Extended reality sand table: a novel approach to world building in war games

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative approach aimed at seamlessly integrating physical and digital environments via World Building techniques employing a sand table, specifically designed for wargaming applications. By leveraging simulation and gamification, our approach broadens the scope of traditional wargaming, offering users a comprehensive and immersive gaming experience. We redefine the capabilities of physical sand tables by transforming them into platforms for creating digital virtual environments conducive to adversarial combat scenarios, facilitated through tangible user interface (TUI)-based interactions. Our system incorporates a diverse array of military-inspired tokens and instruments for manipulating the sand table, further extending into a metaverse reflective of the physical sand model. To enable these functionalities,the system harnesses cutting-edge technologies including machine learning, computer vision,and advanced graphics rendering, culminating in novel and engaging interactions. Through our work, we envision a new paradigm in wargaming that seamlessly merges the tangible and digital realms, offering users unprecedented levels of immersion and strategic depth.