S3D Depth-Axis Interaction for Video Games: Performance and Engagement

Game developers have yet to embrace and explore the interactive stereoscopic 3D medium. They typically view stereoscopy as a separate mode that can be disabled throughout the design process and rarely develop game mechanics that take advantage of the stereoscopic 3D medium. What if we designed games to be S3D-specific and viewed traditional 2D viewing as a separate mode that can be disabled? The design choices made throughout such a process may yield interesting and compelling results. Furthermore, we believe that interaction within a stereoscopic 3D environment is more important than the visual experience itself and therefore, further exploration is needed to take into account the interactive affordances presented by stereoscopic 3D displays. Stereoscopic 3D displays allow players to perceive objects at different depths, thus we hypothesize that designing a core mechanic to take advantage of this viewing paradigm will create compelling content. In this paper, we describe Z-Fighter a game that we have developed that requires the player to interact directly along the stereoscopic 3D depth axis. We also outline an experiment conducted to investigate the performance, perception, and enjoyment of this game in stereoscopic 3D vs. traditional 2D viewing.