Guided Research: A Tangible Multi-Device Multiplayer Game

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Trailer

Abstract

This guided research shows the development of a tangible multi-device multiplayer game, which is played simultaneously on a mobile device and a multitouch tabletop. Two players have to communicate and to cooperate to advance in the game. One has to constantly move a physical object, a so called tangible, on the tabletop. He has to place it strategically on the screen or close to the other user. The other needs to move around the table, in order to keep track of the tangible with the camera of the mobile device. He can shoot a virtual laser on the screen of the tabletop to eliminate an alien and its structures. An augmentation shows him additional information on the game state, that the other player cannot see directly. The game is highly dynamic and uses the space surrounding the tabletop.

Game

The alien (pink sphere) periodically creates structures (in green) that cover an area that makes the alien faster and invulnerable. The goal is to eliminate the alien and all its structures.

Placing the tangible on a structure crystalizes it. The player on the mobile device can destroy the structure by shooting the crystal with a lazer. However, it is protected by a hemispherical shield, therefore the players have to move around the table to shoot the crystal in the right angle.

A simplified screenshot showing the augmentation. On the position where the tangible is visible, the mobile device displays an augmentation showing the orientation of the hemispherical shield.

The view of the player on the mobile device.