Battleship: A Case Study of the Augmented Reality User Experience

Emerging technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), are growing in popularity and accessibility at a fast pace. Developers are building more and more games and applications with this technology but few have stopped to think about what the best practices are for creating a good user experience (UX). Currently, there are no universally accepted human-computer interaction guidelines for augmented reality because it is still relatively new. This paper examines three features - virtual content scale, indirect selection, and virtual buttons - in an attempt to discover their impact on the user experience in augmented reality. A Battleship game was developed using the Unity game engine with Vuforia, an augmented reality platform, and built as an iOS application to test these features. The hypothesis was that both virtual content scale and indirect selection would result in a more enjoyable and engaging user experience whereas the virtual button would be too confusing for users to fully appreciate the feature. Usability testing was conducted to gauge participants' responses to these features. After playing a base version of the game with no additional features and then a second version with one of the three features, participants rated their experiences and provided feedback in a four-part survey. It was observed during testing that people did not inherently move their devices around the augmented space and needed guidance to navigate the game. Most users were fascinated with the visuals of the game and two of the tested features. It was found that movement around the augmented space and feedback from the virtual content were critical aspects in creating a good user experience in augmented reality.