An integrated environment and development framework for social gaming using mobile devices, digital TV and Internet

The amount of digital multimedia devices in a modern day household capable of connecting to the Internet has increased dramatically over the last years, including mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets as well as digital TV sets and set-top boxes. Since these devices are readily available and allow customization through software they can be easily used to support and enhance traditional social activities in the living room. This paper presents an integrated environment of mobile devices and digital TVs connected to the Internet used as a platform for exploring both traditional and novel gaming concepts in either a single living room or across different homes connecting multiple living rooms. To create such an environment a framework was developed enabling the implementation of distributed social games, using the digital TV as a display showing game content public to all players and using the available personal mobile devices as controllers and displays showing private portions of the game. The framework also allows the innovative use of broadcast related information and social media during game play. Five different games were developed using the framework. The framework effectiveness was evaluated by comparing TV-centric games developed with and without the framework using size and complexity metrics, additionally application responsiveness was measured using a game developed without and with the framework and compared with a state-of-the-art game controller. The experience of playing the developed games was obtained by collecting and analyzing self-reported data using a questionnaire combined with additional observations from volunteers and researchers.