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Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning

IMCL 2017: Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning pp 201–212Cite as

An Overview of Location-Based Game Authoring Tools for Education

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Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 725))

Abstract

Nowadays, computer literacy is common at a very early age. As mobile devices and new social communication trends are increasingly integrating in the modern digital lifestyle new opportunities arise for harnessing this potential for innovative serious purposes. Location-based games that layer educational activities with game play can help players gain a new perspective through active engagement. In this paper, a range of key issues for implementing location based games for educational purposes using the two most commonly used open source authoring tools ARIS and TaleBlazer are presented. Although the reviewed authoring tools vary in functionality, they share a fairly common conceptual model and in both cases the software architecture is comprised of the same components. Both platforms provide the required game mechanics to create sophisticated gameplay interactions and game logic extension. However, a number of issues should be carefully considered. The conceptual models are analyzed with a critical view, pointing out limitations and challenges that can inform the design and implementation of next generation authoring tools.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.celekt.info/projects/show/14.

  2. 2.

    http://waag.org/en/project/games-atelier.

  3. 3.

    http://gameslab.radford.edu/ROAR/.

  4. 4.

    http://www.totem-games.org/.

  5. 5.

    http://www.magellanproject.eu/.

  6. 6.

    http://7scenes.com.

  7. 7.

    http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore.

  8. 8.

    http://www.arisgames.org.

  9. 9.

    http://taleblazer.org.

  10. 10.

    https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon.

  11. 11.

    https://vuforia.com/, https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/courses/aris-ar.

  12. 12.

    https://ionicframework.com/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Spyridon Xanthopoulos & Stelios Xinogalos

Authors
  1. Spyridon Xanthopoulos
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  2. Stelios Xinogalos
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Correspondence to Spyridon Xanthopoulos .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria

    Michael E. Auer

  2. Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos

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Xanthopoulos, S., Xinogalos, S. (2018). An Overview of Location-Based Game Authoring Tools for Education. In: Auer, M., Tsiatsos, T. (eds) Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning. IMCL 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 725. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75175-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75175-7_21

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75175-7

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