AR TankWar

From HIT Lab NZ

Researchers:	Trond Nilsen
Date:	September, 2005 - Ongoing
Funding:

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Contents 1 Publications 2 Additional Content 2.1 Image Gallery 2.2 Videos

We are investigating the value of augmented reality to support collaborative and face-to-face games. Traditional games are a social activity played amongst a group and serve as a context for general small group interaction, whereas traditional computer games are frequently a solitary and sedentary activity.

More generally, our research focuses on the application of new interaction technologies to game design and development.

Our prototype game, Tankwar, is a face to face augmented reality version of a traditional computer real time strategy game.

Players control groups of units using a 'Magic Lens' technique, and vie for control of game objectives. Players see the game map as a 3D landscape laid out on a table through their head mounted display, and can walk around the map and gesture, much as one would a normal map. Further, players can 'transition into the map', shifting their viewpoint to that of an observer on the ground, and navigate around the game world. An Alternate game mode allows players to cooperate against a computer opponent.

Our research also serves as an applied research domain for typical human factors concerns in augmented reality and groupware.

Our future research will continue to evolve our vision of face to face AR gaming, based on experimentation and the response of players to our existing games. We would also like to explore the integration of other new technologies for gaming, including mobile and pervasive computing, hybrid user interfaces, and immersive augmented virtuality environments.

Through demonstrations and user studies of our prototype, we will gather evidence for various design principles of such games, which we will further refine with future products. Our goal is to eventually produce games that preserve the physical and social aspect of real world interaction while enhancing real world games with the computational and representational powers of computers, such as in artificial intelligence and simulation. The computer entertainment industry has become larger than the movie box office industry, and is consistently growing. Further, modern games are becoming stagnant, with little new substantive innovation. Through augmented games, we hope to open new avenues of game design that incorporate more social and physical interaction.

Publications

Additional Content

Image Gallery

Videos

Video - AR TankWar Date: Feb 2005 Duration: 2 mins Project Details..