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Metrics and adaptation

Metrics and adaptation. Mark Nelson mjas@itu.dk. Game metrics. Anything that can be recorded about gameplay Used to understand how the game works, and how players experience it Range of goals and techniques Qualitative, quantitative, game user experience, monetization.

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Metrics and adaptation

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  1. Metrics and adaptation • Mark Nelson • mjas@itu.dk Fall 2013 www.itu.dk

  2. Game metrics Anything that can be recorded about gameplay Used to understand how the game works, and how players experience it Range of goals and techniques Qualitative, quantitative, game user experience, monetization

  3. Some types of game metrics

  4. Which player are the metrics about?

  5. Basic process Choose variables to record Choose frequency of recording Store to a database Run query/visualization later Aggregation, correlation, etc.

  6. Simple example

  7. Spatial, in-engine metrics Record positions of interesting events Visualize frequencies, relationships, etc. Usually by drawing on the map One of the most commonly used kinds of metrics Easy to record, clear how to visualize

  8. Heatmap: HL2 deaths

  9. Heatmap: TR8 in-game help usage

  10. More in-depth spatial analysis Heatmaps are 2d density estimates from samples Can do other kinds of density estimates Or, combine with qualitative data

  11. Binned heatmap

  12. Using a GIS? Geographic Information System (GIS) Used for aggregating spatial data in geography, urban planning, etc. Some recent experiments with using GIS to analyze ”game geography”

  13. GIS overlays

  14. ArcGIS overlay (Hitman: Blood Money)

  15. In-engine/editor visualization

  16. Analytical metrics Analyzing the game to extract information without player data, or as a supplement to player data Examples: Reachability analysis Game-theory analysis of a combat system Recent area of research M.J. Nelson (2011), ”Game Metrics Without Players”

  17. More on metrics Annual conferences/workshops: Game User Experience Engines increasingly come with their own metrics/viz infrastructure And extensions, e.g. in the Unity store

  18. Adaptation Can we use metric data automatically? Offline or online

  19. Dynamic difficulty adjustment Adjust game based on player’s in-game behavior But ”smarter” than classic rubber-banding style DDA Information on what player does successfully/unsuccessfully, combined with a model of interestingness

  20. Experience-driven PCG Use metrics information to generate levels or other game content Offline: a kind of partially automated game design Online: game customization Like a more ambitious DDA Togelius & Yannakakis (2011). ”Experience-driven PCG”

  21. Final project Project can be done individually or in a group Individually written reports in either case Scope There are about 6 weeks left in the semester Depending on the project, leave ~2 weeks to write up a report

  22. Kinds of projects Implementation projects Scientific-experiment projects Engine investigation projects

  23. Implementation projects Examples Expand your software 3d renderer to do solid surfaces and lighting Implement a character AI/scripting API Write a Unity plugin to do something not currently supported

  24. Scientific investigation projects Do an analysis/comparison of algorithms or techniques Possibilities Implement several standard algorithms from a textbook (AI, graphics, etc.) and compare them Implement something proposed in a research paper and try to replicate or extend its results

  25. Engine investigation projects Take an existing game engine and dive into a specific part of it (physics system, AI system, navigation system, …) to understand and characterize how it works. Possible topics of investigation What were the design goals, if known? What does this support well and poorly? Benchmarks, etc.

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