MAGIS: mobile augmented-reality games for instructional support

ABSTRACT

We present Mobile Augmented-Reality Games for Instructional Support (MAGIS), a framework for the development of mobile augmented-reality (AR) games for education. The framework supports off-the-shelf, state-of-the-art technologies that enable AR tracking and rendering on consumer-level mobile devices, and integrates these technologies with content-generation tools that simplify the development of educational AR games, especially those that extensively use narrative-based game design and player-location tracking such as location-based historical or museum adventure games. We use Igpaw: Intramuros, a proof-of-concept game developed using MAGIS, to help describe the current state of the framework and to show its efficacy for implementing outdoor location-based educational games, and we briefly outline future development plans to improve MAGIS’ AR support (especially those involving indoor scenarios) as well as to improve the instructional design and authoring phases of AR applications written using this framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Augmented reality
• game engines
• historical adventure games
• learning analytics
• location-based educational games

Acknowledgements

We thank our development team as listed in Igpaw: Intramuros’s credits page. Igpaw: Intramuros is available on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Eric Cesar E. Vidal, Jr. received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2001 and 2005, respectively. He was a faculty member at the Ateneo de Manila University from 2003 to 2008, and an artificial intelligence researcher at the National University of Singapore Games Lab from 2009 to 2014. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the Ateneo de Manila University, and is the lead programmer of Igpaw: Intramuros and its underlying MAGIS framework. His current research interests include augmented reality, serious games, computer graphics and artificial intelligence.

Jayzon F. Ty is currently a Master’s degree student at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), and is working under the Interactive Media Design Laboratory. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a specialization in Interactive Multimedia from the Ateneo de Manila University. Before going to NAIST, he worked as an assistant instructor and researcher at the Ateneo de Manila University, and was responsible for the development of the location-tracking and analytics modules of the MAGIS framework. His current research interests include augmented reality and computer graphics.

Nicko R. Caluya is currently under the Interactive Media Design Laboratory at Nara Institute of Science and Technology as a Master’s degree student. He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2013, with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, specializing in Interactive Multimedia. While working on the scripting, game design, and usability studies of Igpaw: Intramuros in the university, he was also teaching as an assistant instructor. He is interested in augmented reality, computer graphics, and game studies.

Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo is a Professor at the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science and the head of the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University in 2002, her Master’s degree in Applied Computer Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1992 and her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (honorable mention) from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1988. From 2003–2008, Dr. Rodrigo was the Chair of the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science and was also the Director of the Office of International Relations from 2009 to 2012. In 2008, Dr. Rodrigo was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow at the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. Dr. Rodrigo’s areas of interest are affective computing and artificial intelligence in Education. Dr. Rodrigo is the producer of the Igpaw: Intramuros game, the production of which prompted the development of the MAGIS framework.

ORCID

Eric Cesar E. Vidal, Jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1754-1877

Additional information

Funding

This work was initially made possible through a grant from the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) entitled “Design, Development and Deployment of An Augmented Reality Game for Philippine History”, and is currently being supported by a second grant from CHED entitled “Mobile Augmented Reality Game Engine for Instructional Support” as well as an Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) research scholarship grant to the main author of this article by the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology (DOST).