Providing both physical and perceived affordances using physical games pieces on touch based tablets

Whilst capacitive touch screen phones and tablets, such as the iPhone and iPad, are increasingly becoming one of the main forms of gaming platform, the nature of the touch interface and the lack of physical feedback are seen as limitations. In this research we investigate how physical game pieces can be used to augment tablet games to provide both physical and perceived affordance through direct tangible interaction. After devising a scheme for the creation of such games pieces that can support both static and dynamic interaction, the concept is demonstrated through the creation of an air hockey game that uses an iPad as the table and is played with physical air hockey mallets that interact with the iPad surface and a virtual puck. Not only are the physical hockey mallets perceived to add considerably to the enjoyment of the game, such game pieces can be easily created using 3D printing and conductive cloth to provide a range of functionality..