Steering Gameplay Behavior in the Interactive Tag Playground, presented at the AMI conference 2014, 12th of November in Eindhoven. The presented research focuses on influencing players in an ambient play environment, more specifically the interactive tag playground. With the use of arrows, adaptive circle size and power-ups we were able to influence gameplay. Research by HMI, University of Twente (and University of Utrecht), with support of the COMMIT/ program.

1. Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
Robby van Delden, Alejandro Moreno, Ronald Poppe, Dennis Reidsma, Dirk Heylen
Opportunities for learning
with ambient play.
CreaTe
a better world
van Delden, University of Twente 1

2. Related work
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente
2
Steering Interaction Tempo in interactive slide
(Landry and Pares 2009)

3. Interactive tag playground
3
Fun, exhausting, social, played around the world
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

4. Interactive tag playground
4
tagger
runner
Technology mediated ambient play
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

5. Interactive tag playground - setup
5
Depth channel 4 Kinects, 2 Projectors,
2 PCs, playing field 6 x 7 m
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

6. Children playing tag
6
Well defined patterns, skill differences
and disengagement at times
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

7. Steering: targets, balancing and
positions
7
Arrows, adaptive size and power-ups
?
?
?
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

8. User tests
8
Within subject, 4 x 2 minutes,
32 participants, discussion afterwards
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

9. General findings
71% power-ups,
21% adaptive circles
8% the normal one
“sweaty, hot, tiring, exhausting, good exercise, interesting, cool, fun and innovative”
9
Tracking shoulder
to shoulder
Lag
Bug or feature?
Enjoyed, exhausting, opportunities for
technical improvements,
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

10. Variation 1: Arrows
10
H1: A player with an arrow pointing at
him/her is tagged more
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

11. Arrows results
11
Possibilities:
increase movement
re-engage players
balancing
Significant effect
P < 0.05
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

12. Variation 2: Adaptive circles
12
H2: The variation, per group, in the duration of each player being a
tagger, is lower for the adaptive game than for the standard game.
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

13. Adaptive circles results
13
P < 0.05
Adaptive ITP
% being tagger
Normal ITP
% being tagger
Possibilities:
suitable for differently skilled players
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

14. Variation 3: Power-Ups
14
Minions, grow/shrink, shield
H3A: Locations visited by the runners change structurally in the power-ups
game, runners will be near the middle of the playing field more often.
H3b: Locations visited by the taggers change structurally in the power-ups game,
taggers will be near the edges of the playing field more often.
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

15. Power-Ups results
15
Normal Adaptive
“Possibilities”
Re-engagement
Position in other implementation
No convincing effects,
nonetheless 85 of 96 were collected
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

16. Conclusions and future work
16
influence decision by arrows
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

17. Conclusions and future work
17
FW: influence decision by adaptive arrows
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

18. Conclusions and future work
18
influence decision by arrows
balance the time one is tagger
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

19. Conclusions and future work
19
influence decision by arrows
FW: balance the tag game for children
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

20. Conclusions and future work
20
influence decision by arrows
balance the time one is tagger
current power-ups had no effect on
distribution of positions
power-ups version was liked often
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

21. Conclusions and future work
21
influence decision by arrows
balance the time one is tagger
FW: A power-up that has effect
FW: Adaptive placement of power-ups
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

22. Conclusions and future work
22
influence decision by arrows
balance the time one is tagger
current power-ups had no effect on
distribution of positions
power-ups version was liked often
Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe, Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente

23. Steering Gameplay Behavior in
the Interactive Tag Playground
van Delden, Moreno, Poppe Reidsma and Heylen
University of Twente
23