Beraber Game Platform
Novel setup and algorithms that convert physical objects into (multiplayer) game controllers
Beraber Game Platform transforms urban parks into a mixed reality game world. Game platform is composed of sensors, certain hardware and microcomputers set in urban parks, cloud back-end servers, and player mobile application. It encourages social interaction as a team play that transforms public space to a game environment.
Using human-technology interaction and augmented reality techniques to establish and strengthen existing bonds between human-human and human-space by using smart technologies; Beraber Game Platform uniquely combines the dynamics of physical gaming and digital gaming. In doing so, it uses existing physical infrastructure (such as sports equipment in urban parks) to reduce costs and increase affordance for users. The possible contributions of a culture of playing together to social integration and community building are multidimensional. Besides the fact that playing games reduces individual stress, being part of a gaming team improves collaboration and builds sense of community. According to the Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga, a gaming community usually tends to survive even after the game is over, the feeling of being together in an exceptional situation, sharing something important, separating from the rest of the world altogether, and defying familiar norms transcends the individual playing time, the game promotes social groupings that surround themselves with a veil of secrecy and emphasize their difference from the ordinary world through disguise, masks or other means.
Urban life suffers from everincreasing population, migration and immigration because we lack the ability to create communities from individuals. Especially after Covid-19, the importance of local communities and social ties for human life has become more evident. People who remained in social isolation became sedentary and their anxiety and worry increased. In the post-pandemic world, both the social need and the individual motivation of the citizens are very high to use a product that would enable people to socialize and physically move in their own neighborhoods.
I interviewed with potential customers and users to understand their needs and expectations when it comes to urban parks, social interaction, and physical activity. The information gained through the user research is integrated into concept design process.
Platform can be adopted for various game scenarios.
First scenario we studied was The Ship Crew.
Strangers met in urban park, become mates.
To realize the design, tech stack of the Platform would include: sensor fusion, human-computer interaction, and augmented reality techniques.
Through customers like local authorities, the platform would create recreational, social, and physical health benefits to users/citizens.
Game Play
- Players introduce themselves to physical equipment as their operators/game characters
- Audio game commands lead actions and speeds of players for specific tasks
- Each player took their specific part to create a certain harmony for the task given to the whole team
- Individual and game scores according to performances can be tracked via mobile application
- Health benefits of each player based on their physical activity can also be tracked via mobile application
- Mobile application works as a community center for the players when they are not playing