An architecture for game interaction using mobile
Mark Joselli, José Ricardo da Silva, Marcelo Panaro de Moraes Zamith, Esteban Clua, Mateus Pelegrino, Evandro Mendonca, Eduardo Soluri · 2012
One of the most important factors in digital games is the immersion of the players to enhance their experience in the virtual world created by games. This immersion can be achieved in different ways, such as graphics effects, realistic physics, artificial intelligence and even from user inputs. The Nintendo Wii controller, Sony Playstation Move controller and Microsoft Xbox Kinect, to name a few, present new forms of user interaction using the player's movements, which has led to new forms of gameplay, as well as great forms of feedback. In addition, mobile devices are providing new features, like accelerometers, touch screens, cameras and GPS, which allow new forms of interaction in games played on these devices. In response to this evolution, this paper presents a multi-platform architecture that supports a desktop game being controlled by mobile devices, using their built-in features such as vibration feedback, sound feedback, image feedback and unique inputs like location, voice recognition, camera and gestures in order to enhance player immersion during game play. Additionally, the architecture supports different types of user data input, such as gesture and motion, that can be utilized according to user preferences and desires. Moreover, with this architecture, the mobile screen device can be used to give players feedback, like visual effects, scores and statistics. These available schemes have proven to be very useful and attractive for players, giving them choices that best fit their preferences and abilities. This architecture can also be used in collaborative games, where each player uses his device to interact with games running both on mobile devices and desktop computers. In order to demonstrate our architecture's effectiveness, we have developed a desktop game and done a case study with a pilot group of users, where some usability factors were evaluated. Finally, using a mobile device for game data input and player feedback provides people who are resistant to complex game controllers the opportunity to enjoy playing games using the same device they are accustomed to using daily, thereby minimizing the time needed to learn what is usually necessary to start enjoying a game. This can, in many situations, lower the barrier encountered by experienced smartphone users who are novice game players, as demonstrated in our pilot usability tests, which found high fun factors in such players.