Psychology of HCI Course Project - Game Critique and Redesign
Project member: Huang Fu
Duration: 3 Weeks
My character: Game UX Analyst
Tools: Photoshop, Cinema 4D
Project member: Huang Fu
Duration: 3 Weeks
My character: Game UX Analyst
Tools: Photoshop, Cinema 4D
Project Description
This is the final project of the Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction course, students were being required by the instructor to find a simple free PC/mobile game to critique and redesign. Specifically, students need to apply psychology theories to critique section and game theories to redesign section. Then, relate the redesigned improvements back to the concepts applied in critique to finish this project.
Game Introduction
"Left Drift Right Shift Orbit" is an adventure mobile game on iOS platform made by Gaowei Dai. In this game, the player needs to turn a virtual steering wheel to control and keep the car inside the road instead of falling in a pit or hit the edge of the road. In the endless mode, the player needs to drive safe as far as he can to get a better score. In the challenge mode, the player needs to drive safely to the end of the stage and collect all yellow star to unlock the next stage. In this Project, I will only criticize the challenge mode.
Critique
I’m a player with about 20 years of video game playing experience, after playing this casual game for more than 5 hours, I have following critiques which categorized to different aspects according to the game structure elements from “Game Design Workshop”(Fullerton, 2008):
Rule, Objective and Conflict Aspect
In this game, the Rule is you only have 1 chance for 1 attempt, and when you touch the edge of road or pit you’ll die; The Objective is to stay safe and collect all the yellow star; The main Conflict of the first stage is the very long, distorted road and the randomly placed pits on it, however, the first stage is super difficult for new players to complete, and after you finished the first stage and jump to the second, third and fourth stage, you confliction is totally the same. The author set more than 40 stages, however without distinguishing difficulty level.
In this game, the Rule is you only have 1 chance for 1 attempt, and when you touch the edge of road or pit you’ll die; The Objective is to stay safe and collect all the yellow star; The main Conflict of the first stage is the very long, distorted road and the randomly placed pits on it, however, the first stage is super difficult for new players to complete, and after you finished the first stage and jump to the second, third and fourth stage, you confliction is totally the same. The author set more than 40 stages, however without distinguishing difficulty level.
Critique Point: The difficult challenge of stages are rejecting the novice players.
According to the experimental analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1957), similar to learning behavior, the game playing behavior is following with operant conditioning as well - The player comprehends the rule, overcome the hardship, achieve the objective, and get the reward to form the positive reinforcement which drives them to keep playing. For a novice player, the game should consider how to divide objective or reduce the difficulty to fit their low skill level, if it’s too difficult to get the reward, the player tends to give up. In this game, obviously, the novice player cannot get the reward in any form before they finish the super difficult first stage, thus this game cannot let the player form positive reinforcement well. Some people may call it “Hardcore”, but it is not facing most players. Besides, the self-determination theory also points out, optimal challenges will enhance the intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000), so this game cannot inspire player’s intrinsic motivation as well.
According to the experimental analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1957), similar to learning behavior, the game playing behavior is following with operant conditioning as well - The player comprehends the rule, overcome the hardship, achieve the objective, and get the reward to form the positive reinforcement which drives them to keep playing. For a novice player, the game should consider how to divide objective or reduce the difficulty to fit their low skill level, if it’s too difficult to get the reward, the player tends to give up. In this game, obviously, the novice player cannot get the reward in any form before they finish the super difficult first stage, thus this game cannot let the player form positive reinforcement well. Some people may call it “Hardcore”, but it is not facing most players. Besides, the self-determination theory also points out, optimal challenges will enhance the intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000), so this game cannot inspire player’s intrinsic motivation as well.
Critique Point: The stage design without difference bores the player.
Interest is an important fact of the creation of intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000), but obviously a large number of duplicate stages will destroy the interest in some extent. If the next stage has no difference with the last one, the player won’t keep playing it.
Interest is an important fact of the creation of intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000), but obviously a large number of duplicate stages will destroy the interest in some extent. If the next stage has no difference with the last one, the player won’t keep playing it.
Procedure Aspect
The virtual steering wheel requires the player to rotate the edge of it in a super precise circular motion for direction turning of the car, if not, for a common example, your finger touch the middle of the steering wheel and start rotating, your car will wrongly turn to another random direction, which will probably lead you to fail. Besides, the steering wheel is too small for a mobile device so the novice player needs hours to get used to it - even so, you may make slips occasionally.
The virtual steering wheel requires the player to rotate the edge of it in a super precise circular motion for direction turning of the car, if not, for a common example, your finger touch the middle of the steering wheel and start rotating, your car will wrongly turn to another random direction, which will probably lead you to fail. Besides, the steering wheel is too small for a mobile device so the novice player needs hours to get used to it - even so, you may make slips occasionally.
Critique Point: The operation method is easy to make slips.
If we consider the process that “the player play this game” as a system with a few components (Proctor and Van Zandt, 2008), the reliability of this system will dramatically decrease due to the low success rate of steering wheel rotating operation which throughout the whole game process. Besides, the bad operation mechanism will form a kind of negative punishment with a variable schedule (Skinner, 1957) to novice player because they almost cannot prevent the slip happen and take their painstaking effort away (like make slip before the finish line) even be very careful, and this punishment “schedule” will absolutely reduce their passion continuously to keep playing this game.
If we consider the process that “the player play this game” as a system with a few components (Proctor and Van Zandt, 2008), the reliability of this system will dramatically decrease due to the low success rate of steering wheel rotating operation which throughout the whole game process. Besides, the bad operation mechanism will form a kind of negative punishment with a variable schedule (Skinner, 1957) to novice player because they almost cannot prevent the slip happen and take their painstaking effort away (like make slip before the finish line) even be very careful, and this punishment “schedule” will absolutely reduce their passion continuously to keep playing this game.
Critique Point: It is difficult to decide the next operation.
According to the three stages human information processing model (Proctor and Van Zandt, 2008), the procedure of this game will obviously increase the cognitive load because after the perception of the game scene, first players need to empathize from themselves to the car, then decide which direction to drive, then relate the car to the operation method of the steering wheel, then decide how to safely rotate the steering wheel without slip. This difficulty is a kind of distinguishing feature which providing interest, but the final operation decision step should be improved to reduce the excess cognitive load created by system failure.
According to the three stages human information processing model (Proctor and Van Zandt, 2008), the procedure of this game will obviously increase the cognitive load because after the perception of the game scene, first players need to empathize from themselves to the car, then decide which direction to drive, then relate the car to the operation method of the steering wheel, then decide how to safely rotate the steering wheel without slip. This difficulty is a kind of distinguishing feature which providing interest, but the final operation decision step should be improved to reduce the excess cognitive load created by system failure.
Outcome Aspect
Currently, when the player finished a level in this game, there is only a congratulation on the screen and unlocking the next level silently.
Currently, when the player finished a level in this game, there is only a congratulation on the screen and unlocking the next level silently.
Critique Point: The rewards are deficient.
Obviously this game doesn’t provide enough rewards for the players to form their extrinsic motivation, and as we know this game cannot let the player form intrinsic motivation as well. Thus, this game needs to add more ways to getting rewards, or nobody has the motivation to play it.
Obviously this game doesn’t provide enough rewards for the players to form their extrinsic motivation, and as we know this game cannot let the player form intrinsic motivation as well. Thus, this game needs to add more ways to getting rewards, or nobody has the motivation to play it.
Redesign
Rule, Objective and Conflict Aspect
For the issue “The difficult challenge of stages are rejecting the novice players”, Fullerton’s “Game Design Workshop” expressed that the challenge is a mission which could be approvingly complete with striving in an acceptable period instead of a pure hard mission, and Schell’s “The Art of Game” explained that the challenge is at the core of gameplay and it should be adopted by players with different skill level. Both of them mentioned the “flow” theory which devised by Csikszentmihalyi saying that if the challenge is too easy, the player will get bored; if the challenge is too hard, the player will feel frustrated; only when the challenge fit the skill level, the “flow” will appear. Thus, I adjust the challenge setting (the numerical design still needs testing):
Rule, Objective and Conflict Aspect
For the issue “The difficult challenge of stages are rejecting the novice players”, Fullerton’s “Game Design Workshop” expressed that the challenge is a mission which could be approvingly complete with striving in an acceptable period instead of a pure hard mission, and Schell’s “The Art of Game” explained that the challenge is at the core of gameplay and it should be adopted by players with different skill level. Both of them mentioned the “flow” theory which devised by Csikszentmihalyi saying that if the challenge is too easy, the player will get bored; if the challenge is too hard, the player will feel frustrated; only when the challenge fit the skill level, the “flow” will appear. Thus, I adjust the challenge setting (the numerical design still needs testing):
1. The player will encounter fewer pits and sharp turns in the earlier stage and encounter more in the latter stage.
2. The player will drive less distance to get to the finish line in the earlier stage and drive more in the latter stage.
3. Yellow stars will become the game resource instead of the requirement for passing the stage. The number of stars that the player can collect depends on level.
2. The player will drive less distance to get to the finish line in the earlier stage and drive more in the latter stage.
3. Yellow stars will become the game resource instead of the requirement for passing the stage. The number of stars that the player can collect depends on level.
For the issue “The stage design without difference bores the player”, Schell’s “The Art of Game” mentioned that surprise is a key part of all the entertainment ways, and it's the base of humor, strategy, and problem-solving. The conflict type of game stages still needs more diversity for getting the interest of players. Thus, I add more stage styles:
1. Escape stage - Escape from an enemy car which trying to crash the player’s car, the player could try to eliminate the enemy by using the pits. After finish, the player will receive a treasure which could be yellow stars, or even the enemy car if you eliminated it.
2. Maze stage - Discover the maze-style stage and try to find the exit. In the meanwhile, you can try to find all of the yellow stars scattered everywhere.
2. Maze stage - Discover the maze-style stage and try to find the exit. In the meanwhile, you can try to find all of the yellow stars scattered everywhere.
By applying these adjustments and combine with some actual player testing, the game will be able to create relatively good challenges for the novice player and also keep the challenge still challenging following their skill advancement. Besides, these adjustments will help players to form the positive reinforcement of operant conditioning, and inspire their intrinsic motivation to keep playing.
Procedure Aspect
For the issue “The operation method is easy to make slips”, according to Schell’s book “The Art of Game Design”, we could know that in this game the player won’t feeling powerful due to the bad feeling in control. To overcome this limitation, I need to make the interface easy to master. Specifically, I need to do these modifications for the steering wheel:
For the issue “The operation method is easy to make slips”, according to Schell’s book “The Art of Game Design”, we could know that in this game the player won’t feeling powerful due to the bad feeling in control. To overcome this limitation, I need to make the interface easy to master. Specifically, I need to do these modifications for the steering wheel:
1. Adjust the valid interactive area from a solid circle to a hollow circle.
2. Make the whole steering wheel relatively bigger.
2. Make the whole steering wheel relatively bigger.
For the adjustment of the valid interactive area, the hollow circle eliminates the slip that the player’s finger touches the middle of the steering wheel and lead to the car suddenly turn to a wrong direction. Besides, after the adjustment, if the player touches the hollow area during a turning operation, he can keep his direction instead of return.
For the adjustment of size, the player could easily interact with the steering wheel on his mobile device for enhancing the focus and the comfort of operation.
By applying these two adjustments, the whole game system will become more reliable, the player won’t be punished by the system failure and form the negative punishment. Moreover, the player will get a better feeling of control, increase their satisfaction.
Outcome Aspect
A good game will use reward or announcement of reward to inspire players, and let them be proud of their achievement in many different ways. If not, the player won’t keep playing the game (Schell, 2008). For the issue “The rewards are deficient”, first I will transfer the “Yellow star” from the requirement for passing the stage to the collectible resource of the game, then I will add a “Garage” which the player could cost their stars to purchase different cars with different or even powerful ability, and the player could preview the car before the purchase:
A good game will use reward or announcement of reward to inspire players, and let them be proud of their achievement in many different ways. If not, the player won’t keep playing the game (Schell, 2008). For the issue “The rewards are deficient”, first I will transfer the “Yellow star” from the requirement for passing the stage to the collectible resource of the game, then I will add a “Garage” which the player could cost their stars to purchase different cars with different or even powerful ability, and the player could preview the car before the purchase:
By adding this new feature, the player will strive to finish the stage not only for passing it but also for the stars to purchase cars, because different cars have different outwards and some cars have the special ability which may be extremely useful in some stages. For example:
- Jeep car: It can cross a pit without damage once a stage.
- Classic car: It has a slightly slower driving speed.
- Sports car: It has a slightly smaller car body.
- Fire truck: It has a bigger car body but can gain 2 more stars after finishing a stage.
- Ambulance car: It has a faster driving speed but has an extra life.
- Police car: It won’t be crushed by the enemy car, instead, it will crash the enemy car.
- Classic car: It has a slightly slower driving speed.
- Sports car: It has a slightly smaller car body.
- Fire truck: It has a bigger car body but can gain 2 more stars after finishing a stage.
- Ambulance car: It has a faster driving speed but has an extra life.
- Police car: It won’t be crushed by the enemy car, instead, it will crash the enemy car.
From the description above we can know that the police car is very powerful in Escape stage, for passing a super hard Escape stage, the player could earn stars in another Classic stage for buying the police car. Thus, after players finished a stage, the reward will become visible and meaningful as an extrinsic motivation to drive the player keep playing.
Reference
[1] Fullerton, T. (2008). Game design workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative games. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
[2] Schell, Jesse. (2008). The art of game design: a book of lenses. Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.
[3] Proctor, R. W., & Van Zandt, T. (2008). Human factors in simple and complex systems (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
[4] Skinner, B. F. (1957). The experimental analysis of behavior. American scientist, 45(4), 343-371.
[5] Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68.
[2] Schell, Jesse. (2008). The art of game design: a book of lenses. Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.
[3] Proctor, R. W., & Van Zandt, T. (2008). Human factors in simple and complex systems (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
[4] Skinner, B. F. (1957). The experimental analysis of behavior. American scientist, 45(4), 343-371.
[5] Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68.
