An experimental protocol to access immersiveness in video games

In the video game industry, great importance is given to the experience that the user has while playing a game. In particular, this experience benefits from the players' perceived sense of being in the game or immersion. The level of user immersion depends not only on the game's content but also on how the game is displayed, thus on its User Interface (UI) and the Head's-Up Display (HUD). Another factor influencing immersiveness that has been found in the literature is the player's expertise: the more experience the user has with a specific game, the less they need information on the screen to be immersed in the game. Player's level of immersion can be accessed by using both questionnaires of their perceived experience and exploiting their behavioural and physiological responses while playing the target game. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an experimental protocol to access immersiveness of gamers while playing a third-person shooter (Fortnite) with UIs with a standard, a dietetic, and a proposed HUD. A subjective evaluation of the immersion will be provided by completing the Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ), while objective indicators will be provided by face tracking, behaviour and physiological responses analyses. The ultimate goal of this study is to define guidelines for video game UI development that can enhance the players' immersion.Comment: Accepted at the Italian Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Human Machine Interaction (AIxHMI 2023), November 06, 2023, Rome, Ital

Validation of the GUESS-18: A Short Version of the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS)

The Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS) is a 55-item tool assessing nine constructs describing video game satisfaction. While the development of the GUESS followed best practices and resulted in a versatile, comprehensive tool for assessing video game user experience, responding to 55 items can be cumbersome in situations where repeated assessments are necessary. The aim of this research was to develop a shorter version of the scale for use in iterative game design, testing, and research. Two studies were conducted: the first one to create a configural model of the GUESS that was then truncated to an 18-item short scale to establish an initial level of validity and a second study with a new sample to demonstrate cross-sample validity of the 18- item GUESS scale. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis of the 18-item scale demonstrated excellent fit and construct validity to the original nine construct instrument. Use of the GUESS-18 is encouraged as a brief, practical, yet comprehensive measure of video game satisfaction for practitioners and researchers

Biometric storyboards: a games user research approach for improving qualitative evaluations of player experience

Developing video games is an iterative and demanding process. It is difficult to achieve the goal of most video games — to be enjoyable, engaging and to create revenue for game developers — because of many hard-to-evaluate factors, such as the different ways players can interact with the game. Understanding how players behave during gameplay is of vital importance to developers and can be uncovered in user tests as part of game development. This can help developers to identify and resolve any potential problem areas before release, leading to a better player experience and possibly higher game review scores and sales. However, traditional user testing methods were developed for function and efficiency oriented applications. Hence, many traditional user testing methods cannot be applied in the same way for video game evaluation. This thesis presents an investigation into the contributions of physiological measurements in user testing within games user research (GUR). GUR specifically studies the interaction between a game and users (players) with the aim to provide feedback for developers to help them to optimise the game design of their title. An evaluation technique called Biometric Storyboards is developed, which visualises the relationships between game events, player feedback and changes in a player’s physiological state. Biometric Storyboards contributes to the field of human-computer interaction and GUR in three important areas: (1) visualising mixedmeasures of player experience, (2) deconstructing game design by analysing game events and pace, (3) incremental improvement of classic user research techniques (such as interviews and physiological measurements). These contributions are described in practical case studies, interviews with game developers and laboratory experiments. The results show this evaluation approach can enable games user researchers to increase the plausibility and persuasiveness of their reports and facilitate developers to better deliver their design goals. Biometric Storyboards is not aimed at replacing existing methods, but to extend them with mixed methods visualisations, to provide powerful tools for games user researchers and developers to better understand and communicate player needs, interactions and experiences. The contributions of this thesis are directly applicable for user researchers and game developers, as well as for researchers in user experience evaluation in entertainment systems

Kinesthetic in a classic video game

Treball final de Grau en Disseny i Desenvolupament de Videojocs. Codi: VJ1241. Curs acadèmic: 2017/2018Nowadays, video games have become a fundamental part of entertainment for people of all ages. Every time video game companies invoice more money and can produce bigger and more complete works. However, due to the large number of companies dedicated to the creation of video games, it is inevitable that very similar games are launched on the market through the years. At this point, it is the small details that make the difference between one video game and another. The details that can produce a better immersion of the user and produce a better game feeling are a fundamental part in the popularity of a video game. These elements are called "kinesthetic" and are essential to highlight a video game compared to similar ones and produce a better reaction of the players. This document presents the technical propose for a TFG in a Video game Dessign and Development degree. This proposal consists in the development of a multiplayer video game for computer platform with classic mechanics like Pong, including different kinesthetic elements and modifications in order to produce an attractive game experience. In order to achieve this goal, this project will include effects making use of shaders, particles, sound effects, post-processing, animations and camera movements in the Unity 3D engine

Experience requirements

Video game development is a high-risk effort with low probability of success. The interactive nature of the resulting artifact increases production complexity, often doing so in ways that are unexpected. New methodologies are needed to address issues in this domain. Video game development has two major phases: preproduction and production. During preproduction, the game designer and other members of the creative team create and capture a vision of the intended player experience in the game design document. The game design document tells the story and describes the game - it does not usually explicitly elaborate all of the details of the intended player experience, particularly with respect to how the player is intended to feel as the game progresses. Details of the intended experience tend to be communicated verbally, on an as-needed basis during iterations of the production effort. During production, the software and media development teams attempt to realize the preproduction vision in a game artifact. However, the game design document is not traditionally intended to capture production-ready requirements, particularly for software development. As a result, there is a communications chasm between preproduction and production efforts that can lead to production issues such as excessive reliance on direct communication with the game designer, difficulty scoping project elements, and difficulty in determining reasonably accurate effort estimates. We posit that defining and capturing the intended player experience in a manner that is influenced and informed by established requirements engineering principles and techniques will help cross the communications chasm between preproduction and production. The proposed experience requirements methodology is a novel contribution composed of: a model for the elements that compose experience requirements, a framework that provides guidance for expressing experience requirements, and an exemplary process for the elicitation, capture, and negotiation of experience requirements. Experience requirements capture the designer' s intent for the user experience; they represent user experience goals for the artifact and constraints upon the implementation and are not expected to be formal in the mathematical sense. Experience requirements are evolutionary in intent - they incrementally enhance and extend existing practices in a relatively lightweight manner using language and representations that are intended to be mutually acceptable to preproduction and to production

Value co-creation in the video game industry

Purpose. The process of value creation is rapidly shifting from a product- and firm-centric view to personalized consumer experiences. Networked and active consumers are increasingly co-creating value with the firm. This paper aims at contributing to the evidence on unpaid competing complementors and on network effects by asking how a form of creation that is user-driven and not motivated by sales incentives, impacts on producers\u2019 sales. The video game industry, where the so-called \u201cmodders\u201d provide free contents (\u201cmods\u201d) that improve the video game experience, provides an excellent field of study. Methodology. The video games demand function and the supply of new mods, in the retail video game market, are modelled. A system of equations is estimated by applying an instrumental-variables approach to account for possible endogeneity biases and uncover causal relationship. Findings. The creation of new mods increases video game retail sales. The more popular is a video game title, the higher are the sales. The video game demand elasticity is attenuated by the continuous creation of new mods. Practical implications This paper shows that direct and indirect network effects between video games and mods take place even with unpaid competing complementors and that (even) traditional distribution outlets can benefit from them. Originality/value. The paper quantifies the effect that the creation of mods exerts on sales and on price elasticity. Weekly (instead of monthly) time periods provide a period short enough to capture the short development cycles of mods and small and rapid responses of user demand

Video games reviewed as framing tool for political actor in petualangan Jokowi games

Digitalization created new development in the interactive model used by political actors. One of the models is video games as a propaganda tool for electoral interest. This study tries to elaborate on the role of a video game called “Petualangan Jokowi.” This study used Political Campaigning Games (PCG) framework with game analysis as the primary method with textual and user experience approach by the casual gamers. This study showed that the video game “Petualangan Jokowi” on advergames definition based on textual approach is a by-design game for promoting Joko Widodo and another political actor inside the games to casual gamers. This game succeeds in partially framing the political actors’ characters who will be the focus inside Petualangan Jokowi. But the casual gamers are distressed to get the political message which is shown by the symbol and the story because of the shortcoming of development in content and functionality. This study also indicates casual gamers do not want to stick outplayed Petualangan Jokowi because there is no incentive for casual gamers to play Petualangan Jokowi for a long time. This factor implies the not effectively framing process because the casual gamers only received partial political messages based on lack of experience played Petualangan Jokowi.

Effects of Graphical Style and Location on Video Game Art

Video games are an interesting collection of visual elements, ranging from 3D animation to character design and user interface design. Audio-visual aspects are a core part of any video game, since they captivate the player’s attention, create atmosphere, and make the game memorable. However, video games are not usually viewed as an art form, and research on video game visual style is limited. This study aims to research art style and visual design of video games, focusing more specifically on character design. Graphical styles of video games have evolved a lot, from the pixelated shapes of the earliest video games to nearly photorealistic dimensions with modern devices. This study introduces one possible categorization of graphical styles in video games, which includes the stylistic, realistic, and abstract styles. Later, video games are grouped into two sets by their location of origin, followed by analysis on location’s effect on the game’s art style. Small research was conducted as a part of this study, where a game was developed using three different art styles. The game was then surveyed by a test group, and results from the survey were analysed from the point of game art style and its effect on player’s gaming experience. Due to problems in game development and small sample size, results of this study are not conclusive, but some patterns in players’ preference are found

A sound idea: An investigation into accessible video game design for the deaf and hard of hearing

A widely accepted, and incorrect, assumption towards hearing accessibility in video games is that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users are those who encounter the least barriers and are generally well catered for. Rapid advancement in video game technology has seen video game sound evolve from simple blips generated by internal circuitry to fully realised digital audio used to convey critical information. To accommodate the DHH, this information needs to be conveyed in an alternative manner. However, evidence suggests existing accessible design solutions for the DHH lack specificity and are insufficient. Thus, the inability to hear, or hear well, has historically resulted in DHH users left with impeded experience and gameplay. This thesis describes an investigation to address the primary research question: How might accessible video game design practices be facilitated to better accommodate the deaf and hard of hearing? To examine this question, an action research method as part of a transformative mixed methods methodology was used. Data collection procedures included critical analysis of literature, observations, and a cross-sectional self-administered survey for triangulation. The critical analysis of literature exposed issues relating to accessible video game design, particularly in relation to the identification of solutions and technical implementation. Further, issues related to the classification of video game software were identified. This posed potential problems with identification of game design methods and led to the development of a new video game classification model. The new model informed an analysis on the methods used for the design of video games, and results were visually represented and mapped to the different approaches to accessible design. Subsequent analysis determined that a game assessment framework is a suitable approach to facilitating accessible design. Further investigation identified visual feedback as the most suitable form of complementary feedback to game audio. This led to the development of a new model to classify visual feedback elements used in video games, and identification of audio feedback categories based on diegetic film theory. Through triangulation of results, a new game feedback model (GFM) was developed. The GFM was used for observational experimentation to identify and classify individual visual feedback elements used in video games. Each element was analysed and mapped to categories of game sound. The resulting model, with populated data, was used to determine what visual feedback elements may be used to complement specific categories of critical game audio. A survey was subsequently used for triangulation, and resulted in amendments to the final model. Through iterative development, and interpretation of findings, the research culminated in the development of a game assessment framework. The three-step framework aids in the classification of game sounds; assesses the impact of those game sounds; and provides recommendations for complementary visual feedback elements for sounds identified as having an adverse impact on user experience and gameplay if they were to be removed. The framework is innovative and has the potential to provide practical guidance for developers of video games. In addition, this research provides the foundation for future research, with the potential to influence accessible game design for the DHH