An empirical evaluation of user interfaces for a mobile video game

In this paper we empirically test the effectiveness and enjoyability of three user interfaces used to play an iPod Touch scroll shooter video game. Mobile devices are currently undergoing a surge in market penetration both in business and with consumers. These devices allow for user interface options such as touch screens and accelerometers, which are novel to mobile platforms and to large portions of the general public. To explore the effectiveness and enjoyability of these user interface options, the game was implemented with an accelerometer based interface, a touch screen based interface involving simulated buttons and a touch screen based interface involving finger gestures. The game has been formally tested with 36 human subjects each playing the game with each of the three interfaces. We present statistically significant results that the accelerometer based interface was the preferred interface and the interface in which participants performed best. We hope manufacturers will consider using the approach used in this paper to test user interfaces in-house before releasing them, since, as we show, it is inexpensive to obtain statistically significant results. We propose heuristics for mobile user interface design based on an analysis of the results and suggest an avenue for future work.