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Running head: LAB 1 – WAR OF BRAWNS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1

Lab 1 – War of Brawns Product Description

April McIntire

Old Dominion University

CS 411W

Professor Brunelle

07 February 2020

Version 4

LAB 1 – WAR OF BRAWNS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION2

Table of Contents

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................3

2. War of Brawns Product Description........................................................................................4

2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities..................................................................................6

2.2 Major Functional Components...............................................................................................9

3. Identification of Case Study...................................................................................................11

4. War of Brawns Prototype Description...................................................................................11

4.1 Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software)......................................................................12

4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities.....................................................................................13

4.3 Prototype Development and Challenges..............................................................................15

Glossary.........................................................................................................................................16

References......................................................................................................................................18

List of Figures

Figure 1 – War of Brawns Solution Process Flow ……………………………………………….6

Figure 2 – War of Brawns GUI …………………………………………………………………..7

Figure 3 – War of Brawns MFCD ………………………………………………………………10

Figure 4 – War of Brawns Product vs. Prototype Functionality ………………………………...12

List of Tables

Table 1 - Real World Product vs. Prototype Functionality...........................................................13


Lab 1 – War of Brawns Product Description

1. Introduction

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), gaming addiction was defined in

the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases as “a pattern of gaming behavior

characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other

activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and

continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.” In order

to be diagnosed with a gaming addiction, a person must show 12 months of severe symptoms,

including prioritizing gaming over work, education and social relationships. Overall, there are

roughly 1.2 billion gamers around the world and about 75 million people suffer from gaming

addiction. In the gaming world, there are 50% male gamers and 48% female gamers. When it

comes to gaming addiction, the gender breakdown is 94% male and 6% female. Thus, making

males more at risk for developing a gaming addiction.

When a person is playing a game, the levels of dopamine increase in the brain, especially

when the gamer succeeds in a quest or reclaims a reward. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter; it is a

chemical that is responsible for transmitting signals between the nerve cells of the brain.

Dopamine increases when something good happens and leaves you with a pleasant sensation.

This pleasant sensation can become addicting and leads to compulsive behavior and the inability

to stop the activity that causes a surge of dopamine.


Research shows that gaming disorders can be linked with obesity, headaches, backaches,

difficulty sleeping and carpel tunnel syndrome (Gaming Addiction Statistics, 2019). Gaming

addicts usually become physically inactive for a long period of time; this increases the risk of

obesity. Video gamers are also at risk to experience more headaches and dizziness due to

eyestrain by extensive staring at a screen. Playing games at night affects the gamers ability to fall

asleep after increased physiological arousal and cognitive alertness. Backaches are caused by

long periods of sitting down with bad posture that causes muscle strain. Lastly, due to repetitive

motion in the hands a gamer is at risk of getting carpel tunnel syndrome which is a pain and

numbness in the hand and arm.

The gamer is the one that is directly affected by gaming addiction. They are the ones that

suffer from the negative consequences. However, as with most addictions, the addict is not the

only one involved. Gaming addiction also affects loved ones. This could result to emotional

strain, damaged relationships and isolation.

When immersed in a virtual world, a person’s mind is disconnected from their body. In

other words, the mind is occupied by the game and is unaware of their body’s normal signals. So,

they can either mindlessly overeat while gaming, or overeat after the gaming session ends. Both

situations are unhealthy and lead to weight gain.

2. War of Brawns Product Description

War of Brawns is a mobile application that focuses on engaging video gamers in a

fantasy Role-Playing-Game (RPG) where the storyline and character progression rely solely on

the user’s physical activity. This will help users to incorporate healthy diet and exercise habits in

their lifestyle that is being neglected due to video game addiction.


War of Brawns can track workout challenges and diet choices to show the user their

progression and to motivate them to continue. Once succeeding a workout challenge, the gamer

receives in game rewards such as a special item or currency. The goal is to use common video

game design techniques to make the video game addicting, so the user feels the need to complete

workout challenges to proceed in the game. War of Brawns will not help video game addiction,

but it will use that compulsive behavior to combat the negative side effects of gaming addiction.

When someone has an addiction to something, it is a psychological and physical inability

to stop doing that something. When an addict is forced to stop their addiction, it is a miserable

experience and a long journey for the addict and all those that are involved. There is a way to

take that compulsive need to game and manifest it in a healthier way. The gamer’s need to

progress and succeed in War of Brawns is highly dependent on becoming active. The gamer is

still contributing to their compulsive behavior of needing to game but is away from the console

and participating in a healthier activity.

An important aspect of War of Brawns to be successful, is to create a game that is

enjoyable for the gamer. People play games because they enjoy them, if it is not an enjoyable

experience it’s not worth the physical labor the game requires to proceed. The game must be so

enjoyable that the players have a feeling of ‘wanting more’ that encourages them to continually

be physically active to progress in the game. In conclusion, the game must have addicting

qualities.

Incorporating a healthy diet and exercise habits into a gaming addicts’ lifestyle is the

main purpose of War of Brawns. When the gamer creates an account, they can track their diet

and exercise. When the gamer succeeds in accomplishing an exercising challenge or tracks a

healthy meal, they receive an in-game reward. The rewards keep the gamer constantly interested


in making healthier lifestyle decisions. To better visualize the solution War of Brawns provides,

the solution process flow is located below in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - War of Brawns Solution Process Flow

2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities

War of Brawns will have a client GUI to allow users to interact with the application. A

user cannot access the application unless an account is created. Upon creation of an account, War

of Brawns will ask for biometrics such as weight, height and age to calculate a daily caloric

intake that is healthy for the user. Once an account is created, the user will have full access to the

application. There is a main navigation bar at the bottom of the interface that allows the user to

toggle between different pages. These pages include: Home, Progress, Diet Journal, Settings,

Workout Challenges, and the Gaming Interface. Figure 2 shows a basic layout of the War of

Brawns GUI.


The Home page displays the avatar created by the user, the username and all the different

level STATS the player has. STATS are certain skills or abilities a character in game may have.

For example, a character with a speed skill of 4 will go twice as fast as character with the speed

skill of 2. The STATS listed are Armor Class, Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and Speed. Armor

Class defines how well a character can take a hit. There is Strength, which tells how strong a

character is, which allows a character to carry more items and attack harder. Dexterity measures

agility, mainly for dodging attacks. Stamina is the energy that allows a character to sustain

physical effort for long periods of time such as running or attacking. Speed is how fast the

character can move.

The Progress page displays the progression of the user and how close they are to their

goal. It has a visual graph that tracks the progress of the user over time, and it also displays that

Figure 2- War of Brawns GUI


information underneath the graph as text. The information included will be start weight, current

weight and goal weight.

The Diet journal notifies the user of how many calories they are allotted each day and

shows a status bar of how many calories are left for the day. This page also allows users to track

the food they consume. They can enter in the information by entering it in manually or searching

for a certain type of food.

The Settings page allows the user to perform the normal settings operations such as

changing user information or changing passwords. A key feature on this page is the avatar

customization. Avatar customization is the component that allows you to change how the

character looks in game. Hair color, hair length, eye color, clothes, armor, and skin color are all

options that will be adjustable in War of Brawns.

All users have Experience Points. When a user completes a workout challenge, they are

rewarded a certain amount of points. The amount of Experience Points awarded are dependent

on how difficult a challenge is. As the challenges increase with difficulty, the more Experience

Points the gamer receives. Experience Points are the only way to increase a character skill. There

is a certain amount of Experience Points that allows a user to increase a skill of their choice.

The Challenges page allows the user to select a preset challenge or create a custom

challenge. Each challenge lists the amount of Experience Points that will be given upon

completion. Each workout has two options: to view a tutorial or to track the exercise. When

tracking an exercise, War of Brawns shows either the ECG or GPS data. The ECG is a device

that monitors a heart rate. This capability is provided through a smart watch. Each exercise has a

target heart rate that the user must achieve to verify they are doing that exercise. The ECG


interface has a heart rate monitor screen and a clock. This clock displays how long you have

been tracking and how long you have achieved the heart rate goal for that specific exercise. The

GPS interface tracks how long and how fast you are when running or performing an exercise that

requires moving at a specific rate.

The Gaming page allows the gamer to explore the game world, go to different places

such as Blacksmiths, Stores, and Towers. When visiting a blacksmith, a character can salvage or

forge weapons and armor. A character receives iron when they buy it or salvage it from a

damaged weapon. The store is where a user can sell or buy items such as potions, weapons, and

armor. All of this is dependent on how much currency a player has. Currency can be rewarded

through challenges or completing a quest in game. Towers are the places that allows the gamer to

select a specific dungeon. The dungeon is where all the combat takes place in. There are different

dungeons throughout the game that increase with difficulty as the game progresses. In the game,

there is a main menu that allows a user to change armor or weapons and view their inventory

which includes all their items and currency.

2.2 Major Functional Components

The War of Brawns major components include a smartphone for playing the game,

databases which store gamer and nutritional information, APIs that interact with third party

software, and the option of an external ECG device to verify workouts.

The only hardware needed to use this app, is a smart phone where you can download and

play the game. A smartphone allows the user to perform exercises that can be tracked through

their GPS, such as running or an exercise that requires a distance to be covered or a speed to


maintain. A smart watch is encouraged, because it can be used to track exercises that a GPS

system in a phone cannot. The ECG in a smart watch is used to track a user’s heartbeat to ensure

they are performing a certain exercise. The Major Functional Components Diagram (MFCD),

shown in figure 3, describes how all major components of the system work together.

Figure 3 - War of Brawns MFCD

Unity and Visual Studio will be the two programs used to create the interface for War of

Brawns. Unity will mostly be used for the gameplay component and Visual Studio will be used

for the application interface. The two mobile operating systems War of Brawns will be available

on are iOS and Android. Various APIs will be used to interact and manage the smartwatch ECG,

the GPS, and the nutrition database. The database for War of Brawns will be developed with

FireBase.


3. Identification of Case Study

The Real-World Product of War of Brawns is targeted for gaming addicts. WOB

motivates the gamer to make healthier lifestyle decisions. The gameplay is designed for the

gamer to become addicted. In order to progress in the game, the gamer needs Experience Points.

In order to gain Experience Points, the gamer must complete a workout challenge. This process

motivates the gamer to continue completing workout challenges to succeed in the game. War of

Brawns also has the potential to be used by fitness enthusiasts and regular gamers. Fitness

enthusiasts will use the application to track their fitness progress and to represent that progress

through a virtual world. General gamers, that do not suffer from addiction, will use the

application if they are interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle or want to experience the

engaging and interactive gameplay that is specific to War of Brawns.

The prototype has limited capabilities compared to the Real-World Product. The main

purpose of the prototype is to demonstrate how a gamer’s completed workout challenges can

contribute to advancing in game. The demonstration is done by simulating ECG and GPS data to

verify a workout is completed. When the workout is completed, the gamer gains Experience

Points that can be used to further advance in the game.

4. War of Brawns Prototype Description

The War of Brawns prototype will be like the real-world product, but with minor

limitations. The prototype development was highly influenced by showing the correlation

between working out and how it affected gameplay. Anything that was an extra that was

designed to enhance gameplay is either semi-functional or not functional. The War of Brawns

Prototype’s main purpose is to show how a gamer could get addicted to the game in order to


continue completing workout challenges, so our focus was on three areas: Workout challenges,

gameplay, and the communication between the two.

4.1 Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software)

The prototype for War of Brawns will be designed for android smartphones and tablets.

Visual Studio will be used to create the GUI. Design and integration for the game aspect of the

application will be developed within Unity and Visual Studio. The primary language used for

game and GUI development will be c#. Firebase will be used to manage all the application’s

databases which will be implemented in JavaScript. The GPS tracking will be implemented

through a Google Maps API. Figure 4 shows a visual representation of the War of Brawns

Prototype MFCD (Major Functional Component Diagram).

Figure 4 - War of Brawns Prototype MFCD


4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities

The goal of War of Brawns is to help gamers achieve a healthy lifestyle. The goal of the

prototype is to demonstrate how working out benefits the gameplay, therefor persuading gamers

to continue. In order to achieve this, most of the RWP features will either be functional or

partially functional in the prototype. Features that are not included in the prototype are: Account

Creation, Avatar Creation, Blacksmith, Workout Tutorials, Nutritional Database, and the GPS

API. The rest of the application will be fully functional. In table 1, it clearly states which aspects

of the application will be functional, partially functional, simulated, or not functional.

Functional Element RWP PrototypeAccount Creation page Functional Not functional - Only show display of pageLogin page Functional FunctionalHome Page Functional Functional

Options Page FunctionalPartially functional - options will be displayed, but not active

Avatar Creation FunctionalNot functional - Default avatar will only be displayed to demonstrate prototype

Challenges Page FunctionalPartially functional - will include compiled exercises, but not a whole database

Diet Journal Page FunctionalPartially functional - Page and functionality will be displayed

Weight Progression Page FunctionalFunctional - Fake data will be used to display functionality

Gaming HUD Functional Functional - limited displayIn Game Menu Functional Functional - limited optionsBlacksmith Functional Not FunctionalStore Functional Functional - limited itemsTower Functional Functional - limited (one dungeon)Gaming Controls Functional FunctionalSuggests daily caloric intake Functional FunctionalInput of Gamer information into database Functional

Functional - Fake data is stored already, but new data can be inputted through options page

Workout Tutorials Functional Not functional - Page will be displayedTracking in-game rewards of gamer Functional FunctionalVerification interpretation of accountability of gamer Functional

Partially Functional - uses simulated data of the gamers heart rate, but won't use google maps api


Post-exercise XP distribution for gamer stats Functional FunctionalTracking of gamers diet journal data Functional Functional

Creation of custom meal entry FunctionalFunctional - Page and functionality will be displayed

Creation of custom workout challenge Functional Not functionalCombat system Functional FunctionalCharacter inventory and equipment Functional Functional - limited items and equipmentEnemy AI Functional Functional - limitedUsage of Nutritional database for food data in diet journal Functional

Not functional - fake data will be used to display functionality

Stores body measurements FunctionalFunctional - Fake data is stored already, but new data can be inputted through options page

Tracks weight progress FunctionalFunctional - Fake data is stored already, but new data can be inputted through options page

Tracks calorie intake Functional Functional - limited with preset dataStores player stats Functional FunctionalStores player inventory Functional FunctionalTracks player progression Functional FunctionalStores player credentials Functional Functional - limited using preset(one user) data

Administrator Account FunctionalFunctional - will allow the administrator to change values of gamers in database

Blacklisting of gamers Functional Not functionalUsage of smartwatch ECG to track heart rate Functional Simulated - use simulated data of smartwatch ECGUsage of smartphone Google maps API to track location Functional Not functionalIntegration of sounds and music Functional Functional

Table 1 - War of Brawns RWP vs Prototype

Five features of the game will only be partially functional. These features are the Store,

Tower, Options page, Challenges page, and Diet Journal. The Store will only have a small

selection to choose from. Just enough items to demonstrate how your coins that were received

from workout challenges can be used to purchase new items. The Tower is an important part of

the game, since it is where the gamer can use all their combat skills that were gained from

workout challenges. The Tower is partially functional because instead of having a large variety

of dungeons to choose from, it will only have one dungeon available. The Options page will have


a visual placeholder but will not be functional. The Challenges page will only have variety of

challenges to choose from but will not have the complete database of exercises from the RWP.

The Diet Journal will not have the entire nutritional database to choose from, only a few select

food items will be available.

Instead of using a smartwatch to receive the ECG data, it will be simulated. This data will

be modified to look the same as data that is retrieved from a smartwatch. The use of simulated

ECG data for the prototype allows for controlled test cases to be used for demonstration

purposes.

4.3 Prototype Development and Challenges

There are many challenges that are involved in the development of the War of Brawns

prototype. The most obvious, is the time constraint. Within War of Brawns, there are two things

that need to be developed: The application and the game. Developing the GUI will be faster and

easier than the game design. Game design is more challenging and tedious because of the lack of

knowledge within the team and the amount of art that needs to be completed. The biggest

challenge is the simulated ECG data and the analysis of that data. This area requires research and

examining of existing data. There are many combinations of different heart rates that need to be

considered to successfully identify when a person is exercising or not. This is all dependent on a

person’s age, weight, and fitness level. The algorithm responsible for analyzing the ECG data

correctly is what will make War of Brawns successful. If the ECG data is analyzed incorrectly,

the app could potentially create false positives when checking if the user is exercising or not.

Due to time constraints, War of Brawns will only be accessible on Android. It will not be

supported on iOs or web application platforms.


Glossary

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The number of calories required to keep the body functioning at

rest. Essentially, how many calories are burned in a day not including physical activity.

Electrocardiogram (ECG): A test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat. With

each beat, an electrical impulse (or “wave”) travels through the heart.

Experience Points (XP): A unit of measurement to quantify an avatar’s progression through a

game. Once a sufficient amount of experience points are accumulated, the player or a certain

statistic “levels up”. The higher the level, the stronger the avatar.

Game Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial intelligence is used to generate responsive,

adaptive or intelligent behaviors primarily in non-player characters similar to human-like

intelligence.

Game Avatar: A personalized graphical illustration that represents a computer user, or a

character or alter ego that represents that user.

Gaming Disorder: Pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior in which people lose

control of their gaming behavior, give priority to gaming over other interests and activities, and

continue gaming despite negative consequences, such as impairments in their family

relationships, social lives, work duties or other areas.

Heads Up Display (HUD): The display area where players can see their character's vital

statistics such as current health, bonus attributes, armor level, ammunition count, and more.

Mifflin: St Jeor Formula - Formula that calculates BMR from age, sex, height, and weight

Role-playing Game (RPG): Type of game in which players assume the roles of characters.


Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE): The total amount of calories burned in a day

including basic body functions and physical activity.

[This space left intentionally blank]


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