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Abstract: This paper relates to the problems of designing rich interaction, in the context of multi-player games, that would adequately
support communication, control and co-ordination. The aspects of fun and rich experiences, usually required within the entertainment
context, are easily overlooked in technologically driven system design. The concepts of a future ubiquitous game can be difficult to
comprehend and evaluate in cases where a fully functioning physical prototype is not an option. One solution for the problem is
Contextual Virtual Reality Prototyping that adds the missing context to the design simulations. The product can be designed and
demonstrated in the corresponding environment, thus making it easier to understand the use-cases of, for example, a mobile device that
has various location-dependent features. The main contribution of this research is the design and development approach that supports
the creation of rich interaction. The primary emphasis of the approach is to avoid purely technologically driven design and
development, but rather to provide a supporting, or even a guiding, approach that focuses on the creative process and conceptual
understanding of rich interaction. This conceptually grounded content production-oriented approach to interactive system design is
described and evaluated.
Keywords: Communication; Design process; Interaction design; Multi-player games; Simulation; Networked virtual environments
Tony Manninen
The user-driven approach for interaction types, for as many design and development
design has been experimented with, for instance, phases as possible.
in the context of entertainment. For example, One approach to the conceptualisation,
Drozd et al. [4] have created a system that design and development of interactive systems
provides people technical resources which they is to use virtual reality techniques that allow
can use as part of their co-ordination activities. platform independent experimenting. Virtual
The creators of the system did not mandate co- Reality Prototyping (VRP), according to Kerttu-
ordination in a heavyweight way. The narrative, la et al. [15, p. 86] is ‘‘a process by which a
in their example, is not automatically main- product or a product concept, its behaviour and
tained (e.g. through the use of some narrative usage are simulated as realistically as possible
‘parser’ which checks progress against a script), using computer models and virtual reality
nor are object-behaviours pre-programmed. The techniques’’. The result of the process – the
design philosophy has been to embed technolo- Virtual Reality Prototype is thus ‘‘a simulation
gies in social practice and to let the participants of a target object aimed with an adequate degree
have full control over the contents and actions of realism that is comparable with the physical
of the system. and logical functionality and the appearance of a
The non-verbal communication aspects of possible real object, achieved by combining
CVEs have been studied, for example, in the different simulation models . . .’’ [15]. The main
context of user embodiment [5], communicative issues and problem areas to be tackled by VRP
behaviours [6], and realistically expressing ava- research are somewhat similar to the ones
tars [7]. Each of these approaches can be seen as discussed in this paper. The need to build
a potential solution to interpersonal interaction. demonstrative prototypes in a short time (rapid
Furthermore, guidelines for CVE design have prototyping), the requirements of interactive
been constructed and described from various prototypes (functional, physical and tangible
aspects, such as, collaboration [8], applications products) [15] and the demands of global
[9], usability evaluation [10], and interaction design teams for distribution support [16] are
techniques [11]. all highly relevant issues. One important aspect
There are numerous models describing various
not directly discussed or answered within the
aspects of interaction. Of these, the closest in
aforementioned literature is the need for support
relation to our work are: (1) taxonomy of 393
in creative content-oriented design. The proto-
embodied actions [1]; (2) hierarchical model of
typed concepts are usually physical products (e.g.
human actions for avatar modelling [12]; (3)
mobile multimedia consoles) or work solutions
layered and modular action control [13]; and (4)
(e.g. functional assembly lines of future fac-
layered architecture and a general behavioural
tories). The entertainment domain involves
model for perception and action selection [14].
many aspects that have not been dealt with,
Although the aforementioned related re-
such as, engagement, compelling experiences
search provides significant benefits to interaction
and rich media content. However, the research
design in the context of this research, they do
community has started to adopt game engines as
not approach the problem in a holistic enough
way for our purposes. The models and guidelines platforms for scientific research experiments [17].
are targeted for highly specific areas, and they This trend may well direct the research and
tend to solve only small portions of the total design towards aforementioned issues.
problem area. When considering the issues related to
interactive virtual prototypes of ubiquitous
3.2. Contextual virtual reality games, the aspect of immersion should be taken
prototyping into account. The contemporary computer
games that contain the highest level of immer-
The product design and development work of sion are generally the ones that attempt to
today’s hi-tech industry is facing new challenges simulate the interaction of real world within the
due to the fast-paced development of markets, context of the game. It is claimed that this
trends and organisational structures. For exam- replication of the interaction from the physical
ple, the development of mobile products, such as world to the virtual world is never completely
multimedia phones, is usually done using inter- realistic, and severely limits the potential for
active computerised models, or virtual proto- productivity (see, for example, Bowman and
Tony Manninen
knowledge from the fields of interaction theories mailbox tells us a lot about how full the mailbox
and interaction design. This section outlines the is. The echoes in a room tell us about the
concept of rich interaction and introduces the material in the fixtures and floors of a room. We
rich interaction design approach. use head movement to improve our directional
interpretation of sound. We use touch along with
4.1. Rich interaction sight to determine the smoothness of a surface.
Multiple modalities give us rich combinatorial
In the context of this work, the term rich windows to our environment that we use to
interaction follows the definition provided by define and refine our percept of the environment.
Manninen [24]: ‘‘. . . interaction set consisting of It is our way of reducing ambiguity.’’ [27]
a large number of individual action and interac- As this paper focuses on interaction forms, or
tion types and possibilities that allows more the manifestations of interactions, the interface
complex interaction sequences. The complexity issues are not directly addressed. Although, the
refers to the more natural forms of interacting, means of achieving multi-modal interaction may
but due to the limitations in simulations, the include complex interfaces, the work described
virtual counterpart tends to stay far behind from here emphasises content instead of interfaces, or,
the real-world one.’’ Laurel [25] has provided one as pointed out by Evard et al. [28]; ‘‘. . . rich
definition for the level of interactivity. In her interactions do not require rich interfaces.’’
definition, at least part of the interactivity could
be characterised by three variables: frequency 4.2. Implications for interaction design
(how often you could interact), range (how
many choices were available), and significance According to West and Hubbold [29], one
(how much the choices really affected matters). challenge for CVE design is to make the
However, rich interaction is not just a quanti- environments engaging and bring them to life.
tative measure – there is an as important They argue that, in part, this relies upon good
qualitative aspect as well. The attempt to ideas for content and activities, but it ultimately
replicate every detail of real world interaction depends on the techniques for coding complex
is similar to the approaches of trying to increase behaviours and managing the interactions be-
the graphics resolution, or the data transfer tween participants, and between participants and
bandwidth. Although there are several applica- the environment. They further claim that, 395
tion domains requiring a high degree of realism, although the hardware makes it possible to
there is usually a need to maintain a certain display visually rich environments, the ways in
amount of selectivity in the process of replica- which users can interact in those environments
tion. The issue has been described with terms remain inadequate. So, although technology is
such as selective fidelity [26] and artistic selectivity not the focus of this research, it provides the
[25]. basic set of enabling factors deciding what type
Rich interaction is, thus, not only related to of content and what kind of activities are feasible
the speed and the frequency of interaction. in terms of implementation. However, as stated
Aspects of qualitatively rich interaction also by Limber [30]; ‘‘. . . skilled groups of artists and
require full attention. For example, Laurel [25] scientists are required to generate compelling
has proposed an approach to interaction in virtual experiences. The structure of these groups
which computers are considered a form of is unique, and its collaborative success depends
theatre rather than tools, and where the focus on the careful integration of computer technol-
of design is on engaging users with content ogy and creative content.’’
rather than with technology. She suggested that There are several examples in the related
various behind-the-scene activities are required literature stating that gestures and facial expres-
to maintain engagement and to orchestrate the sions play an important role in human interac-
user’s experiences. tion [2, 5, 7, 31]. According to Robertson [1],
The need for richer interaction, and corre- mutual perception is one of the most important
sponding interaction forms, originates from the features in distributed systems, such as, multi-
nature of human perception. ‘‘Humans like player games. Only with reversibility of percep-
parallel information input. People make use of tion are the remote participants able to control
a combination of sensory stimuli to help reduce and adapt their actions without too unsure
ambiguity. The sound of a letter dropping in a feelings of the message.
Tony Manninen
the classes are not necessarily solid, instead there
are several occurrences where the overlap is
mainly an issue of perspective. The model
consists of 12 main categories: (1) avatar
appearance, (2) facial expressions, (3) kinesics,
(4) occulesics, (5) autonomous/AI & automatic,
(6) non-verbal audio, (7) language-based com-
munication, (8) spatial behaviour, (9) physical
contact, (10) environmental details, (11)
chronemics, and (12) olfactics.
While some of the aforementioned categories
are self-explanatory, some of them require brief
Fig. 3. Hierarchical structure of the card game interactions.
explanations. For example, the movement of the
head and body (kinesics) in space (spatial
depicting the first layers of the applicable behaviour), to re-orient (spatial behaviour) and
interaction forms. Further decomposition is not focus on a fellow player (occulesics) for present-
illustrated due to image size restrictions. The ing a winning triumph (facial expression and
model illustrates the main interaction forms that non-verbal audio) can be decomposed into
can be found, partially in the physical world, and various interaction form categories. Furthermore,
partially in current multi-player games. The the automatic (autonomous & AI) dodging
conceptual understanding of the interaction movement (kinesics, spatial behaviour) that
forms was used in the experiments as a guiding tries to avoid the opponents axe blow (environ-
philosophy defining the mapping of the feature mental details, physical contact) consists of
set. The aim was not to follow the model in several categories and their combinations.
every detail, but instead, it was used as back- The application of the aforementioned
ground material from where the corresponding models to the design is not as straightforward
set of interaction forms was selected. as to implement them to the requirement
The concept model of interaction forms acts specification. The concept model cannot be
as a concrete set of examples and categories of seen as a strict set of features which needs to 397
interaction manifestations. The boundaries of be implemented to achieve rich interaction.
Tony Manninen
For example, allowing the user to view the turned out that most of the code, graphics,
world through a semi-transparent screen of the sounds and other material had to be created from
mobile console, and to see any virtual objects scratch. The first playable, although relatively
located there, the demonstration shows the restricted, version of the demonstration was
possible functions and activities the user can created in one week. The overall development
do. Figure 7 illustrates the same location of the time for the complete interactive demonstration
world viewed with and without the mobile was less than 100 working hours.
console. The penguin (the right hand side
picture) is a virtual object and, thus, is visible
only through the screen of the console. This 6. Tuppi3D Experiment
feature of the prototype illustrates one possible
location-dependent, augmented reality type of The second empirical experiment, Tuppi3D, was
interaction where the user can use the console as designed and developed in order to test and
a looking glass to access the virtual aspects of the demonstrate the rich interaction design approach
particular real world environment. Other fea- in a more holistic manner. The experiment was
tures implemented in the prototype include, for developed on top of the existing 3D game engine
instance, moving the console to the field of view, by designing and constructing all the necessary
a radar to show the directions of the objects, a rich interaction features of the game and the
location-based power-up collection, location- game world. The task concentrated on research
based information download, and several console issues, such as analysing the needs and possibi-
configuration possibilities. lities for rich interaction, demonstrating the
The experimental game concepts include relevant concepts and providing creative support
augmented reality and location dependent for the mobile game design and development.
‘Catch the Penguin’ and the pseudo-physical The focus was on rich interaction (freedom of
choice, activities, gestures, expressions, environ-
version of Pacman. Both game concepts were
ment, audio, illusion, experiences, etc.) and team
meant to be played out in the open, i.e. in the
play (social setting, community, communication,
park and on the streets of the city. The console
etc.). The experiment was used to simulate the
enabled the players to see the virtual objects,
game concepts, the gaming environment, and the
provided the networking support, and handled
potential rich interaction features to be included 399
all the game-related controls and statistics.
in the mobile version of the game.
The demonstration did not utilise highly
The key issues in designing and developing the
realistic interaction techniques between the
prototype were as follows:
user and the prototype. The main input devices
were the keyboard and the mouse. However, the . Understanding the design and development
mouse interactions were replicated as realisti- process of interactively rich multi-user appli-
cally as possible in trying to estimate and imitate cations.
the real-world case. This meant that it was . Using the interaction concept model and
possible to ‘press’ the buttons of the console by hierarchical interaction model in the design
pointing and clicking them with the mouse. and development of the application.
The Unreal Tournament game engine was . Simulating and modelling of the look and feel
selected as the technical base for the demonstra- of the familiar concept and community (i.e.
tion as, at the time, it was the most suitable game the Tuppi card game) in a computerised
engine for applications such as this. Firstly, the environment.
engine has stood the tough test of real world 3D
game development. Secondly, the lead program- 6.1. Design rationale
mer of the demonstration had some previous
experience working with the engine (i.e. game The case described is part of a research project
development), so the effort to get started was not involving the production of a computerised
high. version of Arctic Bridge (or Tuppi in Finnish), a
Technically, the development work was traditional team-based card game which has its
mostly related to programming and graphics. origins in northern Finland. The game shares
The aim was to recycle at least some of the many similarities with Bridge – its more widely
program code from the earlier projects, but it known counterpart. The aim of this case was to
Tony Manninen
main aim of this phase is to create a solid base for 7. Evaluation of the Rich
rich interaction and experiences and to expli- Interactive Design Process
citly highlight the relevant interaction concepts.
Visualisation and Concept Art make the written The success of the design process was not
descriptions visual. The visualisation process measured against any specific heuristics or
creates the final look-and-feel for the manifesta- quality criteria. Instead, there are several
tions of various interactions. Although most of issues that validate the level of success. The
the interaction forms are visual, the same rules practitioners’ point-of-view is reflected in the
apply to the sound design. response received from the project management
Interaction Design, starting from the interac- and from the industrial partners. The overall
tions illustrated by the manuscript and going all feedback was very encouraging and the industry
the way to the user interface, is an explicit representatives felt the experiment was on the
production phase in making the rich interaction right track by offering novel support for mobile
concrete. In a multi-player game, the interaction application development. The opinion was very
design is not just about human-computer inter- much in favour of the approach and this has
action and physics models, but also tackles issues resulted in a continuation research project
such as interpersonal communication and group where the two-layer design process will be
dynamics further experimented.
Level Design includes designing the spaces and Furthermore, the selected approach, with the
places for interaction, environmental cues and two experimental designs, covers a significant
affordances for actions. This phase provides a area of design and development by considering
more concrete illustration and plan of the virtual inter-disciplinary issues, such as, industrial
environment that forms the scene for the design, marketing, behavioural sciences, com-
actions. The level design overlaps with the munication, and the arts. The involvement of
the industrial partners increases the reliability
interaction design – the environment affords
and significance of the results and their applic-
certain interactions and some interactions re-
ability, although both of the described experi-
quire specific features from the environment.
ments are merely laboratory prototypes and not
Rich interactivity, in this phase, mainly relates
commercially produced products.
to the dynamics of the virtual world (i.e. is the
The validation of success from the research 401
world static, or can it be manipulated?).
point-of-view is based on the conceptual devel-
Materials, Models & Animation is largely about
opment of the interaction models. The logical
modelling and animating the avatars. The
construction of the interaction form model draws
complexity of the human model requires a lot
on the theoretical and empirical analyses [24].
of work. Richness in interaction forms is realised
Furthermore, the quasi-experimental implemen-
in terms of avatar appearance, body language and
tations indicate the significance of the rich
gestures. interaction design approach.
Media Editing does not directly support rich
interaction design and development, although
the fine-tuning of the interaction forms can be 7.1. Contextual virtual prototyping
used to enhance their effectiveness (e.g. car- approach – ConsoleDEMO
icatures of the facial expressions).
Programming is the part of the production that The virtual prototype of a mobile product, such
makes the world alive. Most of the rich as the media phone, is relatively limited without
interaction functionality is set alive in this the environment and context in which the
phase (e.g. animation sequences, physics model, product is used. The core functionality and the
control, etc.). user interface issues can possibly be tested and
Integration is the phase in which all the bits and demonstrated with the prototype, but the miss-
pieces are put together, to work as a functional ing or non-immersive context may reduce both
system. Combining graphics, audio, scripts, en- the appeal and the clarity. The Contextual VRP,
vironment and models is an example of actions on the other hand, provides enormous possibi-
that need to be completed. In a way, this task is an lities in all cases where the need for the context
ongoing activity starting from the first functional and environment exists. The ConsoleDEMO
prototype until the final version is ready. illustrated in this paper serves only as an example
Tony Manninen
behaviour were clearly visible. After a half-hour concepts and of ‘selling’ the idea to the manage-
effort, the subject had brought more items next ment. The board meetings with industry repre-
to the cabin and constructed stairs leading to the sentatives were suitable places for
rooftop, thus gaining access to the ‘top of the demonstrations and concept trials. Due to the
world’. This experiment is an excellent example interactivity and rich media, the concept came
of a user-created challenge within the environ- out clearly, even to the partners that were not
ment – the designers certainly had not planned constantly following the details of the research
this type of activity! and development.
Perhaps the most important issue was the Still, the contextual VRP approach has been
entertainment factor of the system; both the criticised because it relies on a synthetic
design team and the outside test users spent an experience and environment. The physical
enormous amount of time just fooling around in prototypes (i.e. duct tape, wires and off-the-
the virtual environment – and having fun! Of shelf components boosted with imagination)
course, it is a prerequisite for computer games were claimed to be somewhat more concrete
that they need to be fun to use. However, the (e.g. physically), especially during the focus
main aim of this work was not directly to develop groups and user tests. However, the work
a system that was fun, but the fun factor was described in this paper focuses on the concepts
hoped to be ‘increased’ as a side product of the that are too difficult, or too expensive, to
rich interaction design approach. prototype using the traditional methods. The
approach described in this paper is by no means
7.3. Discussion and lessons learned the best practice for every possible design case.
However, the case that cannot be prototyped just
The first lesson learnt is the ambiguity in the fun by relying on imagination and rough mock-ups
factor. It is very difficult to estimate which may well benefit with more engaging simulation
features are going to be fun to use. Fortunately, of the concepts.
just by experimenting with various features with The concept of rich interaction and its role
the aid of rapid prototyping, it is possible to for the production was not clear enough. The
encounter some features that are both entertain- models and guidelines were not concrete enough
ing and easy to implement. For example, no one to be explicitly exploited. However, the models
envisioned that the virtual seesaw in Tuppi3D were used implicitly as a philosophical back- 403
experiment would be fun to use, but since it was ground for the whole production, so their role
easy to implement, and since it could be useful in was not totally without value. Based on this
accessing higher areas in the environment, it was observation, the rich interaction design guide-
thought to give it a try. After gaining enough lines have to be presented in a clear ‘cookbook’
empirical evidence, i.e. spending several hours of format. The models served the designers by
bouncing up and down with various aerobatics, it providing explicit map and scope of the design
had to be admitted that the concept was a area. This helped the group to take different
success. However, the application of seesaw aspects of interaction into account without
concept to the ubiquitous game system is not neglecting any potential design issues.
feasible as such. It is, thus, possible to construct All in all, the rich interaction design process
applicable concepts by using the rich interaction is a relatively complex task and it usually
design approach, but the successful transfer of requires a multidisciplinary team to treat the
these concepts to the ubiquitous domain is not concepts and ideas - each team member provid-
necessarily solved. In a way, the design approach ing a specific point-of-view to the concept. Still,
described in this paper offers only supporting the rich interaction design approach should be
layer for the ubiquitous game design. explicitly defined throughout the production
The rich interaction design process can process.
provide systems that are fun to use, although
this is not always the case. The trick with rich 7.4. Benefits of the approach
interaction design is in getting all the interaction
elements into the system and then allowing the The rich interaction design experiment can feed
users to find their own way of having fun. the ubiquitous game development process by
The contextual VRP approach was a rela- approaching the design and development from
tively easy and efficient way of testing various the content-oriented direction. The knowledge
Tony Manninen
game development. The main emphasis of the The advantage of the described approach is
approach is on avoiding purely technologically that rich interaction design can provide mean-
driven design and development, and to provide, ingful and theoretically grounded interaction
in its place, a guiding approach that focuses on forms to be developed for multi-user systems.
the conceptual understanding of rich inter- Audio-visually compelling demonstrations en-
action. With this approach, it is possible to hance the possibilities for shared understanding,
design and develop rich interaction for multi- and thus make the dissemination of the concepts
user systems without limiting the process with easier. In addition to this, the rich interaction
the technological conventions. However, suc- design approach provides more flexible and
cessful application of rich interaction design communicative systems.
requires a clear and concrete conceptual under- The analysis provides several implications for
standing of interaction. design. Contextual Virtual Reality Prototyping,
The described Contextual VRP approach, as with the corresponding demonstration, indicates
an instantiation of rich interaction design, that there is true potential in a propriety game
provides designers a way to enlarge their field- engine such as Unreal for prototyping and
of-vision by adding the extremely important use designing ubiquitous game concepts. The in-
environment and context to the prototypes. The creasingly important multiplayer aspect makes it
contributions of the VRP research can be utilised possible to test how several simultaneous users
with this new approach, thus making it possible would play the game in a specific place, when
to enhance the scope, efficiency, and re-usage interacting with the world and with each other.
factors of the product design, development, and From the design point of view, the main task,
marketing. With the proposed approach, the however, is to use artistic selectivity and the
products can be tested and demonstrated in the principles of game design to achieve engaging
corresponding environments, and, in this way, and compelling systems. The conceptual and
make it easier to understand the use-cases of, for theoretical models of communication and inter-
example, a mobile device that has location- action should be utilised in order to make
dependent features. Furthermore, the evaluation solutions natural and intuitive. The need to
of the concept requires a less cognitive load in understand the whole concept of interaction in
terms of discovering the real-world counterparts virtual environments is evident if the commu-
nicational needs of the users are to be supported. 405
of the VRP interactions.
The described rich interaction design ap-
The main contribution of this paper is a
proach is not limited to the mobile application
design approach, which guides the designers and
context, so the results can be applied to the
developers to include adequate support for
design of networked virtual environments in
interaction in computer mediated multi-user
general. Interaction design focusing on inter-
services and applications. Furthermore, this
personal communication and collaboration can
paper provides theoretical and practical insights
benefit from the insights provided in this paper.
to rich interaction design. Although the main
portion of the research is situated in the context Acknowledgements
of multi-player game design, the results can be
applied by interactive system designers and This research was conducted in the Department
ubiquitous game developers working within the of Information Processing Science at the Uni-
area of multi-user virtual environments. versity of Oulu within and with the support of
One of the limitations of the approach is the the Finnish Academy funded PAULA project,
need to work on what is not, from technological the TEKES funded Monica project and the
perspective, the core activity of the production Infotech Oulu VIRGIN Research Group. I
process. This may cause difficulties in achieving would like to thank my PhD work supervisor
the shared vision, and thus, severely reduce the Professor Petri Pulli for his guidance and support
benefits of the approach. The lack of under- in relation to Virtual Reality Prototyping.
standing of the rich interaction concept and the Furthermore, I am greatly indebted to my
corresponding design philosophy, limits the use research assistants Tomi Kujanpää, Heikki
of the approach. Concrete rich interaction Korva, Soili Väinämö and Pasi Partanen for
design guidelines are needed to solve this their efforts in implementing the demonstration
problem. systems.
Tony Manninen