Mobile Exergaming Heuristics Monika P. Monk Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science In Computer Science and Applications D. Scott McCrickard, Chair Paul A. Estabrooks Yong Cao September 22, 2014 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Mobile exergaming, mobile design, heuristics Copyright 2014, Monika P. Monk Mobile Exergaming Heuristics Monika P. Monk Abstract An alarming number of adolescents experience obesity and related health issues, in part because of a lack of exercise. Increased mobile technology availability can have negative effects on amount of exercise, but they can have positive effects as well. Leveraging mobile technology to encourage and motivate exercise has potential to decrease unhealthy lifestyles, especially among young people. Mobile exergaming is an emerging field that has the potential to motivate users to exercise while also having fun. However, much of the early development work on mobile exergames has been ad-hoc, with little guidance available for designers. This work seeks to identify heuristics catered for mobile exergaming. This thesis presents four mobile exergaming heuristics were identified based on recent literature and on the author’s mobile exergame design and development efforts: 1) Motivational game concepts that promote physical activity; 2) Game cues that engage active users; 3) Physically and temporally appropriate game structure to encourage continual, recurring play; 4) Game play movements that are safe for the user and for the device. This thesis describes the development of the mobile exergame heuristics, along with the creation and distribution of an ExergameApp Suite comprised of three mobile exergames: Fish Out of Water, Color Hunt and Space Rayders. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 2. 1 History of Exergames and Exergaming. ..................................................................................................... 4 2. 2 History of Mobile Exergaming .................................................................................................................. 7 2. 3 History of Heuristics and Mobile Gaming Heuristics ............................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 3 ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 DEVELOPING THE EXERGAMEAPP SUITE ............................................................................................................. 16 3.1 Background of Kacie Allen’s Exergames ................................................................................................. 18 3.1.1 Scavenger Hunt ............................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.1.2 Fish Out of Water .......................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.3 Space Rayders ............................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.4 Whack-A-Mole .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.2 Adapting the ExergameApp Suite for Deployment ................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Color Hunt ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.2.2 Space Rayders ............................................................................................................................................................... 26 3.2.3 Fish Out of Water .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.3 Distribution and Usage ............................................................................................................................. 28 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 29 CHAPTER 4 ......................................................................................................................................................... 31 TOWARD MOBILE EXERGAMING HEURISTICS ...................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Domain-specific heuristics for Mobile Exergaming .................................................................................. 33 4.2 Mobile Exergaming Heuristics as Claims ................................................................................................. 35 4.3 Stages of Heuristics .................................................................................................................................. 40 4.4 Expert Reviews of Mobile Exergames ...................................................................................................... 42 4.4.1 Theory Experts .............................................................................................................................................................. 42 4.4.2 Design Experts............................................................................................................................................................... 43 4.5 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER 5 ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK ....................................................................................................................... 49 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 52 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................................... 63 APPENDIX A. GUIDELINES ................................................................................................................................... 63 APPENDIX B. GUIDELINES TO SUCCESSFUL MOBILE EXERGAMES .......................................................................... 64 APPENDIX C. HEURISTICS FOR MOBILE EXERGAMING.......................................................................................... 66 APPENDIX D. HEURISTICS FOR MOBILE EXERGAMING ......................................................................................... 69 iii APPENDIX E. MOBILE EXERGAMING HEURISTICS ................................................................................................. 72 APPENDIX F. IN-CLASS ACTIVITY......................................................................................................................... 74 APPENDIX G. NOTES ........................................................................................................................................... 76 APPENDIX H. EXPERT REVIEW RESPONSES .......................................................................................................... 77 APPENDIX I. EXERGAMEAPP SUITE PAGE DATA ................................................................................................... 78 APPENDIX J. EXERGAMEAPP SUITE PAGE ............................................................................................................ 79 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Images of Scavenger Hunt ...................................................................................................... 19 Figure 2. Original images from Fish Out of Water .............................................................................. 20 Figure 3. Original images of Space Rayders ......................................................................................... 21 Figure 4. Image of Color Hunt after name change .......................................................................... 25 Figure 5. Images of Color Hunt with updated graphics................................................................... 26 Figure 6. Images of Space Rayders with updated graphics ............................................................... 27 Figure 7. Images of Fish Out of Water with updated graphics .......................................................