Collection of game states during a Megagame

Abstract: To study communication between people about solutions to combat climate change a megagame was created. The megagame is played like a boardgame with multiple boards which various pieces can be placed on. Players play different communities like farmers, elderly and politicians. To study the game the board needs to be tracked. The game goes through many changes to facilitate various tests and to develop the game further. Because of this a general solution is preferred. The solution this paper will investigate is a QR code based one. Various other solutions exist such as computer vision and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). These solutions have pros and cons. To track pieces on the board a camera is mounted above the board filming the boards tracking QR codes. The data is sent to a central system which combines it with other monitoring systems creating a CSV file. The CSV file can be used by researchers and game developers to track how the game progresses. Results show that the system works and fulfills the needs, but the data needs to be filtered to reduce false information. This paper will discuss difficulties and solutions for implementing a QR code scanner with the purpose of tracking game pieces. Ways to further develop the solution will also be discussed.