Cartography, location-based gaming and the legibility of mixed reality spaces

This paper presents a number of cartographic design solutions to the creation of a map for the mixed-reality location-based game ‘Pac-Lan: Zombie Apocalypse’. The research-purpose of this game is to explore ways in which players may be encouraged to become less reliant upon the device screen during gameplay, and so more fully engaged with the physical environment in which the game is played. In this paper we specifically consider approaches to designing the game-map in such a way as to discourage players from becoming solely reliant upon it for navigation, and instead interact more with their surroundings during gameplay. This paper therefore considers four maps as potential solutions for ‘Pac-Lan: Zombie Apocalypse’, which serve explore the use of abstract feature representation as a cartographic device to encourage player engagement with the landscape. A description of the design rationale for each of the maps is presented here, along with some preliminary findings from user evaluation of the maps against a defined set of design goals.