Pre-patterns for designing embodied interactions in handheld augmented reality games

Abstract

The game industry and related research communities have shown a surge of interest in reality-based interfaces that create "embodied" game play experiences. Handheld AR (HAR) is a reality-based interface that renders digital objects onto a player's perception of the physical world. HAR creates a hybrid space in which players can leverage their existing physical and social skills to interact with the game system and with each other. Although HAR has received some attention in the world of handheld gaming, there is little research that summarizes and communicates design principles and implications across multiple examples. In this paper, we analyze and generate design lessons from dozens of HAR games, drawn from academic and commercial AR games, and also our years of experience designing and teaching HAR game design. We summarize our experience in this new field into a set of design "pre-patterns" as a means of formalizing significant design lessons derived from these existing practices into repeatable principles and solutions. We contribute to both the game and interaction design communities with pre-patterns that support embodied game play. KEYWORDS:Handheld augmented reality interface, design patterns, game design, game interface. As new designers and researchers approach HAR technology, they are asking themselves similar questions. What kind of experience can HAR support and create for the player, aside from the shear "novelty" of the interface? What are the constraints and complexities that this technology adds? How can we transform embodied interaction with a HAR interface into meaningful embodied game play? Both AR research and game design communities have something to contribute to the discussion. AR researchers have investigated the affordances and constraints of AR interfaces [11,12], and empirically examined AR systems in a number of contexts, including collaborative work, instructor support, learning, and games [7,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. Game designers are familiar with game elements and conventions that are critical for enjoyable game experiences. We hope to bridge this discussion between the two communities by presenting our results as a collection of design pre-patterns for HAR games. INDEX TERMS:Design pattern research is a tool to capture and communicate repeated solutions for recurring problems in the field [19][20][21]. Although it was first created in the context of the mature field of architecture, recent research has suggested the idea that sharing design knowledge might also be appropriate for less mature design domains, such as ubiquitous computing and home technology [22,23]. Recognizing that HAR game design is a nascent, fast-growing domain, we adopt the term "pre-patterns" in our work, which has been used to identify patterns that focus on summarizing ongoing practice to inspire new design.In this paper, we present nine design pre-patterns that leverage four kinds of embodied human skills [4]. Different from software engineering design patterns, where the "problems" are usually ...

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