Maic Masuch

Exergame design for elderly users: the case study of SilverBalance

In this paper, we discuss chances and challenges of game design for an elderly audience with a focus on the development of safe and usable exertion games for frail senior citizens. Based on an analysis of theoretical constraints, we conducted a case study which implements different balance tasks for elderly players featuring the Nintendo Wii Balance Board which encourages users to actively engage in game play. Furthermore, we tested the feasibility of the board as input device for our case study SilverBalance. Our results indicate that age-related impairments influence the use of video games among frail elderly in many respects, hence their needs have to be considered during the design process. In this context, our paper provides a foundation for future research regarding digital games for the elderly.

Designing and evaluating digital games for frail elderly persons

Game research increasingly addresses human factors of gaming. Though more and more seniors become players, game design for frail elderly has rarely been explored. This paper addresses game design for senior citizens experiencing age-related changes, especially cognitive and physical limitations. We introduce and evaluate the case study SilverPromenade, which is specifically aimed at providing institutionalized frail elderly with a new leisure activity. SilverPromenade allows players to go on virtual walks while accounting for special needs regarding game complexity, and simplistic interaction paradigms are provided using Nintendos Wii Remote and the Balance Board for game control. Evaluation results suggest that despite age-related impairments, the game was generally accessible to elderly persons. Yet, differences between inexperienced and experienced players were observed which suggest that interaction problems may be reduced by engaging with games over a longer time. Findings also indicate that the engagement of elderly players transcends into their everyday life, and their social interaction increases among one another. Most importantly, the evaluation showed that games were perceived as enjoyable leisure activity, supporting the approach of applying digital games to raise the quality of life among frail elderly by fostering activity.

Understanding user experience in stereoscopic 3D games

Recent advances in digital game technology are making stereoscopic games more popular. Stereoscopic 3D graphics promise a better gaming experience but this potential has not yet been proven empirically. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study that evaluates player experience of three stereoscopic games in comparison with their monoscopic counterparts. We examined 60 participants, each playing one of the three games, using three self-reporting questionnaires and one psychophysiological instrument. Our main results are (1) stereoscopy in games increased experienced immersion, spatial presence, and simulator sickness; (2) the effects strongly differed across the three games and for both genders, indicating more affect on male users and with games involving depth animations; (3) results related to attention and cognitive involvement indicate more direct and less thoughtful interactions with stereoscopic games, pointing towards a more natural experience through stereoscopy.

Real-time halftoning: a primitive for non-photorealistic shading

We introduce halftoning as a general primitive for real-time non-photorealistic shading. It is capable of producing a variety of rendering styles, ranging from engraving with lighting-dependent line width to pen-and-ink style drawings using prioritized stroke textures. Since monitor resolution is limited we employ a smooth threshold function that provides stroke antialiasing.By applying the halftone screen in texture space and evaluating the threshold function for each pixel we can influence the shading on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This enables many effects to be used, including indication mapping and individual stroke lighting. Our real-time halftoning method is a drop-in replacement for conventional multitexturing and runs on commodity hardware. Thus, it is easy to integrate in existing applications, as we demonstrate with an artistically rendered level in a game engine.

Walk-Through Illustrations: Frame-Coherent Pen-and-Ink Style in a Game Engine

In this paper we show how a game engine designed to generate photorealistic images can be extended to produce non‐photorealistic and hybrid renditions. We introduce new hardware‐based methods to accomplish pen‐and‐ink illustrations. The combination of the highly optimized processing of a game engine and the use of hardware for NPR algorithms yields real‐time animation of pen‐and‐ink illustrations.

Interactive audiobooks: combining narratives with game elements

The authoring and the design of immersive, non-linear plots remains one of the main challenges in interactive digital storytelling. This paper introduces the concept of interactive audiobooks, which combines the potential of complex (non-)linear narratives (e.g. books and radio plays) with interactive elements from computer games. The design concentrates on a flexible degree of interaction, in a way that the listeners experience ranges between a passive listening to an interactive audio-only computer game. In this paper we discuss the story-engine used in interactive audiobooks, as well as present an authoring framework along several design guidelines to create them. Finally, we demonstrate the capabilities of our system with an adaptation of a short story from Edgar Allen Poe.

Challenges in collaborative game design developing learning environments for creating games

We perform a general analysis of the game design process, the structure of digital games and investigate the requirements for the use of OpenCroquet as a platform for collaborative game design. Based on our experiences of using a Squeak/Tweak programming environment in many game projects and recently for teaching game design we derive properties of a learning environment for teaching game design in an OpenCroquet environment with a special focus on collaboration.

Designing and evaluating casual health games for children and teenagers with cancer

Because they offer an easy entry into play, casual games have become an increasingly popular leisure activity among children and teenagers, engaging particularly broad target audiences. In this paper, we present a casual game that addresses childhood cancer: Besides mere entertainment, a health game that focuses on cancer may serve as a clinical tool in order to teach children about the particularities of the disease and initiate discussion among cancer patients, their parents and medical staff. In this context, the results of an empirical study revealed a generally high acceptance of the health game among young patients, while parents and medical staff highlighted the educational potential of health games addressing cancer. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of evaluating digital games in a hospital setting which were revealed during the evaluation phase.

Emotional Agents for Interactive Environments

Interactive environments need believable characters. Their personality and emotions should affect the behavior in order to increase the emotional immersion of the player. In our new model virtual characters (or agents) are equipped with an individual personality and dynamic emotions. Both models interact within the selection of appropriate actions, and are thus central for the exhibited behavior of autonomous agents. The proposed model is application-independent and allows to render a rich set of behaviors for virtual characters in learning environments like Squeak eToys or even distributed 3D spaces like Open Croquet

Creating and analyzing stereoscopic 3D graphical user interfaces in digital games

Creating graphical user interfaces (GUI) for stereoscopic 3D (S3D) games is a difficult choice between visual comfort and effect. We present a S3D Game GUI Design Space and a list of S3D-specific attributes that emphasizes integrating visually comfortable interfaces into the game world, story and S3D view. To showcase our approach, we created two GUI concepts and evaluated them with 32 users. Our results show quality improvements for a combination of bottom position and visual attachment for a menu. In a referencing interface, placing the reference near to the target depth significantly improved perceived quality, game integration, and increased presence. These results confirm the need to create S3D GUIs with perceptual constraints in mind, demonstrating the potential to extend the user experience. Additionally, our design space offers a formal and flexible way to create new effects in S3D GUIs.