SIMPLE, CHEAP AND QUICK: THREE URBAN GAMES FOR COMMON MOBILE PHONES Helena Karsten, Jan-Erik Skata and Sebastien Venot Department of Information Technologies & TUCS, Åbo Akademi University Joukahaisenkatu 3 A, 5 th floor, 20520 Turku, Finland e-mail: eija.karsten@abo.fi Nhut Do ICT Turku Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4 B, 20520 Turku, Finland Janne Konttila and Joonas Peltola Zetanol Ltd e-mail:firstname.lastname@zetanol.fi KEYWORDS urban game, mobile phone, Bluetooth, game development ABSTRACT We designed and implemented three location based games for mobile phones. The overall design principles were: (1) design for device platform with wide penetration; (2) create an architecture that supports different types of games and services, scalability; and (3) aim for cost efficiency and quick application development. The resulted three games are different in nature, but each of them introduces a potential design approach for future pervasive or location based games. Player feedback also supports further development. We see several opportunities for extending our ideas from gaming to various other location-based applications. INTRODUCTION Location based gaming and pervasive gaming take into account the physical characteristics of the real world as well as the computer-maintained virtual game environment. Also, they usually have a strong social aspect. Today, the characteristics, features and technology platforms in pervasive gaming are still often prototypes resulting from ambitious long-term research projects (such as IperG, Uncle Roy All Around Us, or Human PacMan), and thereby complex and, quite likely, also expensive. Prototypes made for testing the ideas are often comprehensive and well designed from the game point of view. By mixing manufactured and custom-made devices together with advanced game logics, the result can be an immersive game experience breaking the bounds of traditional computer games. When the technologies intended to be utilized in later, preferably commercial, game realizations are still under development, they seldom are accessible to potential game adopters. Also the robustness of technologies in the making may be less than optimal. The challenge is therefore to make game realizations that are actually adoptable by users with those devices they already have. The main obstacle is the use of multiple devices, and the one-purpose nature of the device combinations. Thus, we decided to ground our project on simplicity, low cost, and quick development. In this paper we will describe the case of developing location-based systems for three different games. First, the background for our project is briefly discussed, and the design principles are outlined. Then the game development project and the technical architecture are introduced. The game realizations are analyzed briefly including feedback from the players. We conclude by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of our approach, ideas for future work and the business opportunities foreseen. BACKGROUND AND PRINCIPLES FOR GAME DESIGN Pervasive games often include location awareness or other elements from physical world. Also, the context of player and perhaps qualities of the environment are taken into account. Some, but not all, game objects may be physical. Some actions or game events take place in a virtual world, some in the real world (Magerkurth et al 2004). Access to the game world can happen with use of various devices. In pervasive games, the game experience can be trans-medial: inputs and outputs between a player and the game system can occur on multiple different media. This emphasizes the role of the player as an interpreter of information from various sources (Walther 2005). These approaches emphasize the technological as well as the social aspect of pervasive gaming, originating from the concept of pervasive computing. Montola et al. (2006) use the classic definition of play by Huizinga (1938) as basis for defining pervasive games. Huizinga proposes that play is playful, not serious, voluntary action that is distinct from everyday life in terms of time, space and people. A game occurs in a magic circle of certain place, certain time with certain people. Montola et al. then define a pervasive game as a game that extends beyond this circle socially, spatially or temporally. Our game development project was stimulated by the idea of expanding the game experience to be part of everyday life, not just a separate activity. Today, virtually everyone is carrying a device capable of running games and other multimedia applications – a mobile phone. When the game device is equipped with data transmission capability, a multi-player network game is one obvious development trend. Further, if the playing occurs when