Laser Lunacy! A Collaborative and Co-located Multiplayer Game Developing a Tool for Children to Practice Collaboration

Abstract: The development and spread of digital platforms have led to many new phenomena. Many of them positive, but many of them also negative. One such negative phenomenon is the increasing amount of time that children spend on platforms such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. Such isolation from social interactions with others can lead to underdeveloped social skills such as communicative and collaborative skills. It is for this reason that collaborative games have become a point of interest as they may be used as a tool for children to develop their social skills in an environment familiar and appealing to them. In this report, a detailed development process is presented of a co-located collaborative game for children which can be used in learning environments. The purpose of the project is to develop a tool in the form of a four-player game spanning over four tablets which allows children to practice and develop their collaborative skills. The game was developed through an iterative user-centred design process and based on previous studies about collaborative games and game design for children. The target demographic of the project consisted of children in ages of 10 through 12 years old and were involved in the design process through game testing. The project resulted in a temple-themed puzzle game in which each participating tablet made up a section of the game map. To complete the game the players had to use oneway directional blocks to redirect a laser from start to finish. The game idea was appreciated by the test players, however, an extensive number of bugs in the game prevented the players from fully enjoying the game experience. The game could potentially be a suitable tool for developing children’s collaborative skills, but to reach this conclusion more extensive and long-term research would be required.