Prototyping tools for highly immersive computer games

近年来，电脑游戏的受欢迎程度飙升，年销售额现已超过好莱坞的票房收入。游戏开发已经成为加拿大的一个重要产业，加拿大现在拥有数十个游戏开发工作室，其中包括世界上最大的两个工作室。 然而，游戏设计近年来停滞不前，因为飙升的开发成本在开发工作室中培养了保守的态度。目前销售的大多数游戏都是对早期游戏的翻拍，而不是试图将创新推向市场。这种保守主义的基础是，在构建之前很难评估一款游戏是否会成功。为了解决这个问题，我们将构建快速原型游戏的工具。这些工具将使游戏设计师能够轻松地协作创建和测试游戏原型。我们的工具将围绕着一个电子桌面，一个带有触摸感应输入的桌子形状的显示设备。设计师将能够使用桌子在桌子上“表演”游戏，让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地球仪各地，我们的工具将连接不同位置的桌子，允许远程协作设计和演示游戏。桌面表面是协作原型工具的理想平台。一群人围坐在桌子周围，可以同时与设计互动。物理道具可以放在桌子上，很容易操纵。触摸感应表面允许高水平的手势来快速引导游戏的流程。我们将使用这个工具在两种新兴的高度沉浸式游戏风格中对游戏原型进行实验：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.