Browsing by Author "Mandryk, R. L."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemMetadata only
    The Acute Cognitive Benefits of Casual Exergame Play
    (ACM, 2012) Gao, Y.; Mandryk, R. L.
    Acute cognitive benefits, such as temporary improvements in concentration, can result from as few as ten minutes of exercise; however, most people do not take exercise breaks throughout the day. To motivate people to receive the cognitive benefits of exercising in short bursts multiple times per day, we designed an engaging casual exergame. To determine whether there are cognitive benefits after playing our game, we conducted two studies to compare playing ten minutes of our casual exergame to a sedentary version of the game or exercise on a treadmill. We found acute cognitive benefits of the casual exergame over the sedentary version (but not treadmill exercise), demonstrated by significantly improved performance on two cognitive tests that require focus and concentration. Significant improvements were also found in participants' affective states after playing the casual exergame. Finally, our casual exergame produces similar exertion levels to treadmill exercise, but is perceived as more fun.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemMetadata only
    The Effects of Intended Use on Target Acquisition
    (ACM, 2011) Mandryk, R. L.; Lough, C.
    Fitts's Law has been used extensively in HCI to describe 2D targeting; however, the controlled tasks generally used neglect aspects of real-world pointing, including how the intended use of a target affects its acquisition. We studied aiming to a target in four tasks requiring varying precision after acquisition. Our results present the first evidence that the intended use of a target affects its acquisition in terms of movement time and motion kinematics for computer aiming. Important for researchers who model 2D targeting, our results also have particular impact for HCI research that uses motion kinematics.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemMetadata only
    Full-Body Motion-Based Game Interaction for Older Adults
    (ACM, 2012) Gerling, K. M.; Livingston, I. J.; Nacke, L. E.; Mandryk, R. L.
    Older adults in nursing homes often lead sedentary lifestyles, which reduces their life expectancy. Full-body motion-control games provide an opportunity for these adults to remain active and engaged; these games are not designed with age-related impairments in mind, which prevents the games from being leveraged to increase the activity levels of older adults. In this paper, we present two studies aimed at developing game design guidelines for full-body motion controls for older adults experiencing age-related changes and impairments. Our studies also demonstrate how full-body motion-control games can accommodate a variety of user abilities, have a positive effect on mood and, by extension, the emotional well-being of older adults. Based on our studies, we present seven guidelines for the design of full-body interaction in games. The guidelines are designed to foster safe physical activity among older adults, thereby increasing their quality of life.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemMetadata only
    KINECTWheels: Wheelchair-Accessible Motion-Based Game Interaction
    (ACM, 2013) Gerling, K. M.; Kalyn, M.; Mandryk, R. L.
    The increasing popularity of full-body motion-based video games creates new challenges for game accessibility research. Many games strongly focus on able-bodied persons and require players to move around freely. To address this problem, we introduce KINECTWheels, a toolkit that facilitates the integration of wheelchair-based game input. Our library can help game designers to integrate wheelchair input at the development stage, and it can be configured to trigger keystroke events to make off-the-shelf PC games wheelchair-accessible.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    ItemMetadata only
    Target Assistance for Subtly Balancing Competitive Play
    (ACM, 2011) Bateman, S.; Mandryk, R. L.; Stach, T.; Gutwin, C.
    In games where skills such as targeting are critical to winning, it is difficult for players with different skill levels to have a competitive and engaging experience. Although several mechanisms for accommodating different skill levels have been proposed, traditional approaches can be too obvious and can change the nature of the game. For games involving aiming, we propose the use of target assistance techniques (such as area cursors, target gravity, and sticky targets) to accommodate skill imbalances. We compared three techniques in a study, and found that area cursors and target gravity significantly reduced score differential in a shooting-gallery game. Further, less skilled players reported having more fun when the techniques helped them be more competitive, and even after they learned assistance was given, felt that this form of balancing was good for group gameplay. Our results show that target assistance techniques can make target-based games more competitive for shared play.