Pervasive Games as Web-applications: A Case Study based on a Laser Game

With the amazing success of PokemonGo, pervasive games have definitely caught the attention of the entire world. Their game experience is characterized by the fusion of real and virtual elements. In order to be able to extend the virtual world into the real one, such games have to access the mobile devices sensors like GPS and camera. For this reason, they are implemented as native or hybrid mobile applications. Contrary to this trend, in this paper we present Shoot Them All, a pervasive game implemented as a web application. In Shoot Them All, players have to hit the opponents, trying, at the same time, not to get hit. The battlefield is the real world, while the guns are virtual, as an extension of players' mobile devices. We were able to successfully developed such a game thanks to the availability of Javascript APIs that allow to access and manage device sensors. The success of this case study highlight how these technologies are mature enough, opening the door to web pervasive games.