Physically Interactive Robogames: Definition and Design Guidelines

There is evidence that people expects to be able to play games with autonomous robots, so that robogames could be one of the next killer ap- plications for Robotics. Physically Interactive RoboGames (PIRG) is a new application field where autonomous robots are involved in games requiring physical interaction with people. Since research in this field is moving its first steps, definitions and design guidelines are still largely missing. n this paper, a definition for PIRG is proposed, together with guidelines for their design. Physically Interactive, Competitive RoboGames (PICoRG) are also introduced. They are a particular kind of PIRG where human players are involved in a challenging, highly interactive and competitive game activity with autonomous robots. The development process of a PICoRG, Jedi Trainer , is presented to show a practical application of the proposed guidelines. The game has been successfully played in different unstructured environments, by general public; feedback is reported and analysed

Head Up Games : on the design, creation and evaluation of interactive outdoor games for children

This thesis proposes a new genre of outdoor games for children, namely Head Up Games. The concept was inspired by the observation that existing pervasive outdoor games for children were mostly played head down, as the predominantly screen-based interaction of existing games required constant attention of the children. First, the vision of Head Up Games is described and illustrated with several design cases (Chapter 2). In contrast to the head down games, Head Up Games aim to encourage and support rich social interaction and physical activity, play behaviors that are similar to play behaviors seen in traditional outdoor games (such as tag and hide-and-seek). The design process of Head Up Games poses several challenges. In User Centered Design it is commonly accepted to start the development of a new product using low-fi mock-ups, e.g., paper prototypes, and evaluate these with end-users. In the case of Head Up Games this proved to be difficult, as the emerging game experience is significantly altered when using paper prototypes. Therefore, a study was carried out that used high-fi prototypes, i.e. working, interactive, prototypes, from a very early stage in the design process (Chapter 3). This way, the effect of interactions on the game experience can be addressed earlier and better in the design process. Furthemore, having access to technology early in the design process, allows designers to better explore the design space. However, designers often do not possess adequate skills to quickly prototype interactive products, particularly products that need to be evaluated in an outdoor context. Such a development is often costly and time-consuming. Therefore, the RaPIDO platform was developed (Chapter 4). The platform not only includes the appropriate hardware for creating outdoor games, but is also bundled with software libraries, to allow designers not specifically trained in software engineering to adopt the platform easily. RaPIDO was evaluated using a case study methodology with two Industrial Design master students. The evaluation not only focused on the usability of the platform, but, more importantly, how the use of the platform affected the design process. The main conclusion of the study was that the designers indeed were able to rapidly create mobile games, and that the hardware offered was suitable for creating outdoor games. Furthermore, issues were identified with regard to writing the game software, e.g., managing the complexity of the software. Finally, for evaluating Head Up Games with children two methods were applied: the Outdoor Play Observation Scheme (OPOS) was used to quantify the intended play behavior. Furthermore, GroupSorter was developed to provide a framework to interview a group of children simultaneously, resulting in qualitative comments. Both OPOS and GroupSorter were applied for evaluating three Head Up Games, which are described in Chapter 5

Designing engaging experiences with location-based augmented reality games for urban tourism environments.

Gameplay has recently unfolded as playfulness in various cultural forms using mobile technologies. The rapid affordability paired with the latest technology improvements enabled the diffusion of mobile devices among tourists, who are among the most avid users of mobile technologies. The advent of mobile devices has initiated a significant change in the way we perceive and connect with our environment and paved the way for location-based, mobile augmented reality (AR) games that provide new forms of experiences for travel and tourism. With the recent developments like Pokémon Go and a prediction of 420 million downloads per year by 2019, the mobile game market is one of the fastest growing fields in the sector. Location-based AR games for mobile devices make use of players‟ physical location via the GPS sensor, accelerometer and compass to project virtual 2D and 3D objects with the build-in camera in real time onto the mobile game user interface (GUI) in order to facilitate gameplay activities. Players interact with the virtual and physical game world and overcome artificial challenges while moving around in the real environment. Where current mobile games withdraw players from reality, location-based AR games aim to engage players with the physical world by combining virtual and physical game mechanics in an enhanced way that increases the level of interactive educative and entertaining engagement. Despite some recent research on location-based AR games, game designers do not know much about how to address tourism requirements and the development of mediated playful experiences for urban tourism environments. This study explores the use of location-based AR games to create engaging and meaningful experiences with the tourism urban environment by combining interdisciplinary research of social sciences, (mobile) game design and mobile game user research (mGUR) to contribute to experience design in the context of travel and tourism. Objectives of the study are to identify the influence of key game elements and contextual gameplay parameters on the individual game experience (GX). To achieve the aim, the study has taken a pragmatic interpretivist approach to understand the player‟s individual GX in an evolving gameplay process in order to inform location-based game design. The project explores the interaction between the player, the game and the tourism context, which is assessed by a sequential triangulation of qualitative mixed methods. Two games were identified to be relevant for the tourism application that fulfilled the attributes of a location-based AR game. The first game is a role-playing adventure game, set in the time and place of the Cold War, called Berlin Wall 1989. The second game, Ingress, is a fictive, large area, massively multiplayer role-playing game that uses the real world as the battleground between two game fractions. A conceptual framework has been developed that presents the player engagement process with location-based AR games in urban tourism environments. The findings of the study indicate that gameplay is a moment-by-moment experience that is influenced by multiple aspects. The creation of engaging experiences between players, the game and the tourism context is related to six identified engagement characteristics; emotional engagement, ludic engagement, narrative engagement, spatial engagement, social engagement and mixed reality engagement. The study identified that the main motivations of playing a location-based AR game are the exploration of and learning about the visited destination, curiosity about the new playful activity and socialising with other players. Emotions underlie the creation of engagement stimulated by the alteration of playful interactions. The findings revealed that storytelling and simple game mechanics such as walking, feedback and goal orientation are essential elements in the creation of engaging experiences. Augmented reality, as a feature to connect the real with the virtual world, needs to create real added value for the gameplay in order to be perceived as engaging for players. The study proposes serious location-based AR games as an alternative form for tourism interpretation and has showed opportunities to enhance the tourist experience through self-directed, physical and mental interaction between players, the environment and the location-based AR game. The findings of the research illustrate the complexity of designing location-based game experiences. The developed conceptual framework can be used to inform future location-based AR game design for travel and tourism