Abstract

Walking training is essential for the rehabilitation of lower limbs and overall health maintenance. With the progression in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, serious exergames incorporating these innovations are gaining popularity in walking training. These games create engaging and interactive environments or tasks to enhance user motivation, training volume, and quality. This study investigates an AR exergame aimed at increasing training volume and improving user experience during walking training. The game underwent extensive multidimensional validations and comparisons. The game includes two modes: “Target-by-Target Guidance”, where users collect sequentially appearing gems at random locations, and “Multi-Target Guidance”, where multiple gems appear at once, allowing users to collect them in any order. The study involved twelve participants who, after becoming familiar with the game, completed 5-minute walking sessions under three conditions: without the game, with Target-by-Target Guidance, and with Multi-Target Guidance. Participants also filled out the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) after each session with the order of conditions randomized. Results indicated that Multi-Target Guidance significantly outperformed Target-by-Target Guidance in terms of total walking distance and Positive affect in the GEQ. However, no significant differences were observed between the two modes in step length, step count, and other GEQ dimensions. Notably, both modes surpassed the “no game” condition in total walking distance and all GEQ dimensions, demonstrating the exergame’s effectiveness in enhancing training volume and user experience. The study’s insights into the superior benefits of Multi-Target Guidance provide valuable guidance for the design of similar serious exergames that focus on walking training through target-oriented tasks.