Sandbox story telling

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the ’storyteller‘ game mechanic in RimWorld which tells the player a unique story every time the game is played.

The colony simulator RimWorld tells the story of a few survivors who survived a crash of their spaceship and are stranded on the surface of a different planet. The most impressive think of the game is its authenticity, as RimWorld simulates a very vivid and detailed world by utilizing many different variables that store a vast amount of information about the player’s virtual colony. However, despite the attention to detail, the game is still very enjoyable and does not overwhelm the player as it can be successfully played without managing every aspect of the game.

A RimWorld colony.

Aside from simulating an authentic world, the game tells a unique story every time it is played. In contrast to other sandbox games, RimWorld utilizes so-called ’storytellers‘ that generate random events on an irregular basis. As a result, the fate of the player’s colony does not only depend on the player’s decisions, but is also affected by the random events as well as their severity.

For instance, the storyteller can generate a severe attack of the colony. However, all attacks are different as they are completely randomized as well. In order to experience the depth of this game mechanic, I waited for such an event to occur and subsequently reloaded an autosave that was made just a couple of minutes before that event.

The first time, my colony was attacked by a group of animals that exploded and caused a spreading fire once they were killed. This resulted in a huge fire in the center of my colony which then burned down completely. The second time, my colony was attacked by a group of pirates who started a siege and, due to their large group, killed all my colonists. The third time, my colony was attacked by a group of mechanoids that can cause an incredible amount of damage over a very long range. The fourth time resulted in an attack of a group of boars which injured all my colonists but were easy to handle in contrast to the three other events.

In the end, the game told a different story each time I reloaded the autosave. From a player’s point of view, this approach results in a unique experience each time the game is played. In combination with the high amount of different variables that can be affected by the outcome of a random event, the game has always a different outcome.

In conclusion, providing random events that have a significant impact on the player’s gameplay results in a very strong and exciting experiences as the player can never predict what the outcome will be. Therefore, utilizing such a system can increase a sandbox game’s replayability and entertainment. However, the game should also include the option to disable the random events as nothing is more frustrating than seeing the own progress being destroyed.

Constant practice required

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the requirement of complex computer games to constantly practice the own skills in order to perform well.

Practice is not only needed when we want to acquire a new skill, but is also necessary in order to maintain a certain skill level. Naturally, some activities are easier to master than others, but in general, we have to continuously practice every activity to perform well at it. Furthermore, cognitive demanding and/or complex activities require more practice as they involve more skills that have to be practiced.

The demand for a constant practice applies to computer games as well. Depending on the genre, different skills are needed in order to successfully play a computer game and hence those skills must be continuously practiced. In addition, the required skills are also dependent on the computer game’s content which can range from a very simplistic game to a complex and cognitive demanding simulation. However, as most games of a particular genre use the same input game mechanics, the required skills can often be trained by playing any game belonging to a certain genre.

For instance, most First Person Shooter (FPS) games utilize the mouse in order to look around, determine the direction of movement and aim at a target. The player’s movement is controlled by the W, A, S and D keys that enable the player to move forward, sideways or backwards. Hence, by playing one FPS game, a player trains most of the skills which are relevant for all FPS games.

However, as soon as the game’s content is more complex or provides game mechanics that have a unique skill requirement, a player can only practice the relevant skills by playing the computer game requiring those skills. Additionally, the demand for the relevant skills is also dependent on the game’s difficulty level. A game that provides no room for error has a very high demand thus demanding a player to constantly pracitice the required skills in order to excel at the game.

DiRT Rally

One of those computer games is the realistic racing simulation DiRT Rally. Due to the high complexity of rallying, the game has already a high demand for various skills. In addition, the game provides no room for error thus making practice a mandatory activity in order to perform well at the game. Personally, I noticed that even a two weeks long break can have a significant impact on the own performance.

Although it might be an unusual thing for a computer game to require constant practice, it is also one of the most rewarding experiences to train in such a demanding environment. Becoming better at such a demanding game feels like a real accomplishment and motivates the player to continue to practice it.

In the end, I really enjoy playing DiRT Rally as it challenges me on a very high level and constantly allows me to improve my own skills.

Great memories

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the effect of old video games to bring back great memories we have experienced as we played them back in the days.

Recently, I watched a Let’s Play video showing the gameplay of „Donkey Kong Country“ which was published on November 1994 by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Watching this video and hearing the sound effects as well as music brought back amazing memories of my childhood as I played this game a lot in coop-mode with a friend. In addition, I was really surprised that the gameplay still seemed familar to me. Finally, watching this video also brought back memories of all the other entertaining SNES games I played more than 20 years ago.

The great thing about seeing the gameplay of old video games is that they have not changed since the were played back in the days. Over the period of 20 years, many things can have changed and often it can be hard to return to places which were important during our childhood. Naturally, great experiences are always vivid in our memories but we can rarely re-experience them. Of course, playing a 20 years old game will never cause the same experiences, but as it has not changed, it can immediately refresh our memories and bring back past times.

These past times are also connected to the moments we shared with our friends and families while we were playing those games together. In the end, a video game can act a bit as a time capsule as its content will never change. It could be really interesting to observe the effects of re-experiencing important video games on elderly people as childhood memories can help them to feel happy, to create a connection from their past to their current lives and to remember their identities. In the end, this could be very important for people who start to suffer from dementia.

Playing a computer game is a complex task

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about a new player’s issues of successfully playing a computer game.

Recently, I demonstrated two computer games to a group of students and experienced researchers who had no previous computer game experience. The first game I presented was a serious game which is developed for the purpose of training a special part of the linear algebra. This game is played from a first person perspective and demands the users to solve 3D puzzles. The second game was Kerbal Space Progam that demonstrates the core principles of spaceflight in an engaging and vivid way.

After a short introduction into the general gameplay of the two games, the participants were allowed to play the games themselves. However, due to their lack of computer game experience, it was much harder for them to develop a basic understanding of the game controls and the gameplay in general.

For the participants, the most challenging part of playing the serious game was to understand how they can navigate through the 3D game world. It is natural for an experienced gamer that the mouse is used as a device to look around and to control the direction of the own movement. In addition, frequent gamers are used to walk through the game world using the W, A, S, D keys. The participants had not this basic knowledge and thus they needed some time to learn the basic controls before they were able to analyze how the serious game helps learners to practice complex knowledge. This is also one of the main challenges of designing a good serious game as developers have to implement ways for new gamers to learn playing a game [1].

Playing Kerbal Space Program was even more challenging for the participants as the game has a very steep learning curve due to the underlying physical principles. Not only that the participants had to understand how to successfully operate a rocket in the game, they were also challenged by the high knowledge demand of the game itself.

In the end, the demonstration showed how complex the controls of modern computer games for untrained players are. Using the mouse to change the view seems to be natural for experienced gamers but is an abstract knowledge for beginners. Before they can explore the virtual environments, they have to develop a basic understanding of those controls, thus facing an additional learning curve. The demonstration also revealed the importance of good tutorial scenarios that introduce untrained players into the basic controls of a game.

Turn-based Strategy

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I analyze the challenging gameplay of XCOM 2.

Aside from realistic simulations, turn-based strategy games (TBS) are my favorite type of computer games. As a TBS game has no time constrains for a player’s turn, I can thoroughly plan my next steps by analyzing the current situation and evaluating all my available options. Once I have found a good strategy, I can start to realize my plan by using all the actions of my units during the current turn.

In addition, a TBS game also provides a lot of surprises that can completely neutralize my initial plan by suddenly adding an unexpected enemy to the equation. This is, however, not a frustrating thing as it is really fun to adjust a strategy based on the development of a fight. In the end, a player has to be very flexible and accept the fact that even the best strategy can have a major flaw.

Recently, XCOM 2, the successor of XCOM – The Enemy Within, was released. Both games are TBS games and put the player in charge of a small organization that tries to defend the Earth against an alien invasion. Aside from managing the XCOM heardquarters by making important decisions, such as choosing future research projects and assigning new abilities to the soldiers, the player tackles difficult missions that can only be won if the player thoroughly plans the next steps and effectively combines the soldiers‘ abilities.

Revealing a new group of enemies.

For this purpose, the player sees the environment from an aerial perspective. However, the player can only see what the own soldiers are seeing. In this case, the player has to scout the environment carefully by sending the own soldiers from cover to cover in order to not expose them to a potential enemy that might be hidden in the shadows. Once a group of enemies is revealed, they will take cover as well. At this point, the player is challenged to move the own soldiers into positions from where they can flank the enemy or remove some of the enemy’s cover to expose them. This can be done by combining the different soldiers‘ abilities. For instance, one soldier can throw a grenade to remove an enemy’s cover. Subsequently, a second soldier can take out the exposed alien.

A soldier can belong to one of four different classes that allow further customization by unlocking skills from a skill tree after a soldier has accumulated enough experience points. The available talents during a mission dramatically influence a player’s tactic. For instance, the player can decide if a specialist can heal others or gets an additional attack. Furthermore, as a soldier can execute only two actions per turn, the player has to be very careful not to accidently expose a soldier to an enemy. Finally, soldiers and enemies can be on overwatch which will let them automatically attack if an enemy moves into their line of sight.

In the end, the player has to be very careful during a fight as the enemy tries to flank the player’s soldiers as well. In this case, the player has to constantly monitor the positions of the own soldiers and move them to other spots in order to keep them protected.

In sum, XCOM 2 challenges players with complex missions that demand and train decision-making and other cognitive abilities.

The demand for a decent AI

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the huge impact of the AI on the user experience and discuss some of the major issues an AI can have.

In single-player computer games, enemies and competitors are controlled by an artificial intelligence (AI). Depending on the type of the game, the AI executes a certain strategy and tries to flank or outperform the player in order to ultimately put the player’s skills to a test. For this purpose, the strength of the AI is determined by the chosen difficulty level as beginners are more likely to make mistakes than expert players. In the end, the AI greatly affects the user experience as a weak AI does not challenge the players resulting in boredome whereas an overpowered AI is often regarded as unfair resulting in anxiety.

This makes the AI to one of the most complex elements of a computer game as it has to recognize the player’s actions and react to them accordingly. In addition, the AI needs a realistic situational awareness in order to provide the players with an authentic challenge and feedback. For instance, the AI should recognize if the player takes out an enemy who was talking to a different enemy. Just letting the untouched enemy walk away feels unrealistic. The same thing applies to a situation when the AI is able to recognize a hidden player over a long distance. It feels unnatural if enemies suddenly start to attack the player just because a certain threshold was crossed.

Assetto Corsa

Lastly, it is very important that the AI recognizes and respects a player. This is especially important when the AI’s purpose is to create a field of competitors instead of enemies. In a competitive environment, the player expects a gentleman-like behavior that demonstrates a certain strengths wihout being disrespectful to the player. The best example for a poor implementation of a competitive AI is the AI used in Assetto Corsa. The virtual race drivers have a poor recognition of the player’s position on the race track and, as a result of this, they constantly run into the player’s car or even push the player off the racetrack. In a competitve envrionment, this behavior seems to be disrespectful thus resulting in a negative user experience. A good competitve AI would have a well adjusted performance as well as the function to recognize and respect a player’s presence.

In sum, the AI creates challenges for the players by recognizing a player’s actions and reacting to them. In order to have the desired effect, the AI has to have a human-like behavior that is not too overpowered and not too weak. In addition, the AI has to respect the player in order to reduce frustration. In the end, the AI has a huge impact on the user experience and can influence the success of a game.

A small virtual racing community

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about internet based communities and present some insights on the amount of data that is being generated by a small community.

Internet based communities are not a new phenomenon. Since the early days of the internet, users started to form communities and dicussion groups in order to share information with others. Naturally, communities also evolved around computer games as players like to share their experiences and results with others, ask for help or discuss certain elements of a game.

Furthermore, some computer games allow players to form communities directly in the virtual worlds as players can join others via the internet in order to play the game cooperatively or competitively. In addition, MMORPGs like World of Warcraft allow players to join guilds and thus become a permanent part of a community that mainly exists within the boundaries of the game itself.

Finally, the emergence of YouTube created another special form of community as users can upload videos and share them with the whole world. Interested viewers can discuss the videos, become a subscriber and ultimately form a small community around the content creator.

DiRT Rally

Recently, I became a part of a small community–The Conelanders League–consisting of YouTubers and their fans who enjoy playing the racing simulation DiRT Rally. DiRT Rally provides users with the option to create own leagues and to invite friends in order to competitively race against others. The Conelanders League was initiated by ConeDodger240 in order to allow fans of KurtJMac and himself to come together and experience an exciting community event.

However, rallying takes place in form of a staged race on public or private roads. The participants consecutively race on those stages and try to complete them as fast as possible. In this case, players do not need to come together at a certain date in order to participate in a DiRT Rally league. Instead, the game just provides them with the stages they have to complete and subsequently uploads the results to a database so that the players can compare their runs.

This approach takes away the chance to see the runs of others, however. Hence, participants started to record their runs and upload them to YouTube. In addition, a small database was created to keep track of the overall standings. Personally, I am mostly impressed by the size of the community and the amount of data that has been generated so far. Moreover, the Conelanders League has also united different YouTubers and players who began to support each other.

By now, at the end of the fourth event (one event had the length of a week and consisted of 3 to 4 stages) of the Conelanders League, YouTube found „about 1800“ videos that are related to „Conelanders“ of which „about 1000“ have a length of more than 20 minutes. In addition, the standings database lists 82 participants coming from 20 different nations.

In the end, I really enjoy being part of this small community that connects the world. Moreover, it is fantastic to watch the runs of others as it resembles following a real world sports event.