Wearable technology as game input for active exergames

Henry, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3674-8208, Kendrick, Connah and Arnab, Sylvester (2023) Wearable technology as game input for active exergames. In: 11th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health, 28 August 2023 - 30 August 2023, Athens, Greece. (In Press)

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Abstract

Wearable technology and exergames are topics with a growing interest since the wide adoption of the Internet of Things and other technological advancements around machine to machine communication. Our paper extends on existing work that combines heart-rate readings through body sensors as a means of playing a game or interacting with a game in realtime and proposes a development framework for exergames that use physiological signals through wearable technology as player input and combine with the Internet of Things. Our focus is on producing single experiences, that directly embed the wearable technology into the gaming experience, using heart-rate as the sole form of input in our methodology. We analyse the applicability of our proposed framework through the development of a proof-of-concept platformer game that where speed of character movement is produced through the player’s heart rate. We highlight the empirical nature of our work and present the future directions of our research along with recommendations for researchers that wish to introduce their own solutions in the area.