1. Serious Games for Dynamic
Content and Advanced
Entertainment Services
María Amparo Navarro Salvador
1st December 2011

2. Summary
2
 Introduction
 Motivation
 Objectives
 Materials and methods
 Results
 Conclusions

3. 3 INTRODUCTION

4. Motivation
4
 Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have been
keeping a constant evolution for the last years
 ICT are increasing their presence in all human activities (working
and private life)
 The Internet is part of many people in many places of the world:
 The Internet is a macro showcase for the knowledge of the
world
 The Internet is everywhere
 The Internet is driven by Social Networks and new ways of
uploading content
 The Internet is still a linear scenario focused on showing contents
and dissociated from the physical world

5. Motivation
5
 For children today ICT are part of their daily lives
 ICT are a privileged way to transmit messages to
children
 ICT can be used to teach and entertain at the same
time
 Videogames can play a positive and important role
if they are used properly
 Interconnection of games can improve social contact
and participation in common activities

6. Objectives
6
 Design, development and validation of an
entertainment platform and advanced contents 
practical realization of new products and services of
the Future Internet
 Development of innovative research lines such as the
integration of the user in the chain of provision of
services
 Contribution to the research and development of
innovative technology based on the Future Internet

7. Objectives
7
 The Future Internet:
 The Internet of Things:
 Physical world as an
extension of virtual
world
 Ambient Intelligence
(AmI) system that acts
depending on the user’s
necessities, identity and
context

8. Objectives
8
 The Future Internet:
 The Internet of Knowledge:
 Automatically associate
content
 Tools for generating and
using content

9. Objectives
9
 The Future Internet:
 The Internet of People:
 Entertainment and
education at the same time
 Promotion of the
integration of everybody
in the use and enjoyment
of applications
 Customization of roles
respecting users’ privacy

10. 10 MATERIALS AND METHODS

11. Materials and Methods
11
 Serious games: learning while playing
 Cooperative games among 20-25 players
 Interaction form of the games using new technologies:
 New game controllers
 Environmental sensors
 Social Network
 Socio-cultural animation combined experience
 Unified Modelling Language (UML) for the designing of
the games
 XNA Framework 4 has been used for the games
programming

12. 12 RESULTS

13. Results
13
 Digital interactive entertainment platform for
children
 Complete role-playing adventure of interconnected
games
 10 groups of 25 children (9-10 years old) from the
Polytechnic University of Valencia’s Summer School
will participate

14. Results: Adventure
14
 Adventure summary:
 Region with several villages (groups)
 Irresponsible use of resources  endangered habitat
 Oracle solution  different journey undertaken by
each group to recover the pieces of a magical object
 Group consisting of approx. 25 children with different
professions and skills (roles)
 The journey consists of several stages where children
must pass several tests

15. Results: Architecture
15
 Modular and scalable platform
 Architecture based on Process Choreography:
 Services and devices are able to exchange information
in a distributed way
 Choreographed processes are independent and can
communicate with each other
 It’s easier to connect and disconnect services in a
dynamic way
 It’s capable of using different types of sensors and
configurations

16. Results: Architecture
16

17. Results: Architecture
17
 This model requires:
 Common exchange language that allows services to be
understood
 Semantic layer in the choreographer to improve
communication among sensors, actuators and services
 Ontology Services and Machine Reasoning:
 Description of data from sensors
 Make a more accurate obtained interpretation
 Allow the system to automatically detect available
sensors and services in every moment

18. Results: Architecture
18

19. Results: Architecture
19
 Orchestrator service
 Supports the use of Workflows to describe processes
graphically
 Workflows are a formal specification of the automation
of processes

20. Results: Architecture
20

21. Results: Architecture
21
 Private Social Network:
 To view and modify their profile of characters, groups
and other groups (forward, milestones achieved...)
 To see the groups’ position on the map
 To contribute to various forums related to each site
 To upload and view photos of all groups at all stages

22. Results: Games
22
 Each stage of the adventure is a different game
 Games are multiplayer, collaborative and
interconnected to the whole adventure
 Games are reusable  use them for several years
by modifying the environment, activities, questions…
 Four games have been developed and tested by
UPV Summer School children

23. Results: Games
23
 ‘Finding the golden idol’
 Objectives:
 To roam the map looking
for the stones that unlock
a chest
 Kids get the stones
passing tests and
answering questions
 Children are the counters
using an overhead
camera

24. Results: Games
24
 ‘Finding the golden idol’
 Evaluation:
 Good response from dice and overhead camera
 Children are fully integrated in the technology
 It stimulates the cognition through the challenge
of answering the questions
 It encourages both memory and attention
 Promotes motor and eye-hand-foot
coordination, laterality and spatial knowledge
 Team working: collaboration among members
and desire for improvement

25. Results: Games
25
 “The crazy boat race”
 Objectives:
 To row as a team through
a river overcoming
obstacles
 To get bonus coins
 To promote teamwork
and cooperation
 A rowboat with 6 oars
 1 Wiimote/oar
 3 children/oar
 1 captain

26. Results: Games
26
 “The crazy boat race”
 Evaluation:
 Good response from oars
 Collaboration and
cooperation among kids
 Coordination and balance
 It is essential that children
are guided
 Physical activity
 Kids are immersed on the
game

27. Results: Games
27
 “The endless forest”
 Objectives:
 To successfully solve 7
labyrinths in a touch
screen
 To press the avatar with
the finger to move it
around the screen
 To avoid the collision
against a wall

28. Results: Games
28
 “The endless forest”
 Evaluation:
 Good response from
touchscreen
 Interaction and coordination
of mutual interests
 Children guide their mates
 Respect for the rules, awaiting
their turn
 The game helps:
 Attention process
 Eye-hand coordination
 Capacity of concentration
 Development of the fine
motor skills

29. Results: Games
29
 “Paint and colour”
 Description:
 Whiteboard where kids can
select a range of colours
and draw
 Use of infrared pencils
 Spontaneous drawing, or
guided by monitors
 Two children can draw up
at the same time

30. Results: Games
30
 “Paint and colour”
 Evaluation:
 IR pencils draw within a
range of 10 cm from the
whiteboard surface
 The game promotes
creativity
 It encourages the
development of the
imagination
 An incentive must be
proposed

31. 31 CONCLUSIONS

32. Conclusions
32
 The project aims to:
 Make new technology accessible to children
 Provide personal and social benefits arising from the use of
ICT
 Contribute to the development of physical and cognitive
skills
 Promote social relationships, cooperative learning, creativity,
communication, reasoning...
 Integrate ICT in the individual’s environment
 Immerse the users in a world where they will interact in a
natural way

33. Thanks for your attention

34. Serious Games for Dynamic Content and
Advanced Entertainment Services
http://www.proyectoenjoyit.es/
María Amparo Navarro Salvador
manasal@itaca.upv.es