ZeusAR: a process and an architecture to automate the development of augmented reality serious games

A software development process comprises all the steps necessary to produce a software product. This research proposes a new process for developing augmented reality serious games (ARSGs), which comprises three phases: analysis, configuration, and generation. The analysis phase involves examining the standard project structure of a typical serious game to identify the applicable actions to which AR content can be added. The configuration phase involves configuring the AR features and the AR library to be integrated into the game structure. Finally, the generation phase entails inserting the AR code in the game structure, as well as all the files necessary to in-corporate AR features in the game. Our process allows generating ARSGs step by step, both easily and rapidly. To implement this process, we propose an ARSG development software architecture. The underlying assumption of this architecture is that software development tools are essential validation elements of the software generation process. By implementing our ARSG development process through a software architecture, we provide users with a formal, automated method for creating ARSGs. The ARSG development process and the architecture, collectively called ZeusAR, are not dependent on specific software development technologies and/or programming languages. To perform a proof-of-concept of our process, we developed an ARSG generator tool based on the proposed architecture and conducted a case study in which geometry ARSGs are developed to help high school students learn about geometric shapes and their properties. We conducted a qualitative evaluation of the ZeusAR tool through a System-Usability-Scale (SUS) based survey, which was administered to a group of geometry teachers to evaluate the tool’s characteristics, such as ease of use and ease of configuration. Additionally, a group of software developers and professors assessed the performance of the ZeusAR tool in terms of game development time.