Week 8 summaries
Pre-Patterns for Designing Embodied Interactions in
Handheld Augmented Reality Games
The paper discusses about leveraging Embodied Interactions by using pre-patterns for HAR games. HAR games have started gaining popularity because of new technology such as Kinect and Wii. And one important question that designers has to ask themselves while designing for AR is what experience they can offer other than ‘novelty’.
Nine design pre-patterns have been developed to leverage designers while designing games. These are:
Device Metaphors: To guide players by representing familiar objects.
Control Mapping: To help designers select a control action and map it into the game.
Seamful Design: To help user deal with lost tracking by regaining it or continuing without it.
World Consistency: The designers have to make a choice of either adhering to the real world physics or defying it.
Landmarks: Just as in real world, landmarks are required in digital world to help users get context of the game.
Personal Presence: The sense of being in the game determines the quality of user experience.
Living Creatures: Mapping of virtual creatures on physical space, reacting to real world physical events, gestures, etc helps in enhancing the user’s presence.
Body Constraints: The relative position of a player with respect to other players need to be considered.
Hidden Information: Enhancing social aspects of the game by showing or hiding personal information through player’s actions and use of device.
The paper concludes with realizing that these patterns are in no way final and need further exploration and refining. One plan to achieve this is by creating a wiki.
The Task Gallery:
A 3D Window Manager
The paper discusses about The Task Gallery, which is a 3D windows manager. The system is aimed to improve usability and avoid the drawbacks of existing ‘desktop’ based interactions. The display is based on art gallery which is familiar concept for users. The current active task is in the center and other tasks are placed on walls in 3D virtual space. The user can navigate around the space and select tasks, bringing them to the center stage. This environment uses spatial memory of the user and helps in efficient task management.
In the Task gallery, series of rooms place tasks in an alphabetical order. The placement of task is constrained by walls and provides cues such as distinct background and animations. The gallery provides windows stack and menu controls to the user to control and manipulate the current task on stage. User studies were performed to determine the usability of the system. Some points such as users prefered to use the side walls as opposed to the floor and ceiling for placing tasks were noted. The studies confirmed that spatial placement of tasks helped the users in efficiently remembering the arrangement.
Finally the authors mention that the Task Gallery is a first generation system that addressed usability issues thus leaving a large scope for exploring other alternatives in developing user environments.
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