On the design of Camelot, an outdoor game for children

Abstract

This paper describes the design of Camelot, a mobile outdoor game for small groups of children aged 7-9. The game was designed with the aim to encourage social interaction between the players and to encourage physical activity. The paper extends the research literature on design methodology for children, by recording and reflecting upon the lessons learnt by applying a range of techniques for involving children in the design of interactive systems.

Head Up Games: The Games of the Future Will Look More Like the Games of the Past

“…Camelot [9] represents a first attempt to design a head up game. It was developed over a course of 4 months, and during development it was repeatedly evaluated with a group of 10 children between 7 to 10 year old (see Figure 1).…”

Head Up Games: combining the best of both worlds by merging traditional and digital play

“…As an input to the design of Camelot [17], observations and interviews regarding what makes outdoor play fun for children showed that children favor games that are rich in physical activity.…”

(Steering) Interactive Play Behavior

“…Below we will mention the evaluation techniques and methods we have encountered that have successfully been used for the interactive play context once a proper experiment design is chosen. [266] or design [219].…”

“…For instance, Save the safe is a game that is played with a belt with a few LEDs and a vibration motor, where one player has a virtual key that is automatically passed when another player comes close, the burglars need to open a safe with the key in order to win [234]. Several other HUGs with accompanying handheld devices are mentioned/created, where players tag, shoot, collect, or hide someone/something [14,97,140,266]. Others have made use of the LEDs and accelerometer of the Sony Move controller.…”

“…The cards were beneficial for the number of problems indicated and was preferred by children as well. Other cards with pictures can also be used to structure an interview with children and help to keep children focused during a (semi-) structured interview [266].…”