ne jatkokehitykseen. Suoritimme laadullisen käyttäjätutkimuksen (10 testaajaa) saadaksemme monimuotoisempaa palautetta prototyypistämme. Vertailimme käyttäjätesteissä kahta eri lähestymistapaamme seuraavien teemojen ympärillä: käytettävyys, virtuaalipahoinvointi ja liikunta. Kutsumme kehittämiämme liikkumistapoja pelaamisasennon mukaan: Tuoli, Selällään Makaaminen, Renkaat ja Dippiteline. Valitsemamme kaksi tapaa olivat Tuoli ja Selällään Makaaminen. Tuoli-pelitavassa pelaaja istuu toimistotuolilla ja imitoi kävelemistä tai juoksemista jalkojaan ilmassa heiluttaen. Selällään Makaamis -pelitavassa pelaaja makaa selällään patjalla ja heiluttaa jalkoja ilmassa. Käyttäjätestauksen palautteesta pystyimme päättelemään, että kehittämissämme liikkumistavoissa on potentiaalia. Pienen testaajamäärän vuoksi emme voi todeta tilastollista merkityksellisyyttä havainnoillamme, mutta pyrimme silti luomaan tällä työllä pohjaa tulevaisuuden virtuaalisen todellisuuden liikkumistavoille, sekä liikuntapeleille

COLAB: Social Context and User Experience in Collaborative Multiplayer Games

Recent studies have shown that the social context in which people play digital multiplayer games has an effect on their experience. Whether co-players are in the same location (―co-located‖) or in different locations (―mediated‖) changes how they interact with the game and with one another. We set out to explore how these complex psychological dynamics played out in a collaborative multiplayer game, since most of the research to date has been focused on competitive gameplay scenarios. To this end, we designed a two-player puzzle-based gaming apparatus called COLAB, implementing specific features that have been proven to foster collaboration and preclude competition between players. The independent variable was player location; the dependent variable was game experience, as measured by the Social Presence in Gaming Questionnaire and the Game Experience Questionnaire, two comprehensive self-report instruments. We found a significant difference in the game experiences of players collaborating in the same location versus players collaborating in different locations. Specifically, co-located players of the collaborative game experienced significantly higher scores for negative experience than mediated players did, while mediated players experienced significantly higher levels of three key game-experience measures: positive affect, immersion, and flow

Hikari Hook: Game Development with the Oculus Rift and Handheld Motion Controllers

In seated virtual reality experiences, the player may feel disconnected from their character if walking is the primary method of traversal. The goal of this project was to explore alternative methods of character traversal to avoid this disconnect. Hikari Hook is a virtual reality game we developed in collaboration with Takemura Lab at Osaka University. In the game, players use a pair of grappling hooks to solve environmental puzzles and traverse the forest. Testing performed with students from Takemura Lab was used to improve the player experience