Become the Beast: Exploring Human-Quadruped Locomotion for Exergames
Embodying non-human characters and exercising abdominal muscles are both underexplored in exergames. We address this by describing the design and evaluation of a novel human quadruped locomotion exergame, Become the Beast. In the game, the player lies supine on the ground and moves their arms and legs to control a quadrupedal character (a tiger), similar to common bodyweight abdominal muscle exercises such as the Bicycle Crunch. The motion tracking is computer vision-based, utilizing a Kinect sensor placed above the player, which makes our approach suitable for commercial premises such as indoor activity parks where a system needs to run unattended and without any wearable components. Our system extends embodied interaction beyond traditional bipedal or controller-based systems, demonstrating how natural limb movements can generate responsive and immersive quadrupedal motion within virtual environments. We conducted a user study (N=15) and utilized Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) to evaluate the system's intuitiveness, control, and overall player experience. The findings validate that natural body movements effectively control the avatar while delivering an intense core workout. Notably, gameplay immersion masked physical exertion, allowing rigorous core training to be primarily perceived as play.