Developing design guidelines for visual feedback in touch- and cursor-driven interaction schemes

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Given the growth of the Canadian video game industry (in 2016, video games contributed $3.0 billion toCanada's GDP, a 30% increase since 2013), a game studio's success in the current games market is contingenton its ability to attract and retain a significant user community. To acquire more customers, one key strategy iscross-platform availability, the notion of making a game accessible on many different devices to appeal to awider audience. When creating interactive content for multiple devices, such as cross-platform video games,specific care must be taken in preserving the quality and functionality of user interaction. A myriad of designchallenges may arise, for example, in creating a mobile version of a PC or console game. This is the currentresearch challenge for Lightning Rod Games (LRG), our industry partner in this application. They are in theprocess of making their games (developed for PC or mobile platforms using touch- or cursor- driven controllerschemes) accessible for console platforms (often using dual analog sticks on game controllers). Therefore, it iscritical for the developer to understand their core interaction in great detail, from the physical execution andtechnical implementation of the interaction to the cognitive aspects of performing in-game actions. However,the challenges associated with this process can carry significant research, design, and development costs. Thispresents a considerable obstacle to development, particularly for independent studios with limited resources.Unlike large corporate developers, these companies often lack a dedicated research team, compounding thechallenges faced in cross-platform development. Thus, indie game developers (such as LRG) would greatlybenefit from a research framework providing guidelines for this undertaking. This research project aims toexplore the design and evaluation of in-game feedback for cross-platform interaction using touch- andcursor-driven controller schemes.