Module: AG0982A - Creative Research

This blog documents my 3rd year research project at Abertay University. The focus of my research is on video game progression, tutorial design, and how to teach the player. My vision statement could be stated as such:

A game often needs to gradually introduce its mechanics and skills to the player. This needs to be done at such a pace that the player is neither anxious nor bored, and needs to be clear without sacrificing challenge. How can this balance be achieved? To investigate this, I've created a simple puzzle game, and released it to a sample of players. I can use data from their feedback to improve my game.

This issue came to my interest when I noticed that many games do a superb job of gradually teaching a player how to master a complicated system (such as Portal), while many other - often more complicated - games are lacking in comfortable and effective tutorship (such as Crusader Kings II), forcing players to resort to online wiki reading, and YouTube guides.

Thursday 7 April 2016

Jenova Chen's flOw

Jenova Chen - co-founder of thatgamecompany, creator of Journey and Flower - began his career with his thesis on flow; the very same principle that I'm using to guide my investigation into difficulty progression. He underwent his research by creating a 2D game that featured levels of increasing difficulty, and the ability for players to move between these levels freely. The game was an experiment in Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment.

As with my game, Chen was attempting to create a game that generated flow. The game can be played here.


(flOw title screen)
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