Designing mobile games for a challenging experience of the urban heritage

Abstract

Ubiquitous gaming is a new emerging research area, that is gaining focus from industry and academy as smart wireless devices are becoming ever more widespread. We have explored this field implementing a treasure hunt game aimed at enhancing the visitor's experience of the heritage in a city area, such as Venice. The game relies on standard, commercially available hardware and middleware systems. The paper describes the pedagogical principles that inspire the game and the corresponding structure of VeGame. We also discuss how combining mobile gaming and an educational focus may deliver to the player a challenging and engaging experience of the heritage, as shown by early user tests. Extensive qualitative and quantitative evaluation will start in June 2003. © Springer-Verlag 2003.