Physics-based gaming: exploring touch vs. mid-air gesture input

Physics-based games, like Cut the Rope, have become very popular and are now available on different operating systems with different input modalities. In a user study with 20 children aged 11 to 14 years, we investigated the differences in player experience when playing Cut the Rope on the tablet with touch gestures and on the computer with mid-air gestures using a Leap Motion. The quantitative data from the questionnaire revealed no substantial differences regarding the player experience, which might be due to the novelty effect of the Leap Motion mid-air gestures. However, the observations indicated several problems of accuracy and orientation when playing the game with mid-air gestures. This is due to the lack of hardware-based physical feedback when interacting with the Leap Motion and results in a different affordance that has to be considered in future physics-based game design using mid-air gestures.