Prototyping Tangible Electronic Games

TANGIPLAY: PROTOTYPING TANGIBLE ELECTRONIC GAMES by Jason Boileau BSc, Simon Fraser University 2004 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Interactive Arts and Technology © Jason Boileau 2010 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2010 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Jason Boileau Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: TANGIPLAY: Prototyping Tangible Electronic Games Examining Committee: Chair: ________________________________________ Dr. Marek Hatala Associate Professor, School of Interactive Arts & Technology _______________________________________ Dr. Ron Wakkary Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology _______________________________________ Steve DiPaola Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology _______________________________________ James Bizzocchi External Examiner Assistant Professor School of Interactive Arts and Technology Date Defended/Approved: November 22 2010 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 ii ABSTRACT Tangible electronic games currently exist in research laboratories around the world but have yet to transition to the commercial sector. The development process of a tangible electronic game is one of the factors preventing progression, as it requires much time and money. Prototyping tools for tangible hardware and software development are becoming more available but are targeted to programmers and technically trained developers. Paper prototyping board and video games is a proven and rapid means of testing game mechanics, and requires minimal technical skill. However, paper prototyping is unable to reproduce the experience of interacting with a physical object. This thesis explores development issues regarding tangible electronic games and then introduces and analyzes an environment for conceptualizing tangible electronic games. Finally, the thesis discussed the outcome of the project and future implications. Keywords: tangible electronic game; prototyping process; game prototyping; prototyping tool; tangible user interface; augmented token iii DEDICATION To my wife, Stephanie, and my family for all their support. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank my senior supervisor, Ron Wakkary, for providing me with the opportunity to participate in the CAT Games Project and for his insight throughout this thesis. I am also grateful for Steve DiPaola and Jim Bizzocchi’s input and encouragement. The development of TangiDice and TangiPlay were made possible through the support of a great network of undergrad and graduate students: Nathan Cheng, Nathan Waddington, Evan Miller, Alice Tai, and Greg Corness. A specific thank you goes to the game designers who came out to SFU Surrey to test TangiPlay and those with whom I conducted phone interviews; your contributions validated the findings found in this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank all the participants who interacted with the project and provided feedback during the development of TangiPlay. Thank you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval.............................................................................................................................ii Abstract............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication .........................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements............................................................................................................v Table of Contents..............................................................................................................vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables.....................................................................................................................ix 1: Introduction................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Tangible Electronic Game’s Foundation................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Tangible Dilemma ......................................................................................... 2 1.1.2 Research Question ....................................................................................... 3 1.2 TangiPlay.................................................................................................................. 4 2: Literature Review........................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Tangible User Interface ............................................................................................ 7 2.1.1 History of TUIs .............................................................................................. 8 2.1.2 Digital Augmentation of Everyday Objects.................................................... 9 2.1.3 Surface Computing ..................................................................................... 11 2.1.4 The cube as an interface ............................................................................ 12 2.1.5 Tangible User Interfaces and Board Games............................................... 14 2.2 Prototyping.............................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Defining Prototyping.................................................................................... 18 2.2.2 Paper prototyping........................................................................................ 19 2.2.3 Prototype Samples...................................................................................... 20 2.2.4 Tangible Prototyping Environments ............................................................ 22 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................. 26 3.1 Technical Prototype Requirements ........................................................................ 26 3.1.1 Prototype Components ............................................................................... 27 3.1.2 Prototype Goals .......................................................................................... 29 3.2 The Study ............................................................................................................... 30 3.2.1 Phone Interviews ........................................................................................ 30 3.2.2 Testing TangiPlay ....................................................................................... 32 3.3 TangiPlay Conceptualization .................................................................................. 35 3.3.1 Explored Technology .................................................................................. 35 3.3.2 TangiDice...................................................................................................

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