Rapid prototyping of location-based games with the multi-user publishing environment application platform

Location-Based Applications (LBA) react and adapt to changes in the environment of a user. Building LBAs, however, is a time consuming task, and a lot of effort needs to be put to the infrastructure supporting the development process. In this paper, a framework for rapid prototyping of location-based games (and applications) with the Multi-User Publishing Environment (MUPE) application platform is presented. The application platform allows developers to quickly prototype game ideas, and concentrate on the content of the games and game logic, rather than technology. The platform is further studied with a 24 hour development session, in which the developers were able to produce many functioning game applications in the given time frame.