✨ Abstract
Analog board games enable social interaction through physical co-presence, shared artifacts, and nonverbal communication. Mixed Reality (MR) transfers these principles into hybrid environments, connecting physical play surfaces with digital content. However, this transition places higher demands on the design of joint attention and social coordination.
Unlike VR, MR systems operate in open, real-world spaces and must ensure visual coherence alongside social connectivity. In locally synchronized play, challenges such as limited Field of View (FOV) and the lack of physical representation of co-players often impair nonverbal communication and shared attention.
This thesis investigates how shared presence and equal interaction can be designed in co-located MR tabletop games. The study involves the development of Depthbound, a cooperative game for three players, and evaluates the impact of avatar systems and input modalities on the social experience.
🎯 Goals
- Develop a Functional Prototype: Creation of Depthbound, a cooperative MR card game for three players based on the mechanics of Hanabi.
- Enhance Social Presence: Implement and test spatial anchors and avatar systems to overcome the isolation often caused by HMDs.
- Evaluate Input Modalities: Compare Hand-Tracking (embodiment) vs. Controller Input (precision) to determine their impact on social interaction.
- Derive Design Principles: Formulate a guideline for developers regarding architecture, avatar integration, and multimodal feedback.
🧠 Theoretical Background
The work is grounded in the following concepts:
- Reality-Virtuality Continuum (Revised): Understanding the spectrum of XR experiences.
- Co-Presence & Shared Presence: Specifically Zhao’s taxonomy of "Corporeal Copresence" combined with virtual elements.
- Distributed Computational Thinking: How groups solve problems using shared physical/digital spaces.
- Shared Spatial Anchors: Technical frameworks for aligning multiple users in a single physical space.
🔍 Research Question
How can the design of co-located Mixed-Reality tabletop games promote social interaction and shared presence, so that the common gaming experience of analog board games is transformed into immersive MR environments?
🛠️ Tech Stack & Methodology
Technology:
- Hardware: Meta Quest 3 (Passthrough & Depth Sensing)
- Engine: Unity 6
- Networking: Photon Fusion 2 (Host-Client architecture)
- XR Tools: Meta XR Core SDK, Interaction SDK, Meta Avatars SDK, Shared Spatial Anchors
Methodology:
- Prototyping: Iterative development of the game Depthbound.
- Empirical Evaluation: A within-subject mixed-methods study comparing three conditions: Analog (Baseline), MR-Base (Controllers), and MR-Social (Hand-Tracking + Avatars).
📈 Outcomes
- Playable Prototype: A fully synchronized 3-player MR experience featuring a maritime dark-fantasy theme and multimodal feedback.
- Design Guidelines: A structured guide for implementing co-located MR, focusing on symmetric interaction, gaze visualization, and reducing cognitive load.
- Empirical Insights: Analysis of how avatar representation and hand-tracking influence the perception of "warmth" and presence in hybrid spaces.