Location Based Games

The design of location-based games (LBGs) for cultural heritage should ensure the active participation and contribution of local communities and heritage professionals to achieve contextual relevance, importance, and content validity. This paper presents an approach and methods of the participatory and co-design of LBGs that promote awareness and learning about the intangible cultural heritage of craftsmanship and artisanal technology throughout a long-term project from sensitization to implementation. Following the design thinking process, we outline the participatory methods (and reflect on results and lessons learnt) of involving cultural heritage professionals, local communities, and visitors (users) of museums and cultural settlements, mainly: field visits, design workshops, field playtesting, and field studies. We discuss issues of participatory design that we experienced throughout the project such as participant centrality and representativeness, producing tangible output fr...

HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the core markup language of the World Wide Web. It aims at reducing the need for proprietary, plug-in-based rich Internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash. The canvas element is part of HTML5 and is used to draw graphics using scripting (e.g., JavaScript). This paper introduces Cartagen, an open-source, vector-based, client-side framework for rendering plug-in-free, offline-capable, interactive maps in native HTML5 on a wide range of Web browsers and mobile phones. Cartagen was developed at MIT Media Lab's Design Ecology group. Potential applications of the technology as an enabler for participatory online mapping include mapping real-time air pollution, citizen reporting, and disaster response, among many other possibilities.

يهدف هذا البحث إلى التحقق من فاعلية ألعاب الجوال القائمة على الموقع الجغرافي في تنمية مهارات التفكير الاجتماعي لدى تلاميذ الدمج في المرحلة الابتدائية من ذوي الإعاقة الذهنية البسيطة، وقد اقتصرت المهارات المستهدفة على: التعرف على المشاعر، فهم لغة الجسد، التعاطف، فهم وجهات نظر الاخرين، تقدير القواعد والتوقعات الاجتماعية، وذلك لمواجهة التحديات الاجتماعية التي تواجه هذه الفئة في فصول الدمج، واشتملت عينة البحث على 12 تلميذًا وتلميذة بمدرسة الروضة الحديثة بإدارة 6 أكتوبر التعليمية، تراوحت أعمارهم بين 9 و13، وتراوحت درجاتهم على مقياس ستنفرد بينيه للذكاء الفئة الخامسة فيما بين 65-70، واعتمدت الدراسة على المنهج شبه التجريبي، حيث تم تطوير مادة المعالجة التجريبية (لعبة جوال قائمة على الموقع الجغرافي تدمج بين المهام الافتراضية على الجوال ومهام حقيقية في مدينة "كيدزانيا" للأطفال)، مما أتاح للأطفال الانخراط في أدوار مهنية مثل رجل الإطفاء والطبيب، وتمثلت أدوات البحث في مقياس مصور لمهارات التفكير الاجتماعي، وبطاقة تقييم الأداء القائمة على الملاحظة لمهارات التفكير الاجتماعي، حيث تم تقنين الأدوات وإجراء القياسين القبلي والبعدي لمهارات التفكير الاجتماعي لدى عينة البحث، وقد أظهرت النتائج تحسنًا ملحوظًا في مهارات التفكير الاجتماعي لدى التلاميذ بعد ممارسة اللعبة، حيث وجدت فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية عند مستوى (0.01) على مقياس ويلكوكسون للرتب بين التطبيقين القبلي والبعدي لأدوات البحث؛ مما يدل على فاعلية استخدام الألعاب القائمة على الموقع الجغرافي في تنمية هذه المهارات. وبناءً على هذه النتائج، يوصى البحث بتوسيع استخدام الألعاب التعليمية القائمة على الموقع الجغرافي في بيئات التعليم المدمجة كوسيلة لتحفيز التفاعل الاجتماعي، كما يقترح البحث إجراء المزيد من الدراسات لاستكشاف تأثير هذه الألعاب على مجالات أخرى من النمو المعرفي والاجتماعي لدى أطفال الدمج
This study aims to examine the effectiveness of Mobile Games based on Geographic Location in developing Social Thinking skills among Primary School Inclusion students with mild Intellectual Disabilities. The targeted skills included recognizing emotions, understanding body language, empathy, understanding others' perspectives, and appreciating social norms and expectations, to address the social challenges faced by this group in inclusion classrooms. The research sample consisted of 12 students (both boys and girls) from Al-Rawdah Private School in the Sixth of October City, aged between 9 and 13 years, with IQ scores ranging from 65 to 70 on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Fifth Edition). The study employed a quasi-experimental design, where a Location-based Mobile Game was developed as the experimental intervention. The Game integrated Virtual Tasks on the Mobile Device with real-life tasks at KidZania City, allowing children to engage in professional roles such as firefighter and doctor. The research tools included a Visualized scale for assessing Social Thinking Skills and an Observation-based Performance Evaluation checklist for Social Thinking Skills. The tools were validated and used to conduct Pre/Post Assessments of social thinking skills among the study sample. The results revealed significant improvements in the students' social thinking skills after playing the game, with statistically significant differences at the 0.01 level on the Wilcoxon signed-rank test between the pre/post test measurements of the research tools. This indicated the effectiveness of using location-based mobile games in developing these skills. Based on these findings, the study recommended expanding the use of location-based educational games in inclusive educational settings as a means to promote social interaction. Additionally, it suggested conducting further studies to explore the impact of such games on other areas of cognitive and social development among inclusion students.

This paper describes a preliminary study where a multiplayer location-based game's logfiles were used for the assessment of the overall practice of teams. We explore the use of activity metrics previously introduced and applied to CSCL settings. We argue that these metrics, if adapted in a meaningful way, will provide insight of the progress of a location-based gaming activity and its quality regarding the score. Moreover, we assert that this can be achieved in an automated way. A small set of activity metrics, related to game characteristics and player activity, is applied to a set of gaming activities. The results are analyzed regarding team performance and score. The paper proposes a way to analyze group activity in the context of location-based games while taking into account the characteristics of successful collaborative activities. Future work is proposed towards the development of automated metrics for the analysis of location-based gaming activities with emphasis on collaboration and group dynamics.

This paper explores how we may transform peoples' perceived access to cultural participation by exploiting the possible relationships between place, play and mobile devices. It presents SCOOT; a location-based game in order to investigate how aspects of game-play can be employed to evoke at once playful and culturally meaningful experiences of place. In particular this paper is concerned with how the portable, communicative and social affordances of mobile phones are integral to making a "now everything looks like a game" experience.

This paper describes a preliminary study where a multiplayer location-based game's logfiles were used for the assessment of the overall practice of teams. We explore the use of activity metrics previously introduced and applied to CSCL settings. We argue that these metrics, if adapted in a meaningful way, will provide insight of the progress of a location-based gaming activity and its quality regarding the score. Moreover, we assert that this can be achieved in an automated way. A small set of activity metrics, related to game characteristics and player activity, is applied to a set of gaming activities. The results are analyzed regarding team performance and score. The paper proposes a way to analyze group activity in the context of location-based games while taking into account the characteristics of successful collaborative activities. Future work is proposed towards the development of automated metrics for the analysis of location-based gaming activities with emphasis on collaboration and group dynamics.

Serious games (SGs) about Chemistry have the potential to cope with challenges, such as students’ low performance and lack of motivation for the subject. However, the majority of existing SGs for Chemistry have the form of educational applications infused with some elements of entertaining games. The aim of the study presented was to design and evaluate a new SG with rich game mechanics for Chemistry. The game is called Elementium and revolves around basic topics of Chemistry, such as chemical elements and compound terminology, creation and everyday usage of such elements. The main goal of the game is to familiarize junior high school students with the aforementioned subjects. The design of Elementium was carried out implementing the dimensions described in the Four-Dimensional framework, as proposed by de Freitas and Jarvis in 2006. After the development process, Elementium was evaluated by people in the field of education that are currently teaching or have taught Chemistry in the...

The handbook consists of three parts. The first chapter provides a diagnosis of older people and their competence in new technologies. This chapter also describes the ICT education programmes for older people available in the partner countries. The next chapter contains a description and results of a pedagogical experiment aimed at comparing the effectiveness of the method of teaching seniors how to use smartphones. The experiment compared the class and lesson method, which dominates the educational offer addressed to seniors, with the method consistent with the strategy of edutainment – a location-based game. The last part contains scenarios of classes dedicated to the method of location-based games as well as traditional classes and classroom games. The handbook presented to the Reader may be an interesting position for practitioners dealing with andragogy, education of the elderly or ICT education, as it contains ready-made educational programs that can be directly implemented in...

The handbook consists of three parts. The first chapter provides a diagnosis of older people and their competence in new technologies. This chapter also describes the ICT education programmes for older people available in the partner countries. The next chapter contains a description and results of a pedagogical experiment aimed at comparing the effectiveness of the method of teaching seniors how to use smartphones. The experiment compared the class and lesson method, which dominates the educational offer addressed to seniors, with the method consistent with the strategy of edutainment – a location-based game. The last part contains scenarios of classes dedicated to the method of location-based games as well as traditional classes and classroom games. The handbook presented to the Reader may be an interesting position for practitioners dealing with andragogy, education of the elderly or ICT education, as it contains ready-made educational programs that can be directly implemented in...

We present an approach to geometry learning that is based on play. For a mobile and location-aware game, the concept of smart city learning is exploited to situate learning about geometric shapes in concrete buildings and thus make them more accessible for younger children. A game was developed in close collaboration with a local school and tested on a field trip and in class. A mixed measures evaluation is presented, where the quantitative results show a significant increase in correct answers in a standardized test and the qualitative analysis reveals increased motivation and curiosity for geometric concepts.

Location-Based Games (LBGs) are a subclass of pervasive games that make use of location technologies to consider the players' geographic position in the game rules and mechanics. This research presents a model to describe and represent LBGs. The proposed model decouples location, mechanics, and game content from their implementation. We aim at allowing LBGs to be edited quickly and deployed on many platforms. The core model component is LEGaL, a language derived from NCL (Nested Context Language) to model and represented the game structure and its multimedia contents (e.g., video, audio, 3D objects, etc.). It allows the modelling of mission-based games by supporting spatial and temporal relationships between game elements and multimedia documents. We validated our approach by implementing a LEGaL interpreter, which was coupled to an LBG authoring tool and a Game Server. These tools enabled us to reimplement a real LBG using the proposed model to attest its utility. We also edited the original game by using an external tool to showcase how simple is to transpose an LBG using the concepts introduced in this work. Results indicate both the model and LEGaL can be used to foster the design of LBGs.

Location-based activities can challenge citizens to explore their neighbourhood in new playful ways. This paper presents a classification of such playful activities based on the literature and experience gained (1) in co-creation sessions and (2) gameplay for neighbourhood exploration with citizens in the Hague. The location-based game designed for this purpose encouraged neighbourhood exploration and social interaction that went beyond the everyday normal. Results showed that citizens are specifically interested in activities that allow them to discover new information about, and places in, their neighbourhood when these are related to their own life. The results of this paper provide new knowledge on game design to inform designers on which type of interactions and activities foster neighbourhood exploration and social interaction.

This study presents the research results of the implementation of two location-based educational games in the field of history and cultural heritage, created on Taleblazer to be played by high-school students on smartphones. The games were designed to take place in the city of Rhodes island and were titled: "The Siege of Rhodes by Muhammad the Conqueror (1480 p.C.)", briefly hereafter, The Siege and "Let's Discover the Secrets of Foro Italico", briefly hereafter, Foro. By applying to each of them a different design strategy (gamification versus narrative-driven plot), the prime aim was to understand which features were preferred by different age groups, but also which other, external parameters influenced the reception of the games. The overarching pedagogical basis under which this research was placed brought together a series of theoretical approaches that cross-fertilised each other: The game-based learning, Cognitive

The handbook consists of three parts. The first chapter provides a diagnosis of older people and their competence in new technologies. This chapter also describes the ICT education programmes for older people available in the partner countries. The next chapter contains a description and results of a pedagogical experiment aimed at comparing the effectiveness of the method of teaching seniors how to use smartphones. The experiment compared the class and lesson method, which dominates the educational offer addressed to seniors, with the method consistent with the strategy of edutainment – a location-based game. The last part contains scenarios of classes dedicated to the method of location-based games as well as traditional classes and classroom games. The handbook presented to the Reader may be an interesting position for practitioners dealing with andragogy, education of the elderly or ICT education, as it contains ready-made educational programs that can be directly implemented in...

GPS-equipped smartphones have enabled the construction of location-based games. In augmented reality (AR), fantasy worlds are mapped to real-world settings. Two location-based AR games that use historical markers as points of interest are Ingress and Pokémon GO. This chapter describes and discusses how PokéStop statues in Pokémon GO can be used in primary school outdoor sessions. A case study was conducted on how fifth-grade students learned about local history, social sciences and humanities during game sessions. Findings suggest that AR could be an inspiring extension in educational settings, if activities are aligned to the surroundings and learning objectives and outdoor gaming activities are followed up in more traditional classroom sessions.

Despite the fact that QR codes are all around us, they do not easily find their way into the classroom, so it seems more than relevant to investigate the current situation. This paper describes the findings from a scoping literature review of the research published during the last decade on using QR Codes as a digital tool in STEM education. This review aims at providing a better understanding of the advantages and shortcomings of using QR Codes in STEM subjects, exploring some of the essential characteristics of the reviewed studies, like the targeted ages, the learning outcomes, the methodological approach, etc. Based on this review's findings, we can propose some points for future research concerning using QR codes in education, like the reasons for the observed decrease in research interest in recent years or a shift in the investigation towards the teachers' views and acceptance of this technology. Moreover, there seems to be a need for in-depth investigations exploring the pedagogical aspects of this technology. The above findings are considered valuable not only for the application of QR codes but can be projected to m-learning in general.

Games in education have always been a tool for increasing motivation and interest of learners. We present Location-Based Games (LBG) as a tool to involve and motivate students in the learning process. LBGs require the player to move around in order to complete a task and proceed in the storyline and use localization technology such as Global Positioning System (GPS). LBGs are built on physical worlds, while virtual world augmentations enable the interaction of physical and other related (cultural, historical etc.) data with the player. Augmented reality (AR) is used to provide this extra layer with 3D objects, avatars and animations for player’s interaction. In our paper we present a history learning LBG with the use of augmented reality in the form of 3D objects. We explore the concept, of having both virtual and physical worlds available within the same visual display environment.

Games in education have always been a tool for increasing motivation and interest of learners. We present Location-Based Games (LBG) as a tool to involve and motivate students in the learning process. LBGs require the player to move around in order to complete a task and proceed in the storyline and use localization technology such as Global Positioning System (GPS). LBGs are built on physical worlds, while virtual world augmentations enable the interaction of physical and other related (cultural, historical etc.) data with the player. Augmented reality (AR) is used to provide this extra layer with 3D objects, avatars and animations for player's interaction. In our paper we present a history learning LBG with the use of augmented reality in the form of 3D objects. We explore the concept, of having both virtual and physical worlds available within the same visual display environment.

This article presents a comparative analysis of four low or no-code location-based game (LBG) authoring tools, namely Taleblazer, Aris, Actionbound, and Locatify. Each tool is examined in detail, with an emphasis on the functions and capabilities it provides for the development of LBGs. The article builds on the history and purpose of LBGs, their characteristics, as well as basic concepts and previous applications, placing emphasis both on the technological and pedagogical dimensions of these games. The evaluation of the tools is based on certain criteria, or metrics, recorded in the literature and empirical data collected through the development of prototype games for each tool. The tools are comparatively analyzed in terms of the LBG’s constituent features they incorporate, the fundamental and additional functionality provided to the developer, as well as the existence or absence of features that captivate players in the game experience. Moreover, feedback is provided based on the...

Games in education have always been a tool for increasing motivation and interest of learners. We present Location-Based Games (LBG) as a tool to involve and motivate students in the learning process. LBGs require the player to move around in order to complete a task and proceed in the storyline and use localization technology such as Global Positioning System (GPS). LBGs are built on physical worlds, while virtual world augmentations enable the interaction of physical and other related (cultural, historical etc.) data with the player. Augmented reality (AR) is used to provide this extra layer with 3D objects, avatars and animations for player's interaction. In our paper we present a history learning LBG with the use of augmented reality in the form of 3D objects. We explore the concept, of having both virtual and physical worlds available within the same visual display environment.

Social media is part of almost everyone's daily life. Its networking facilities redefines the way people connect and interact with each other. However, social media is reported being misused in different ways, especially the millennials. There is a need to elevate the teens' level of empowerment on the responsible use of social media. Other technological innovations like augmented reality (AR) and digital gamification provides pedagogical benefits. Digital gamification in the classroom is a teaching strategy that translates content and delivery into a game using digital technology. On the other hand, AR is an emerging technology to enlarge real-life situations in multimedia. Research shows both technologies increase interactivity well as attention span among the learners. Additionally, these technologies, including social media, are among the many useful tools in teaching twenty first century learners once correctly used. With this, a game-based mobile application was develo...

Early adolescence is a time of major social change; a strong sense of belonging (SB) and peer connectedness is an essential protective factor in mental health (MH) during that period. In this paper we introduce LINA, an augmented reality (AR) smartphone-based serious game played in school by an entire class (age 10+) together with their teacher, which aims to facilitate and improve peer interaction, SB and class climate, while creating a safe space to reflect on MH and external stressors related to family circumstance. LINA was developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration involving a playwright, software developers, psychologists and artists, via an iterative co-development process with young people. A prototype has been evaluated quantitatively for usability and qualitatively for efficacy in a study with 91 early adolescents (agemean=11.41). Results from the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS-18) and data from qualitative focus groups showed high acceptability a...

With the universal use of mobile computing devices, there has been a notable increase in the number of mobile applications developed for educational purposes. Gamification strategies offer a new set of tools to educators and, combined with the location services provided by those devices, allow the creation of innovative location-based mobile learning experiences. In this literature review, we conduct an analysis of educational mobile location-based games. The review includes articles published from January of 2010 to October of 2020, and from 127 records screened, 26 articles were analysed in full-text form. This analysis allowed us to answer the following six predefined research questions: Who are the target audiences for location-based games? In which subjects are location-based games most used? Which strategies are implemented with mobile devices to improve the student’s learning process? What are the main impacts of location-based games on students’ learning? What are the main c...

This paper reports on an ongoing study of the long-term deployment of a location-based mobile game “If ... in Monemvasia”. The game is played by groups of pupils that visit the historical fortress town Monemvasia in the south east Peloponnese, Greece. The players traverse the town and associate specific sites with role playing missions. The game was designed to promote understanding the history of the fortress town by the players. In the paper, we discuss the integration of historical knowledge and describe the gameplay in order to depict the incorporation of aspects of the town's history in the game.

What is a mixed reality? How games provide experiences of alternative realities while players become engaged with them? What kind of roles mobile, location-aware games can have in development of alternative aesthetics of play and alternative approaches into game design?

In the winter semester 2009/2010, the Digital Game Research Center of the University of Potsdam was able to hold the DIGAREC-Keynote Lectures for the first time. It followed a lecture series held in 2008/09, in which the members of the center introduced their research projects, spanning the fields of design, law, information science, psychology, and media studies. Together with the presentations of the 'scientific forum'at the German Game Days 2008 and 2009 in Berlin, the respective papers are published in the second Volume of the ...

We introduce a location-based game called Feeding Yoshi that provides an example of seamful design, in which key characteristics of its underlying technologies-the coverage and security characteristics of WiFi-are exposed as a core element of gameplay. Feeding Yoshi is also a long-term, wide-area game, being played over a week between three different cities during an initial user study. The study, drawing on participant diaries and interviews, supported by observation and analysis of system logs, reveals players' reactions to the game. We see the different ways in which they embedded play into the patterns of their daily lives, augmenting existing practices and creating new ones, and observe the impact of varying location on both the ease and feel of play. We identify potential design extensions to Feeding Yoshi and conclude that seamful design provides a route to creating engaging experiences that are well adapted to their underlying technologies.

Invasive species are a major environmental problem affecting Portugal and the rest of the world. As such it is important to promote scientific literacy and environmental awareness on this topic. In this article we present a serious game for environmental awareness, Invasive Plants. The game’s goal is to eliminate several invasive species using the appropriate methods. Through engagement with the game, we intend to promote awareness for the resolution of an environmental problem caused by invasive species. Usability tests have revealed that this prototype has educational potential, however, improvements are still needed, such as how the information and mechanics of the game are presented and extending the content.

We present a reflection on a series of studies of ubiquitous computing systems in which the process of evaluation evolved over time to account for the increasing difficulties inherent in assessing systems ‘in the wild’. Ubiquitous systems are typically designed to be embedded in users’ everyday lives; however, without knowing the ways in which people will appropriate the systems for use, it is often infeasible to identify a predetermined set of evaluation criteria that will capture the process of integration and appropriation. Based on our experiences, which became successively more distributed in time and space, we suggest that evaluation should become adaptive in order to more effectively study the emergent uses of ubiquitous computing systems over time.

Abstract. In this paper we describe, how the evaluation of ubiquitous computing systems can be problematic, how we augmented existing evaluation techniques to aid in our analysis, and how we created new techniques for evaluation of such systems within everyday settings. We will discuss four systems, briefly highlighting the problems faced and how the experiences from each changed our approach to evaluating the following systems.

Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This article describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this article is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. This article explores how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.

Creating a mobile urban tourism storytelling application presents several interactivity challenges on how to convey an engaging multimedia experience on-site. This article describes a methodology for fast prototyping of a multimedia mobile applications dedicated to urban tourism storytelling. The application can be a game that takes advantage of several locationbased technologies, freely available geo-referenced media, and augmented reality for immersive gameplay. The goal is to create serious games for tourism that follow a main narrative but where the story can automatically adapt itself to the current location of the player, assimilate possible detours and allow posterior out-of-location playback. Adaptable stories can use dynamic information from map sources such as points of interest (POI), elevation or virtual buildings. The main focus is for these locationbased storytelling games to create more engagement between the tourists and the urban environment. To explore this concept, an application was designed for the city of Porto: Unlocking Porto. This location-based game with a central, yet adaptable, story engages the player into the main sights following an augmented reality path while playing small games. The article discusses and presents solutions for media acquisition, interactive storytelling, game-design interface and multidisciplinary coordination for mobile app development.

Social interaction is part of the fabric of society, and is essential to challenge many types of social barriers. Locationbased games provide a means to foster such interaction in local communities. The design of such games is currently based primarily on designer experience and on literature on game design in general, and not on an understanding of user requirements. This article explores the preferences and desires of adolescents in neighbourhoods of Rotterdam South to socially interact with others and engage with their own neighbourhood via locationbased games. Adolescents are informants in the exploration of gaming activities for social interaction, which, when subjected to expert review with the MDA framework, produce gameplay requirements for the desired purpose: social interaction in public space. Such requirements provide researchers and game designers insights on the game dynamics best suited to foster location based social interaction.

Creating a mobile urban tourism storytelling application presents several interactivity challenges on how to convey an engaging multimedia experience on-site. This article describes a methodology for fast prototyping of a multimedia mobile applications dedicated to urban tourism storytelling. The application can be a game that takes advantage of several locationbased technologies, freely available geo-referenced media, and augmented reality for immersive gameplay. The goal is to create serious games for tourism that follow a main narrative but where the story can automatically adapt itself to the current location of the player, assimilate possible detours and allow posterior out-of-location playback. Adaptable stories can use dynamic information from map sources such as points of interest (POI), elevation or virtual buildings. The main focus is for these locationbased storytelling games to create more engagement between the tourists and the urban environment. To explore this concept, an application was designed for the city of Porto: Unlocking Porto. This location-based game with a central, yet adaptable, story engages the player into the main sights following an augmented reality path while playing small games. The article discusses and presents solutions for media acquisition, interactive storytelling, game-design interface and multidisciplinary coordination for mobile app development.

Dramatic improvements in smartphones over the last few years have positioned them as a major platform for interactive media content. In addition to being much more portable than laptop computers, smartphones also support a sophisticated combination of GPS, sensors and communications interfaces that allow extracting context information related to their environment, such as location, orientation and weather data. This combination of mobility and context-sensitivity opens up interesting possibilities in relation to interactive narrative, and for example allows audience immersion into an interactive story to be improved by placing the content in physical locations that are of direct relevance to the story. In this paper, we present a general-purpose narrative architecture that allows a considerable range of story-based game and guide content to be expressed in location-aware manner. We also present a case study of an actual location-aware augmented reality game, which demonstrates the architecture in a commercial setting and shows that it is sufficiently lightweight to run on the current generation of smartphones.

Creating a mobile urban tourism storytelling application presents several interactivity challenges on how to convey an engaging multimedia experience on-site. This article describes a methodology for fast prototyping of a multimedia mobile applications dedicated to urban tourism storytelling. The application can be a game that takes advantage of several locationbased technologies, freely available geo-referenced media, and augmented reality for immersive gameplay. The goal is to create serious games for tourism that follow a main narrative but where the story can automatically adapt itself to the current location of the player, assimilate possible detours and allow posterior out-of-location playback. Adaptable stories can use dynamic information from map sources such as points of interest (POI), elevation or virtual buildings. The main focus is for these locationbased storytelling games to create more engagement between the tourists and the urban environment. To explore this concept, an application was designed for the city of Porto: Unlocking Porto. This location-based game with a central, yet adaptable, story engages the player into the main sights following an augmented reality path while playing small games. The article discusses and presents solutions for media acquisition, interactive storytelling, game-design interface and multidisciplinary coordination for mobile app development.

Serious Pervasive Games extend the magic circle (Huizinga, 1938) to the players' context and surrounding environment. The blend of both physical and fictive game worlds provides a push in player engagement and promotes situated learning approaches. Space and time, as well as social context, acquire a more meaningful impact on the gameplay. From pervasive learning towards science communication with location-based games, this article presents research and case studies that exemplify their benefits and related problems. Pervasive learning can be defined as "learning at the speed of need through formal, informal and social learning modalities" (Pontefract, 2013). The first case study-the BEACONING project-aims to contextualize the teaching and learning process, connecting it with problem-based game mechanics within STEM. The main goal of this project is to provide the missing connection between STEM subjects and real-world interactions and applications. The pedagogical foundation is supported on problem-based learning (PBL), in which active learning is in the center, and learners have to work with different tools and resources in order to solve problems (quests). Teachers create, facilitate, and assess pervasive and gamified learning activities (missions). Furthermore, these quests are gamified in order to provide non-linear game plots. In a second case study, we demonstrate and evaluate how natural heritage can benefit from pervasive games. This study is based on a set of location-based games for an existing natural park, which have been developed in order to provide enhanced experiences, as well as additional information about some species that are more difficult to observe or that are seasonal. Throughout the research and development of these projects, we have encountered and identified several problems, of different nature, present in pervasive games.

This paper reports on the use of mobile terminals in historical spaces to play an adventure game, using a location-based platform to awaken the fantasy and curiosity of children about cultural heritage; the design of a mystery game as the medium to convey content along with features shared by pervasive games, such as mobile exploration, team work, and the combination of virtual and real worlds. It includes the process of adapting history to storytelling and the results of using a method to evaluate the experience.

An important, indeed often essential, feature of games is that they enable players to experience extraordinary situations beyond those that are safe or even possible in everyday life. Not only can this be entertaining, but it also provides opportunities for learning. This learning may involve acquiring and rehearsing skills in the game that may ultimately transfer to the real world. However, other forms of learning are also possible.

This paper presents an evaluation study of how eighth families adopted, played and experienced a movement-based game system of analog and digital technologies in their homes during a pandemic lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic locked down many countries and grounded people in their homes with social and physical implications. A game system consisting of simple, tangible technologies with modular components was designed to meet these needs. The game system was developed for the players to set up in their homes easily and, therefore, should not depend on screens or extensive physical installations. The game system comprises simple, tangible technologies such as light and music cubes, a simple mobile robot, card game challenges, and a suite of mini-games combining the elements in a variety of playful experiences. Using the technology probes methodology, the game system was packed into a suitcase and evaluated by eight families that played the game in their homes, video-recorded their sess...

The article analyses and discusses the use of Location Based Mobile Games to raise awareness on sensitive issues connected to illness and disability. We report on a study grounded on higher education didactic experiences. By means of a multi-methodological approach we analysed the experience of designing and playing games and their fallouts in terms of learning and awareness about the topics addressed. The study is conducted from a design perspective and aims to understand whether designing and playing LBMGs can sensitise designers and players on sensitive topic.

Social media is part of almost everyone's daily life. Its networking facilities redefines the way people connect and interact with each other. However, social media is reported being misused in different ways, especially the millennials. There is a need to elevate the teens' level of empowerment on the responsible use of social media. Other technological innovations like augmented reality (AR) and digital gamification provides pedagogical benefits. Digital gamification in the classroom is a teaching strategy that translates content and delivery into a game using digital technology. On the other hand, AR is an emerging technology to enlarge real-life situations in multimedia. Research shows both technologies increase interactivity well as attention span among the learners. Additionally, these technologies, including social media, are among the many useful tools in teaching twenty first century learners once correctly used. With this, a game-based mobile application was develo...

The overwhelming growth and popularity of mobile devices and games have motivated initiatives to explore mobile and augmented reality to bring the physical and virtual together. While several domains have been the recipient of such focus, particular importance has been placed on the cultural heritage (CH) field, with examples demonstrating the promise of location-based games (LBGs) at enhancing the CH experience aimed at promoting awareness. Games like Pokémon GO have exacerbated the appeal of LBGs, showing that they can be as popular as blockbuster video games. However, as much potential as LBGs have in raising CH awareness, they can be challenging to build because, unlike their commercial counterparts, their primary aim is learning, emphasizing the cultural significance of the real-world location rather than augmented assets. With limited research that explicitly identifies elements in creating these games in CH contexts, this work aimed to identify design practices and considerations in the design of LBGs. This work is intended for educators, researchers, instructional designers, game developers, and those in the CH field interested in exploring creative ways to embody a deeper understanding of and appreciation for CH.

Social interaction is part of the fabric of society, and is essential to challenge many types of social barriers. Locationbased games provide a means to foster such interaction in local communities. The design of such games is currently based primarily on designer experience and on literature on game design in general, and not on an understanding of user requirements. This article explores the preferences and desires of adolescents in neighbourhoods of Rotterdam South to socially interact with others and engage with their own neighbourhood via locationbased games. Adolescents are informants in the exploration of gaming activities for social interaction, which, when subjected to expert review with the MDA framework, produce gameplay requirements for the desired purpose: social interaction in public space. Such requirements provide researchers and game designers insights on the game dynamics best suited to foster location based social interaction.

The handbook consists of three parts. The first chapter provides a diagnosis of older people and their competence in new technologies. This chapter also describes the ICT education programmes for older people available in the partner countries. The next chapter contains a description and results of a pedagogical experiment aimed at comparing the effectiveness of the method of teaching seniors how to use smartphones. The experiment compared the class and lesson method, which dominates the educational offer addressed to seniors, with the method consistent with the strategy of edutainment – a location-based game. The last part contains scenarios of classes dedicated to the method of location-based games as well as traditional classes and classroom games. The handbook presented to the Reader may be an interesting position for practitioners dealing with andragogy, education of the elderly or ICT education, as it contains ready-made educational programs that can be directly implemented in...

In the last fifteen years, pervasive games, i.e. games that blend a gameworld and reality were created most notably to promote movies, series or videogames. Chosen for their combination of assets, they prompted a deeper engagement in players especially in the institutional cultural sector. We aim to create conceptual and methodological tools to bridge the gap between designers and cultural institutions and help them reach mutual understanding. In this paper, we will describe our adaptation of an open-ended typology of games to the specific case of CPGs.

Geo-data created by numerous VGI applications are widely used today. Although VGI data bring numerous benefits, they also have some limitations primarily because the users are not motivated to collect all kinds of geo-data but only those that are of great importance for them. Therefore, there are types of geo-data like traffic signs, park benches, trash cans, pedestrian crossings etc. that are in most cases not covered by the existing VGI applications. Our aim is to address the problem of volunteers' motivation by creating location-based game (LBG) whose by-product of playing would be such data. In this paper we present the prototype of the MapSigns LBG that is used for mapping traffic signs. The proposed game has the data quality check implemented in the game plot. Also, in this paper we address the possibilities of consuming geo-data created this way by officials and wider set of users.

In the last fifteen years, pervasive games, i.e. games that blend a gameworld and reality were created most notably to promote movies, series or videogames. Chosen for their combination of assets, they prompted a deeper engagement in players especially in the institutional cultural sector. We aim to create conceptual and methodological tools to bridge the gap between designers and cultural institutions and help them reach mutual understanding. In this paper, we will describe our adaptation of an open-ended typology of games to the specific case of CPGs.