Prototyping tools for highly immersive computer games

近年来，电脑游戏的受欢迎程度飙升，年销售额现在已经超过了好莱坞的票房收入。游戏开发在加拿大已经成为一个重要的行业，加拿大现在拥有数十家游戏开发工作室，其中包括世界上最大的两家工作室。然而，近年来游戏设计停滞不前，因为飙升的开发成本助长了开发工作室的保守态度。目前销售的大多数游戏都是对早期游戏的翻拍，而不是试图给市场带来创新。在这种保守的态度下，很难在游戏开发之前评估它是否会取得成功。为了解决这个问题，我们将构建用于快速制作游戏原型的工具。这些工具将使游戏设计人员能够轻松地协作创建和测试游戏原型。我们的工具将以电子桌面为基础，这是一种带有触敏输入的桌形显示设备。设计者将能够在桌面上“表演”游戏，允许玩家在游戏开发过程中实时体验游戏。由于开发团队通常分布在全球各地，我们的工具将链接不同位置的桌面，允许远程协作设计和演示游戏。桌面是协作原型工具的理想平台。围坐在桌子周围的一群人可以同时与设计互动。实物道具可以放在桌子上，很容易操纵。触敏表面允许高级手势快速引导游戏流程。我们将使用此工具在两种新兴风格的高度沉浸式游戏中试验游戏原型：锻炼游戏和手机游戏。

The popularity of computer games has soared in recent years, with annual sales now exceeding the receipts from Hollywood's box office. Game development has become a significant industry in Canada, which now is home to dozens of game development studios, including the two largest studios in the world.  Game design has stagnated over recent years, however, as soaring development costs foster a conservative attitude amongst development studios. Most games currently sold are remakes of earlier games rather than attempts to bring innovation to the market.Underlying this conservatism is the difficulty of assessing whether a game will be successful before it is built. To address this problem, we will build tools for rapidly prototyping games. These tools will make it easy for game designers to collaboratively create and test game prototypes. Our tools will be based around an electronic tabletop, a table-shaped display device with touch-sensitive input. Designers will be able to use the table to "act out" gameplay on the table, allowing players to experience in real-time the game as it is developed. Since development teams are often distributed around the globe, our tools will link tables in different locations, allowing collaborative design and demonstration of games at a distance.Tabletop surfaces are an ideal platform for collaborative prototyping tools. A group of people seated around the table can simultaneously interact with the design. Physical props can be placed on the table and easily manipulated. The touch-sensitive surface allows high level gestures to quickly direct the flow of the game.We will use this tool to experiment with game prototypes in two emerging styles of highly immersive games: exercise games and mobile games.