Archiv der Kategorie: Finding of the week

Finding of the week #99

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Garrison – Buildings

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 core game mechanics of a new feature added to World of Warcraft with the expansion pack Warlords of Draenor: the Garrison.

Apart from the followers, the buildings are the second core feature of the Garrison. These buildings are mostly changing the visual appearance of the own Garrison over time and are distinguishing the own Garrison from other players‘ Garrisons. Based on the Garrison’s level, the players have access to a certain amount of different building types. A level one Garrison grants access to a large and a small building slot, a level two Garrison provides one large, one medium and two small slots and a third level Garrison finally offers two large, two medium and three small construction sides. Each building can be upgraded two times increasing its capacity and granting more advanced boni or features. Upgrading a building is also changing its visual appearance

Overview about the construction slots, available buildings and current buildings

Overview about the construction slots, available buildings and current buildings

The amount of construction slots limits the access to the available boni for each building size. For example, the large buildings offer the following boni: waygates to certain regions of WoD (Mage Tower), increased amount of followers and an NPC bodyguard (Barracks), items to change the visual appearance of the character and a free bonus loot roll per week (Dwarven Bunker), special engineering tools with different functions and a powerful siege engine (Gnomish Gearworks) and a 20% increased mount speed (Stables). The players then have to choose two of these boni by constructing the buildings.

The small and the medium buildings are working the same way. The small buildings are mostly granting benefits for the professions of the players or are enabling the players to craft items without having the specific profession. The medium buildings are mostly providing ways of generating certain resources the players need to expand the own Garrison or to enhance their equipment.

Three third level small buildings.

Three third level small buildings.

As a short summary, all these different buildings allow the players to adjust the functionality of the Garrison to support their own playstyle. A player who has a focus on sending the Garrison followers on missions will probably build the Barracks in order to increase the amount of available followers. A player who travels a lot on a mount through the regions of WoD will probably build the Stables.

The buildings also offer a function to transmute one resource into a different resource. For example, the small profession buildings can transmute raw materials into crafting reagents thus helping the players to accumulate enough reagents to craft a new item. Other buildings are transmuting materials into Garrison resources which are needed to start follower missions, to construct new buildings or to buy other items.

Placing a work order.

Placing a work order.

The game mechanics of constructing and upgrading buildings is challenging the decision-making and the strategic-planning skills of the players. The players have to analyze their own playstyle and the impact of each bonus on it. Then, the players are able to select and construct the buildings based on this analysis. Moreover, the players are required to plan ahead, because gaining access to the highest building level by upgrading it requires a lot of resources.

Finding of the week #98

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Garrison – Followers

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 core game mechanics of a new feature added to World of Warcraft with the expansion pack Warlords of Draenor: the Garrison.

Apart from managing the Garrison and constructing new buildings, one of the core elements of the Garrison is the management of the own followers. A follower is a special Non-Player Character (NPC) who joined the player during his explorations of the WoD world. Each follower has an unique set of at least one ability and one trait which allows them to perform special tasks. The amount of available abilities depends on the qualification of a follower: uncommon (1 ability, 1 trait), rare (1 ability, 2 traits) or epic (2 abilities, 3 traits).

Standing around with two followers.

Standing around with two followers.

The abilities are needed to successfully complete the special follower missions. During such a mission, the followers have to defeat certain enemies who are attacking with an unique sets of skills. These attacks can be countered by assigning a follower with the right set of skills to this mission. This rock-paper-scissors concept challenges the players to analyze the skills of the enemies in order to assign the followers who have the right set of skills to counter the attacks and to complete this mission.

Planning a Garrison mission.

Planning a Garrison mission.

The traits of the followers fall into three different categories. The first category gives the followers a certain advantage during a mission. This can be an increased success chance when the follower is fighting together with a certain race (e.g. „Humanist“ increases the chance of success when the follower is on a mission with a human), in a certain region (e.g. „Cold-Blooded“ increases the success chance when the follower is fighting in the snow) or against a certain enemy (e.g. „Ogreslayer“ increases the success chance when the follower is fighting ogres). Furthermore, the followers can also increase the success chance based on the duration of the mission (e.g. „High Stamina“ increases the success chance when the duration is longer than 7 hours and „Burts of Power“ increases the success chance when the duration is shorter than 7 hours).
The second category is boosting the reward for successfully completing a mission. This can be an increase of the gained resources or of the gained experience.
The third category allows the players to assign the followers to work in one of the different building the players can construct in their Garrisons (e.g. „Blacksmithing“ enables the follower to work in a forge). Some followers even have a special „Bodyguard“ trait which enables them to accompany the players and to support them while they are fighting against some monsters.

The followers are also characterized by their experience. Like the players, the followers can gain some experience points during their missions and reach higher levels. The lowest follower level is 90 and the maximum follower level is 100. After reaching the maximum level, the followers can continue gaining experience points in order to raise their qualification. This approach allows the players to boost an uncommon level 90 follower to an epic level 100 follower. By doing so, the follower also gains new abilities and new traits which makes him more powerful.
Reaching level 100 enables the follower also to wear some equipment to increase their so-called item-level. The item-level is needed to enable the followers to participate in some prestigious missions. If the follower is not fulfilling the item-level requirement of these Garrison-„endgame“-missions, then he can not increase the overall success chance and the mission might end in a failure.

The description of a follower.

The description of a follower.

All these examined game mechanics are challening the player’s problem solving and decision making abilities. The players have to analyze the requirements of a mission in order to assign the right followers to it. Moreover, the players have to analyze the traits of their followers to recognize if the follower might be useful for other tasks than just participating in some missions. Finally, the players have to distribute special follower items in order to boost their item-levels.

to be continued …

Finding of the week #97

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Garrison

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 core game mechanics of a new feature added to World of Warcraft with the expansion pack Warlords of Draenor: the Garrison.

One of the new features that were added to World of Warcraft (WoW) with the release of the expansion pack „Warlords of Draenor“ (WoD) is the Garrison. The Garrison allows the players to construct buildings, to transmute materials and to manage followers. In this new article series, I will analyze the major game mechanics which are used to realize this new part of WoW.

The Garrison itself is an instanced area which blends into one of the regions of WoD. Depending on the faction the players belong to, they will have their Garrision in Shadowmoon Valley (Alliance) or Frostfire Ridge (Horde). The region around the Garrison is shared among all the other players playing on the same realm. However, as soon as the player is approaching the location of the own Garrison, he changes from the shared environment to the instanced area of the Garrison. This gives the players the impression to be in charge of their own Garrisons and to be able to create something unique in the predefined world of WoW. Of course, the players are allowed to invite other players to visit and explore their Garrisons, but in general the players are alone as long as they are inside their Garrisons.

The Garrison itself consists of the main administration building and a certain amount of building plots where the player can construct three different types of buildings: small, medium and large ones. During the player’s progression through the content of WoD, the player is able to improve the own Garrison and transform it from a small outpost to a small castle. The player gains access to the first stage of the Garrison after he finished the first initial quests of WoD. The story automatically leads the player to the point where he needs to construct a small protected outpost in order to advance in the narration.

Garrison - Stage 2

Garrison – Stage 2

The first stage of the Garrison comes with a large and a small building plot and is used to introduce the players to the basic management functions of the Garrison. The player learns how to begin the construction process of a building and how to send the own followers on a mission. This first stage lasts only for a short amount of time, because as soon as the player completes a certain quest or reaches level 92, he will be able to upgrade the own Garrison to the second stage.
At this point, the Garrison receives the appearance of a small fort and the administration interfaces of the Garrison move from a small shack to the inside of a townhall-like building. Furthermore, the Garrison then features a large, a medium and two small building plots, a mine, a herb garden and a fishing shack at a small lake. This allows the player to construct two additional buildings which should help him to get through the level phase until the player reaches the maximum level of WoD.
After reaching level 100, the player is able to upgrade the Garrison to the third stage which looks like a castle and offers several options to customize it. Moreover, the final tier of the Garrison provides two large, two medium and three small building plots and gives the player the option to add a monument after reaching a certain milestone in the game.

Garrison - Stage 3

Garrison – Stage 3

The game mechanic of the upgradeable Garrison helps the players to get used to the new feature of WoW. The first stage introduces the player to the core mechanics and allows them to develop an understanding of the control interfaces. The second stage is an interim stage and allows the players to start the process of the Garrison development which leads to the uprade to the third and final stage. At this point, the players have learnt how to manage their Garrisons and are now able to take advantage of the performance of all the different buildings. Moreover, certain buildings are mostly useful for the endgame of WoD and would only distract the players during their level phase.
Finally, the process of expanding the Garrison is also increasing the immersive effect of WoW. The Garrison is improving together with the player. At the beginning of the WoD campaign, the players are completely new in the regions of WoD. As they progress through the level campaign, they start to get used to the new environment and are able to foster their base. Finally, after reaching level 100, the players are settled in the regions of WoD and hence are able to establish a fortified settlement.

to be continued …

Finding of the week #96

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Factorio

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 training effects of playing Factorio–a game in which the player is building huge factories.

Over the last one and a half months, I was occasionally playing Factorio[1]. The story of the game is quite simple: the player lands on the surface of an unknown planet and is in charge of preparing the arrival and the landing of other space ships by researching and building a „Rocket defense“.

The gameplay itself evolves around this research project. The player has to mine and process resources in order to research technologies or to build more advanced buildings. At first, the player can choose only between a few buildings in order to produce the materials needed for the first research project. Over time, he gets access to more advanced buildings which can assemble more complex items on a much faster rate. Moreover, the player is then able to automate the production by linking up production buildings with conveyor belts. In the end, the player is able to set up production cycles in order to automate the research process: the player is building a giant factory.

The most interesting thing about the game is the way of automating assembly processes. Each item in the game is assembled out of a certain amount of different materials. For example, assembling an „Electronic Circuit“ needs one „Iron Plate“ and three „Copper Cables“. An „Iron Plate“ is produced by smelting some „Iron Ore“ which is a mineable resource. Two „Copper Cables“ are produced by processing one „Copper Plate“. A „Copper Plate“ is produced by smelting some „Copper Ore“ which is a mineable resource.
In order to automate the production of „Electronic Circuits“, the player needs to begin the production cycle by setting up some mining drills. These buildings start to produce some ore which has to be transported to furnaces in order to transform it into iron or copper plates. The iron plate can be transported directly to the assembly machine for the electronic circuits. The copper plate however needs to be transported to another assembly machine which is producing the needed copper cables. Finally, all the needed materials are produced and the assembly machine can start producing „Electronic Circuits“.

Factorio

Assembly machines and conveyor belts in Factorio

The described production cycle is just one of many other complex production cycles in Factorio. The player is challenged to link up the different machines in the right order to finally produce all the items which are needed to advance a research project. Furthermore, the player needs to make sure that enough materials are mined in order to keep the production running. Moreover, it is also important to have a focus on the ratio of needed materials for each production process. The abovementioned production of electronic circuits needs more copper than iron. The player has to keep this in mind while he is setting up the production cycle.

The gameplay of Factorio is challenging the player to understand and analyze complex production cycles. On the one hand, the player needs to analyze the ratio of needed materials to prevent bottlenecks in the production. On the other hand, the player needs to be able to analyze the own infrastructure in order to improve less efficient parts of the giant factory.

In the end, my assumption is that Factorio is mostly challenging and training the problem solving ability of the users. Moreover, the game is training the cognitive ability to analyze complex processes and to realize these processes in form of a giant factory.

Finding of the week #95

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Nostalgia

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 way how World of Warcraft has created a completely new dimension of gaming nostalgia.

The unprecedented success of World of Warcraft (WoW) is also resulting in a new dimension of gaming memories. Normally, playing a computer game is like reading a novel. It is very interesting and exciting to dive into a different world and to experience a new story. However, the attachment to the virtual world and the own avatar lasts only several hours until the narrative of the game is exhausted.

In contrast to a regular computer game, the story of WoW is a vast narrative and runs now for more than 10 years. During this huge amount of game time, the players were able to develop a strong attachement to the own avatar and the virtual world. Moreover, the story of WoW is not an endless stream of new events. Instead, the WoW story is segmented into smaller chapters which are added to the game over time. Each chapter lasted for several months and the players were able to gain unique experiences during their exploration of each chapter.

In most of the cases, the story of each chapter evolves around a particular raiding instance. Vested players were running into these instances until the next instance was made available. By now, more than 30 raid instances are available in WoW and the players have made unique memories during their exploration of each instance. Depending on the own experiences and the own preferences, each player has its own favorite instance and is comparing the current content with the ‚good old times‘.

This gaming nostalgia is a completely new dimension of gameplay and is only possible due to the fact that the memories were made in the exact same virtual world. Moreover, the players of WoW are even able to relive a certain content because the instances remained in the game and can be visited by the players. During such a nostalgic instance run, the players are often talking about their memories of the particular instance.

The unprecedented success of WoW has not only caused a new dimension of gaming nostalgia, it even has found a way to keep the memories and history active by allowing the players to revisit a location where they have spent a certain amount of their WoW playtime.

Finding of the week #94

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Disadvantages of playing an early access game

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 few disadvantages of playing an early access game. New functionalities implemented to the game could require the players to redo their current progress thus reducing their enjoyment of playing the game.

I already wrote an article about the fun of playing a computer game which is still under development and receives a lot of updates and changes within a short amount of time[1]. The way of selling an early access version has become more and more popular among computer game developers. Especially indie game developers can benefit from the early sales of their products[2]. However, early access releases can also require more management in order to sell the product over a longer period of time compared to a fixed release date[3].

As a gamer, I really like the opportunity to play an unfinished game and to experience the new features as they get implemented. Sometimes, it is even like playing a completely new game which still has the same interesting setting, but offers more ways to interact with the environment or has a better accessibility.

However, the approach of playing early access games has also a few disadvantages:

  • The developers could deploy a new version of the game which is no longer compatible with the old save games. Suddenly, the current progress through the game world is lost and the player has to start over again.
  • The game receives a new functionality which challenges the player to visit certain locations or to achieve certain goals. Players who have already completed these tasks need to redo them in order to take advantage of the new functionality.

These issues are not a real problem and they are just a side effect of the regular game development process, but they can reduce a bit the overall enjoyment of the game. On the other hand, by playing an early access game, the player accepts the risk of experiencing these issues during the gameplay.

I have played several early access games during the last year and I noticed that these issues are more problematic with certain game types / game mechanics. In most cases, I noticed these issues with open world and exploration games.

Losing the progress of an open world game can be quite annoying because it is also the loss of a lot of unique experiences and achievements[4]. Moreover, the players of open world games are also more likely to be affected by the implementation of a new functionality which requires a certain accomplishment in the game world than the players of computer games with episodic content. The players could have already completed the tasks and would need to redo it. Depending on the game, this would not feel right. On the other hand, begining a completely new game could be also disappointing because it would result in the loss of the old progress.

The players of exploration games can experience the exact same issues. The exploration of a virtual world works only once. The enjoyment of discovering a beautiful spot in the game world is an unique experience. Often the players need to find the right way and need to overcome several obstacles in order to reach a certain spot. However, after the players have achieved this, they probably will not be experiencing the same level of excitement if they need to achieve it a second time.
Losing the progress of a save game or taking advantage of a freshly implemented tracking functionality would require the players to explore the world again. Unfortunately, the players are already aware of all the shortcuts at this point.

Although the players could take advantage of new functionalities, it would seem redundant to the players because the new features are just an enhancement of the core game mechanics.

Finding of the week #93

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2014

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 few of the highlights of the last 12 months.

2014 is coming to a close and so it is time to look at some of the Learning-by-Gaming statistics of 2014. In general, it was a good year for my small blog and my „Finding of the week“(Fotw) series. I managed to publish 52 (this one included) Fotw-articles this year–one article per week. Most of them were about a computer game related topic[1] but also astronomy[2] and spaceflight[3] played an important role. Three of this year’s articles were even written during my journey across Iceland[4]. I even came up with an interesting game concept, but I have not found a good way to realize it yet[5].

My research is also making good progress. I managed to complete two research projects during this year. One was the development of a game based learning simulation and the other project has put a particular computer game to a test, if it helps to increase the learning outcome of students. Moreover, the project helped me to identify a few more connections between certain game mechanics and a potential educational use. The next year will start right away with the writing of two papers to make my results available to the whole science community.

Strokkur 2

This year was also the first time that I experienced geothermal activities: I was able to travel to Iceland for a bit longer than 2 weeks. Also, it was another confirmation that I really like harsh environments. I really enjoyed driving through huge areas covered in volcanic ash, climbing on top of mountains, and being exposed to the elements. Now, I need to find a way how I can combine my research with a stay at a research station in Antarctica or on Spitzbergen.

Finally, I was enjoying several online courses on coursera.org. It is really interesting watching lectures from scientists from all over the world. However, during the second half of the year, I had not enough time to continue this new hobby.

All in all, 2014 was a great year full of new experiences and it is really sad, that it is already over. However, the next year could result in even better experiences and so I am excited to see what the future has in store for us.

Merry christmas

Merry christmas

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Finding of the week #92

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Winter solstice

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 winter solstice and the fact that the data gathering phase of one of my research projects is over.

Half a year ago, I wrote about Midsummer–the longest day in the northern hemisphere of our Earth[1]. At the summer solstice, the northern part of our Earth experiences the longest exposure to the sunlight during a whole year. At the exact same date, the southern part of our Earth experiences the shortest day of a year–the winter solstice. The reason behind this phenomen lies in the tilt of the rotation axis of the Earth relative to its orbital plane around the Sun. During one year–or an orbit around the Sun–the tilted rotation axis is causing the difference in the exposure to the sunlight.

Now, half a year after the first article, everything is flipped around. The Earth completed half of an orbit around the Sun and the northern hemisphere will experience the winter solstice tomorrow. In other words, the northern hemisphere has the longest night and the shortest day on December 21st. Regions north of the Arctic Circle will not have sunlight at all. These regions are now experiencing the polar night, because the Sun will not raise above the horizon. Moreover, it is the beginning of winter and this is hopefully resulting in freezing temperatures and a lot of snow!

Happy winter solstice everyone!

Schneeberg

Schneeberg

Apart from the announcement of this special day during a year, I do have also other great news to share: the data gathering phase of one of my research projects is over. This week, I conducted a final test in order to determine possible positive effects of playing a particular computer game. Of course, the research project itself is not over yet. Now, I have to analyze the data and to write a paper about the results. Although this will result in a lot of work, it is still a nice feeling of having finished the most essential part of a research project.

Finding of the week #91

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Premade groups

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 way how the developers of World of Warcraft are trying to increase the social factor of the game.

World of Warcraft (WoW) offers a lot of content which can be only completed by grouping up with other players. In order to do so, players can form a group with friends or take advantage of the so-called „Group Finder“. The Group Finder is a tool which automatically assembles groups out of all the players who have signed up for it. Recently, the functionality of the Group Finder was extended by a new function: it received the „Premade groups“ section. This new function helps the players for find or form a group for almost anything.

Group Finder - Premade Groups

Group Finder – Premade Groups

The Premade Group function is especially helpful for some of the quests which can be repeated on a daily basis. Completing such a quest without the help of other players can be a time consuming task. However, grouping up for such a quest reduces the time needed by a significant degree. Moreover, the whole game world seems to become more vivid, if the player is surrounded by other players, who all are working towards the same goal.

On the other hand, being in such a group does not really change the gameplay itself and the only benefit is the reduction in time due to the contribution of all the other players being part that group. Most of the time, players are joining the group via the Group Finder and stay only as long as they are not finished with their quest. As soon as they have completed their task, the players are immediately leaving the group.

The whole concept can be summarized as a very casual form of a social interaction. It even can be seen as great example for ambient sociability[1]: the players do have the opportunity to talk to different players if they want to. Moreover, all the players are belonging to the same social scene and are included into one collaborative group.

In the end, the combination of a slow quest progression and the possibility to decrease the time needed for it by joining a group has really helped to unite the players and to create a more lively virtual world. Unfortunately, most of the players only care about the quest reward and are just trying to finish the task as fast as possible.

[1] McGonigal, Jane (2011): Reality Is Broken, New York.

Finding of the week #90

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Maiden flight

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 great live video coverage of the maiden flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

On December 5th 2014, NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle completed two orbits around the Earth, reached a peak altitude of 3,604 miles and re-entered the atmosphere at nearly 20.000 mph in the spacecraft’s uncrewed maiden flight. The peak altitude was also the highest point a human-rated spacecraft has ever reached since the final Apollo mission more than 40 years ago. The test flight lasted 4 hours and 23 minutes and was a critical mission in order to test and evaluate all the spacecraft’s systems. During the flight, the Orion spacecraft was exposed to high radiation without taking any damage as it crossed twice the Van Allen Radiation Belt.

Apart from the great accomplishment, the Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT1) was also an impressive demonstration of today’s communication technologies. NASA TV provided a live coverage of the complete mission which even included live footage from the camaras placed inside the Orion capsule. It was just breathtaking sitting in front of my monitor and looking down on our Earth from one of Orion’s windows. Apart from the lack of zero gravity, it almost felt like being an astronaut on a space mission.

The coverage of the mission began with a live video stream directly from the launch pad. After the Delta-4 Heavy rocket vanished in the clouds, the coverage continued with images from cameras mounted on the rocket. During the orbital and re-entry phase of the mission, live data from the spacecraft or even pictures from the cameras inside the spacecraft were broadcasted. This coverage included spectacular views of our Earth, the parachutes being deployed during the final phase of the mission and even the splashdown. The final descent was also covered by a drone which was flying over landing area and provided great pictures of the spacecraft returning from space.

The live coverage of certain spaceflight events is not really a new thing. However, it felt totally different because of the impressive quality of the images. Moreover, it was really impressive to follow the whole mission in real time over the internet. Although I am basically living on the internet, live broadcasts from space are all the time a very spectacular event.