Navigating in 3D space with a handheld flexible device

• Bend gestures in deformable devices are an interesting alternative for game input.
• 3D navigation tasks can be completed with bend gestures.
• Console inspired bend gesture set offers better user experience.
• Gestures paired by location were preferred by participants.

Prototypes for handheld, flexible devices are becoming popular in the research community. We explore opportunities in the domain of mobile gaming with flexible devices, by focusing on deformable inputs to control navigation in 3D virtual environments. We compare two sets of bend gestures to control a first person camera in a 3D maze, one inspired by console game controllers, and the other inspired by PC game controls (i.e. mouse and keyboard). Our results shows that users prefer the set inspired by the console controller: moving forward and backwards mapped to the top left corner, turning to the top right corner, and strafing to the bottom right corner. This results in lower wall collisions and an overall better user experience. We propose design recommendations to create deformable game controls in 3D spaces.