Papers by John Paul Bichard
Pervasive play, immersion and story
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts - DIMEA '08, 2008
Pervasive games are games that are played in the real world - they are not played as a computeriz... more Pervasive games are games that are played in the real world - they are not played as a computerized simulation or on a limited physical game arena. The central attraction for pervasive games is that they offer the pleasure of doing things for real. The world is a vast and infinitely changing resource of content for pervasive games. Interference is a pervasive game playable by groups of 6-8 players lasting for a total of 3-4 hours and using both technology (such as GPS positioning and augmented reality) and human actors to create the full experience. In this paper, we describe the design goals for Interference and how these permeate through all aspects of the design of the game to create a coherent experience. Interference shows how an emotionally complex game experience can be achieved without resorting to ambiguity or deep role playing. The game has so far been staged on seven occasions and we briefly report on the experiences from those stagings. classified as experiments and prototypes, a complete game design relies on balancing aesthetics, story line, game mechanics and technology design into a coherent whole. In this article we aim to dig deeper into the design qualities of pervasive games through the detailed analysis of a particular game design; the game Interference. Interference is an adventure game played by a group of six to eight players in the real world. The game plays out in two distinct phases. Players begin the game by taking on the role of technicians tasked with repairing the failing Internet in an area. But while doing so, they discover that the real reasons to the failure are not just technical, but have their roots in a bizarre family conflict with dark undertones. Eventually, they are faced with a difficult choice with no easy answer and dramatic consequences. Lasting for a total of 3-4 hours Interference encompasses both gamistic play and elements of live role playing (2), as the players meet with three actors acting out central characters of the storyline.
Pervasive play, immersion and story: designing interference
… of the 3rd international conference on Digital …, 2008
... attention. This is the explicit design ideal for Alternate Reality Games [10, 18]; games that... more ... attention. This is the explicit design ideal for Alternate Reality Games [10, 18]; games that are hidden in the real world. Through inviting players through a 'rabbit hole' [10], they peel off a layer of common sense reality to reveal the fictional game world as a hidden 'truth' below. ...
Pervasive games are games that are played in the real world-they are not played as a computerized... more Pervasive games are games that are played in the real world-they are not played as a computerized simulation or on a limited physical game arena. The central attraction for pervasive games is that they offer the pleasure of doing things for real. The world is a vast and infinitely changing resource of content for pervasive games. Interference is a pervasive game playable by groups of 6-8 players lasting for a total of 3-4 hours and using both technology (such as GPS positioning and augmented reality) and human actors to create the full experience. In this paper, we describe the design goals for Interference and how these permeate through all aspects of the design of the game to create a coherent experience. Interference shows how an emotionally complex game experience can be achieved without resorting to ambiguity or deep role playing. The game has so far been staged on seven occasions and we briefly report on the experiences from those stagings.
Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology - ACE '06, 2006
Generating content into vast areas is a relevant challenge in the field of location-based pervasi... more Generating content into vast areas is a relevant challenge in the field of location-based pervasive games. In this paper, we present a game prototype that enables children travelling in the back seat of a car to enjoy a narrated experience where gameplay combines with the experience of traveling through the road network. The prototype is designed to provide what we refer to as a believable environment. We propose four design characteristics to persuasively include a journey within a pervasive game. First, the story should refer to geographical objects with their everyday meanings. Second, the game's scale needs to cover vast areas. Third, the application should provide sequential storytelling to make it fit with the journey experience, and finally it should provide interaction support where players can engage in gameplay and interact with the computer in various ways at the same time as they are looking out of the car window. We describe how these requirements have been implemented in the prototype and present an initial performance test.
Backseat Playgrounds: Pervasive Storytelling in Vast Location Based Games
We have implemented a conceptual software framework and a game, which provides rich and vivid nar... more We have implemented a conceptual software framework and a game, which provides rich and vivid narratives in vast geographical areas. An impor- tant design issue in the emergent research area of pervasive gaming, is to pro- vide believable environments where game content is matched to the landscape in an evocative and persuasive way. More specific, the game is designed to generate such an environment to fit with a journey as experienced from the backseat of a car. Therefore, it continuously reference common geographical objects in the vicinity in the stories; it provides a sequential narrative that fit with the travelled path; it works over vast areas, and it is possible to interact with the game while looking out of the car windows.
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Papers by John Paul Bichard