Ubiquitous Ambient Gaming - Game 1

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This page is highly susceptible to be modified along the project.

Contents

Description of the game

The game contains a logic circuit that players have to solve by powering power sources and discovering the nodes : the parts of the circuit appear along with the activation of the power sources or nodes. A circuit is composed of : power sources, nodes (AND, XOR), wires to link the nodes. The 2 teams use the same power sources but not the same nodes (they don't solve the same circuit). To get the circuit working, a team has to get all the needed power sources in the right state. The first team to get the circuit working wins.

What are the interfaces?

  • ambient audio :
    • to hear things in a certain range around oneself
      • the power sources (the sound is different depending if the power source is on or off),
      • the nodes,
      • and the other team members
    • once a node is found, it stops emitting sound
  • audio : to communicate with the other members of the team, maybe have it like a radio, all the members of the team can hear the one speaking
  • screen divided in 2 parts:
    • a map of the entire play field : on it only appears what you can hear, and the position of your team members. The idea is to have as much information on the seen than what we can hear with the ambient audio, since we want to collect data on the use of ambient audio upon other interfaces such as visual or full audio.
    • a scheme of the circuit :
      • it shows the power sources and nodes,
      • and indicates if a power source is on or off
      • it also provides an interaction to switch on or off a power source when a member is standing on it
      • each power source and node is given a number that is showed on the map
      • representations : how to use schemes that non scientists will understand? Or how long to "learn" the nodes? The actual idea is call a AND node "Both" and a XOR node "One"

How to play?

  • at the beginning :
    • the team only has an empty map of the area, where they can see the other members of their team and points of interest (meaning members of the other team, power sources) within a certain range,
    • they can also hear the same points of interest
  • they have to explore the field and to follow the ambient sounds to find :
    • the power sources : once they discover one, they can connect it so it appears on the circuit part of the screen along with the wires linked to it
  • when standing on a PS, one can choose to turn it on or off, in both cases the action applies to both sides
  • the goal is to have the circuit running before the other team

Rules

  • to be able to see a power source on the circuit, a member of the team has to connect to it by going on the point of interest
  • therefore, a team can't use a power source already discovered by another team until someone goes on it to connect the power source to the team
  • when someone turns on or off a power source, it applies to both teams
  • likewise, if a team wants to use a node, someone has to connect the team to it by going on the node (the node won't appear on the circuit until the team is connected to it)
  • when a player changes a source, as long as he stays in a certain range of the source, the other players can't change the source

What do we want to test?

Fun :

  • is there only 1 way to win?
  • a team will need more power sources than the number of players


Primary goal :

  • compare how much people use it compared to ambient audio :
    • how much time people are looking at the screen? (screen could stay lighted only 15s)
    • how much time do they listen to the ambient audio? (identify when people are moving the head one way and the other)
  • determine when and where it is useful to have ambient audio


Secondary goal, collaborative game :

  • listen to the communications between members of a team : do they communicate a lot, do they have sometimes disagreements, does somebody impose himself as a leader

what would make if worth using ambient sound over visual?

  • It would be interesting to add a "time" goal : 'if I want to win, I need to hurry and it is quicker to use ambient sound over visual'
  • Does the person know the area? 'if I know the "address" of the PS, I know the way to go there and I don't need ambient audio'
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