Game Changer: Designing Co-Located Games that Utilize Player Proximity

The Game Changer Suite is a collection of multiplayer game prototypes developed to explore cooperative and competitive gameplay in a co-located setting. In particular, the game mechanics employed by each of the Game Changer prototypes utilize the respective proximity of players to encourage them either to work together or compete against each other in different scenarios. Although preliminary gameplay analysis suggests that the utilization of player proximity is effective in fostering player awareness and safety in a co-located game, unintended player behavior was also observed that may require further measures.