Gesture-Based Head-Mounted Augmented Reality Game Development Using Leap Motion and Usability Evaluation

Abstract

The environment of augmented reality created by head-mounted displays can provide players with an immersive gaming experience and proper gestures can enable the integration of real-world objects with the virtual environment. This study explores the usability of gesture operations applied to games and tries to find new applications using current mature gesture sensors. This study develops a head-mounted augmented reality game based on gesture recognition, and evaluates their usability and impact on the user's interaction with the virtual interface. It uses the Unity engine and open-source glasses designed by Leap Motion to develop an adventure game, and it contains elements of a first-person shooter game. There is no need for any joystick or touch screen to control the game, as the game relies only on the player's hands to operate through a controller-less interface. The results show that the system usability score is 79.4, which indicates a good usability level. This study may be of importance in clarifying problems that may be encountered in the development of interactive-gesture head-mounted display augmented reality games. Finally, this study offers suggestions for the challenges and future of head-mounted augmented reality games.