Raptor: Sketching Video Games With a Tabletop Computer

Abstract

Game sketching is used to identify enjoyable designs for digital games without the expense of fully implementing them. This thesis presents Raptor, a novel tool for sketching games. Raptor shows how tabletop interaction can effectively support the ideation phase of interaction design by permitting small collocated groups to participate in the design and testing process together. Raptor relies heavily on efficient gesture-based interaction, mixed-reality interaction involving physical props and digital artifacts, Wizard-of-Oz demonstration gameplay sketching, and fluid change of roles between designer and tester. An evaluation of Raptor using seven groups of three people showed that a sketching tool based on a tabletop computer indeed supports ideation and collaboration among collocated groups better than a more traditional PC-based tool.