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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
Book cover


Researching Interfaces for Platform Games on Touchscreen Devices

Authors

;

Term

4. term

Education

Publication year

2013

Submitted on

Pages

78

Abstract

Denne afhandling undersøger, hvad der sker, når fysiske controllere oversættes direkte til touch-betjening i 2D platformspil, og hvordan det påvirker præcision, fejl og oplevet stress. To indledende tests blev gennemført: Den første sammenlignede brugernes præcision i simple opgaver med en fysisk controller og en touch-grænseflade, der efterlignede controlleren én til én. Den anden undersøgte forskellen i fejl under hurtige, gentagne handlinger på de to løsninger. På baggrund af disse tests blev der designet tre nye touch-grænseflader: én med vibration (haptisk feedback), én baseret på bevægelser (gestures) og én, der kombinerede virtuelle knapper og bevægelser. De blev afprøvet i en mere avanceret spilprototype og sammenlignet med den direkte konverterede grænseflade for at finde eventuelle forskelle i præstation. Afslutningsvis blev effekten af gentagne handlinger på stress undersøgt for både den fysiske controller og den direkte konverterede touch-grænseflade. Resultaterne viste ingen forskel mellem de to grænseflader ved simple opgaver. Ved hurtige, gentagne handlinger lavede brugere på touch flere fejl og gjorde det hurtigere end med den fysiske controller. I spilprototypen gav de nye grænseflader ingen signifikante forbedringer i forhold til den direkte konverterede løsning. Der var heller ingen signifikant forskel i stress under de hurtige, gentagne handlinger.

This thesis examines what happens when physical controllers are directly translated to touch controls in 2D platform games, and how this affects accuracy, errors, and perceived stress. Two initial tests were conducted: The first compared users’ accuracy on simple tasks using a physical controller versus a touch interface that closely mimicked it. The second examined differences in mistakes during rapid, repeated actions on the two interfaces. Based on these tests, three new touch interfaces were designed: one using vibration (haptic feedback), one based on gestures, and one mixing virtual buttons with gestures. These were evaluated in a more advanced game prototype and compared to the directly converted interface to identify any performance differences. Finally, the effect of repeated actions on stress was assessed for both the physical controller and the directly converted touch interface. Results showed no difference between the two interfaces on simple tasks. During rapid, repeated actions, users on touch made more errors and did so sooner than with the physical controller. In the game prototype, the new interfaces did not deliver significant improvements over the direct conversion. There was also no significant difference in stress during rapid, repeated actions.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]