Katja Rogers

P.I.A.N.O.: enhancing instrument learning via interactive projected augmentation

P.I.A.N.O. aims to support learning to play piano with a steep learning curve. In order to achieve this, traditional, hard-to-learn music notation is substituted for an alternative representation of a composition, which is projected directly onto the piano. Furthermore, we propose three different learning modes which support the natural learning process, incorporate live feedback and performance evaluation, as well as the augmentation of the system with aspects of gamification to achieve early experiences of success and prolonged motivation.

P.I.A.N.O.: Faster Piano Learning with Interactive Projection

Learning to play the piano is a prolonged challenge for novices. It requires them to learn sheet music notation and its mapping to respective piano keys, together with articulation details. Smooth playing further requires correct finger postures. The result is a slow learning progress, often causing frustration and strain. To overcome these issues, we propose P.I.A.N.O., a piano learning system with interactive projection that facilitates a fast learning process. Note information in form of an enhanced piano roll notation is directly projected onto the instrument and allows mapping of notes to piano keys without prior sight-reading skills. Three learning modes support the natural learning process with live feedback and performance evaluation. We report the results of two user studies, which show that P.I.A.N.O. supports faster learning, requires significantly less cognitive load, provides better user experience, and increases perceived musical quality compared to sheet music notation and non-projected piano roll notation.

Evaluating VR Driving Simulation from a Player Experience Perspective

The majority of HCI research in the field of automotive interfaces and driver-vehicle interaction is conducted utilizing driving simulators. High-fidelity simulators are expensive; in consequence, many researchers use consumer gaming hardware and flat screens as an alternative. In recent years VR devices have become affordable and are applied already in some driving studies. It has not been shown whether driving simulations can use VR to increase immersion in low-cost setups. We conducted a pilot study with 20 participants using a racing game as simulation software. The results of this pilot study indicate that using a VR headset can potentially dissociate participants to a higher degree from the real world compared to the use of flat screens. However, participants felt a higher discomfort using the VR HMD. Despite expectations, todays VR technology does not appear to be a generally better choice than flat screens for driving simulator studies.

Rising to the Challenge: An Emotion-Driven Approach Toward Adaptive Serious Games

Serious games are steadily becoming a powerful tool for educational purposes as their challenging characteristics are suggested to make them particularly appealing to learn with. This challenging nature, however, comes at a price, namely, the need to maintain the optimal balance according to players’ emotional experiences. By focusing on players’ emotions as main player characteristic considered to be important for learning processes and performance, this chapter surveys empirical research and current game development that contributes to an emotion-adaptive framework for games. The goal of this chapter is to clarify the importance of continuously adjusting game characteristics to players’ emotional states. As the interaction between game characteristics and players’ emotions highlights the need for continuously assessing at what point gameplay becomes more or less positively or negatively affected, methods for emotion recognition are presented. A summary of adaptable game design elements as well as implementation methods for adaptivity are provided.

2084 -- Safe New World: Designing Ubiquitous Interactions

This paper investigates a concept for highly ubiquitous game interactions in pervasive games. Pervasive gaming is increasingly popular, but steadily improving mobile and ubiquitous technologies (e.g. smartwatches) have yet to be utilised to their full potential in this area. For this purpose, we implemented 2084 Safe New World; a pervasive game that allows particularly ubiquitous gameplay through micro interactions of varying duration. In a lab study, different interaction techniques based on gestures and touch input were compared on two mobile devices regarding usability and game input observability. A second study evaluated the player experience under more realistic circumstances; in particular, it examined how well the game can be integrated into everyday life, and tested boundaries of social acceptance of ubiquitous interactions in a pervasive spy game.

Mobile Augmented Reality as an Orientation Aid: A Scavenger Hunt Prototype

Orientation in public environments is a critical skill for new arrivals, yet also one that is usually only learned gradually through trial and error. This paper suggests the use of pervasive augmented reality (AR) for the design of a serious game that teaches navigational skills in a public environment. Many AR scavenger hunt games confront players with new environments by default, however they rarely focus explicitly on teaching navigational skills. We propose a concept that utilises augmented reality techniques for increased immersion and motivation, while upholding the real-world sense of presence for an easy transfer of orientation skills to everyday life. For this purpose, we implemented a first prototypical serious game in the form of an AR scavenger hunt. A preliminary evaluation regarding its usability produced promising results. As such, the prototype constitutes a first proof of concept. In future iterations, it will be further developed as an adaptive AR serious game, and evaluated in respect to its efficacy in teaching orientation and navigation skills.

KickAR: Exploring Game Balancing Through Boosts and Handicaps in Augmented Reality Table Football

When player skill levels are not matched, games provide an unsatisfying player experience. Player balancing is used across many digital game genres to address this, but has not been studied for co-located augmented reality (AR) tabletop games, where using boosts and handicaps can adjust for different player skill levels. In the setting of an AR table football game, we studied the importance of game balancing being triggered by the game system or the players, and whether player skill should be required to trigger game balancing. We implemented projected icons to prominently display game balancing mechanics in the AR table football game. In a within-subjects study (N=24), we found players prefer skill-based control over game balancing and that different triggers are perceived as having different fairness. Further, the study showed that even game balancing that is perceived as unfair can provide enjoyable game experiences. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for player balancing in AR tabletop games.

Vanishing Importance: Studying Immersive Effects of Game Audio Perception on Player Experiences in Virtual Reality

Sound and virtual reality (VR) are two important output modalities for creating an immersive player experience (PX). While prior research suggests that sounds might contribute to a more immersive experience in games played on screens and mobile displays, there is not yet evidence of these effects of sound on PX in VR. To address this, we conducted a within-subjects experiment using a commercial horror-adventure game to study the effects of a VR and monitor-display version of the same game on PX. Subsequently, we explored, in a between-subjects study, the effects of audio dimensionality on PX in VR. Results indicate that audio has a more implicit influence on PX in VR because of the impact of the overall sensory experience and that audio dimensionality in VR may not be a significant factor contributing to PX. Based on our findings and observations, we provide five design guidelines for VR games.

LiverDefense: how to employ a tower defense game as a customisable research tool

In game-related research, it is often necessary to create different versions of a game prototype and gather information about players. To make this possible even for non-programmers, we present LiverDefense, an educational Tower Defense game about the basic functions of the human liver, which can be used as a customisable research tool. LiverDefense can be customised via human-readable XML files both in its degree of difficulty and the content of Likert scale questionnaires to be presented to the player. As a proof of concept, LiverDefense has been successfully employed in a psychological study focused on exploring the effect of perceived control over gameplay on players’ emotions. We report on the analysis of this study with regard to enjoyment and frustration and the resulting insights on using LiverDefense as a customisable research tool.

Shock Tactics: Perceived Controversy in Molleindustria Persuasive Games

Shock tactics in the form of controversial messages are used in advertising to solicit viewer attention and as a persuasive tactic. Persuasive games are becoming increasingly popular, however the use of shock tactics in games have not been explored in much detail. This paper discusses how three Molleindustria games use potentially controversial mechanics and messages for persuasion. In a user study, we explored how the perceived controversy of these games influenced their efficacy. Overall, the results show that perceived controversy correlates significantly with the percentage of their study compensation participants were willing to donate. The findings point towards shock tactics as a potential tool for the design and evaluation of persuasive games.