1. Electronic Augmentation
of Board Games
through Smartphones
Gert Thijs
Mentor: Gonzalo Parra
Promotor: Prof. Erik Duval

2. Overview
• Recap
• Implementation phases
• Implementation first prototype
• Demo
• Evaluation first prototype
• Required changes
• Next steps

3. Recap - Subject
• Hybrid analog-digital board game:
• Smartphone supports gameplay
• Still physical components
• Still people coming together
• Why smartphones?
• Portable, powerful, ubiquitous
• Bring your own device

4. Recap - Power Grid

5. Recap - Power Grid
• Player manages a power company:
• Buys power plants
• Buys resources for plants
• Connects cities to power grid
• Powers cities using resources to earn
money
• Player who can power the most cities
wins

6. Recap - Power Grid
• Currently:
• Play money: one player needs to
play bank
• Power plant market: requires
reorganizing
• Resource market: needs to be
restocked
• Menial tasks that don’t add value

7. Implementation
phases
• First prototype:
• Digital money
• Digital power plant auctions
• Second prototype:
• Digital resource management
• Final prototype:
• Augmented Reality for connecting
cities and “magic lens”

8. First prototype
• First prototype:
• Digital money
• Digital power plant auctions
• Temporary screens for other phases
• Physical money no longer required
• Resource management not yet
implemented
• Plant cards and resource tokens

9. Implementation CHAPTER 7: Network Design Overview 133
• GameKit
• Peer to Peer
• Bluetooth or
WiFi
Figure 7–1. A visual representation of a peer-to-peer network using six iOS devices

10. controller
MainMenuVC GameVC
-x -x
-y -y
LobbyVC PlayerOrderVC AuctionPlantsVC BuyResourcesVC ConnectCitiesVC PowerCitiesVC
-x -x -x -x -x -x
-y -y -y -y -y -y
model
AuctionSM PlayerOrderSM
-x -x
-y -y
helper
PowerPlant Player Game
-x -x -x
PGSessionHelper -y -y -y
-x
-y
PowerPlantMarket ResourceMarket PowerPlantDeck
-x -x -x
-y -y -y

12. Demo

18. Evaluation
• Goal: determine if it all “makes
sense”
• Method:
• 5 users played the game with
devices
• Afterwards: SUS & custom
questionnaire
• Results:

19. Evaluation results
• Less social
• Especially felt during auction phase
• Doesn’t “break” fun parts
• Reduced physical interactions not
problematic
• Mixed opinions about screen size
• Original game provides a better

20. Required changes
Find a way to simultaneously show both
screens or swiftly switch between them

21. Required changes
Increase scrollable area

22. Required changes
• Info panels did not refresh
immediately
• Loss of connection causes deadlock
• Better inform players when it’s their
turn
• Indicate which players can still bid

23. Next steps
• Fix issues found during test
• Implement resource management
• Second prototype: Test again
• Add augmented reality
• To connect cities
• To consult public info (magic lens)
• Final evaluations

24. Next steps
• Aspects to evaluate:
• social aspect
• “fun”
• efficiency
• Method:
• 1/2 game original version
• 1/2 hybrid version

25. Planning
26/03 - 01/04 Presentation + Writing Ch. 1, 3
02/04 - 08/04 Implement prototype 2 Ch. 2
09/04 - 15/04 Implement prototype 2 Ch. 4, 5
16/04 - 22/04 Evaluate prototype 2 Ch. 5,
23/04 - 29/04 Implement prototype 3 Poster
Ch. 6
30/04 - 06/05 Implement prototype 3 Ch. 6, 7
07/05 - 13/05 Evaluate prototype 3 Ch. 7
14/05 - 20/05 Evaluate prototype 3 Ch. 7, 8
21/05 - 27/05 Rewrite draft
28/05 - 03/06 Rewrite draft
04/06 - 10/06 Rewrite draft

26. Statistics
Literature study 84 Thesis meetings (+ prep.) 25
Designing paper prototypes 50 Report 8
Testing paper prototypes 18 Paper 20
Evaluating paper prototypes 16 Presentations 20
Power Grid survey 6 Thesis text 15
Power Grid play sessions 17.5 Writing blogposts 40
AR libraries 9 Reading blogs 13
Reading documentation 28 Helping others 3
Implementation 173 Storyboards 7
Testing digital prototype 6 Planning 1.5
Evaluating digital prototype 5 Testing iPad games 2
Total = 567h

27. Statistics
Tweets 118
Blogposts 29
Comment 32 (other)
s 14 (own)

28. ?