Study projects

Projects are an essential part of the curriculum of Mobile Computing. Students get the chance to directly apply the theoretical knowledge which is acquired during their studies. This is not only an innovative and exciting approach to teaching but has also been a starting point to successful startups like runtastic and Butleroy.

Location-Based Gaming Incentives

Zeitraum
Oct 2017 - Feb 2018
FH Studierende
Christoph Brandstetter
FH BetreuerIn
FH-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Krösche

Ziel

This project is about the implementation of a prototype for a location based game which should be designed for a better understanding of the underlying motivation to play those kind of games. The first iteration of the game consists of a basic concept and contains some simple location –based game features.

In the course of the master thesis this prototype should implement the gameplay mechanics found in future analysis of incentives for playing location-based games.

Umsetzung

The core mechanic for the game is to allow the players to occupy certain territories. To accomplish that, a map for the players should be displayed including their own current location. This map is divided in different sectors which can be captured. If a player is entering one of this sectors, the player is able to occupy the region by investing some resources.

The process for occupying a sector can be divided into two situations. The first and easy one is if a player wants to occupy a region which is currently controlled by no one. The second form occurs if a player wants to capture a region which is already controlled by someone else. In both situations the player has to spent some resources to make the segment their own. All sectors which are controlled by a player are displayed in green. Sectors which are controlled by other players are displayed in red.

Resources can be found anywhere on the map allowing the players to collect them. As mentioned before, resources are required to capture sectors. The amount to spent depends on the current status of the sector. A free sector is cheaper to capture than a sector belonging already to another player.

This prototype is developed for mobile devices and uses the built in GPS receiver for determining the current location of the player in the real world and mapping the position on the virtual map of the game.

In addition to the mobile client, a server is also implemented for storing the necessary information about the sectors, resources and players.

To distinguish between different players a simple login has been implemented so that every individual status can be stored in a database.