Virtual Sensation I3/21/16

Scale Time Units Activities/Processes World (Theory)

1000000000 DecadesGrand Strategy

Social and Organizational Psychology

100000000 Years10000000 Months

Major Strategy1000000 Weeks

100000 Days Strategy

Bounded Rationality / Behavioral Economics

10000 HoursOperations1000 10 Minutes

100 Minutes Tactics

10 10 Seconds Minor Tactics

Cognition (symbolic)1 Second

Interactive Routines (Critical Path Analysis)

1/3 Second

0.1 100 ms Perception and Action

0.01 10 msNeuroscience Biology (subsymbolic)

0.001 1 ms

Scale Time Units Activities/Processes World (Theory)

1000000000 DecadesGrand Strategy

Social and Organizational Psychology

100000000 Years10000000 Months

Major Strategy1000000 Weeks

100000 Days Strategy

Bounded Rationality / Behavioral Economics

10000 HoursOperations1000 10 Minutes

100 Minutes Tactics

10 10 Seconds Minor Tactics

Cognition (symbolic)1 Second

Interactive Routines (Critical Path Analysis)

1/3 Second

0.1 100 ms Perception and Action

0.01 10 msNeuroscience Biology (subsymbolic)

0.001 1 ms

Scale Time Units Activities/Processes World (Theory)

1000000000 DecadesGrand Strategy

Social and Organizational Psychology

100000000 Years10000000 Months

Major Strategy1000000 Weeks

100000 Days Strategy

Bounded Rationality / Behavioral Economics

10000 HoursOperations1000 10 Minutes

100 Minutes Tactics

10 10 Seconds Minor Tactics

Cognition (symbolic)1 Second

Interactive Routines (Critical Path Analysis)

1/3 Second

0.1 100 ms Perception and Action

0.01 10 msNeuroscience Biology (subsymbolic)

0.001 1 ms

The Three Building Blocks of Game Feel

• Real-Time Control

• Simulated Space

• Polish

Real-Time Control• All interactivity is a “cyclic process in which

two active agents alternately (and metaphorically) listen, think and speak” (Chris Crawford)

• Real-Time Control is a specific form of interactivity that takes place in “continuous time”

• Starting definition: Game feel is real-time control of virtual objects

Simulated Space• Simulated physical interactions in virtual

space, perceived actively by the player

• Collision detection and response between the player’s real-time-controlled avatar and objects in the game world

• Level design!

• Updated definition: Game feel is the real-time control of virtual objects in simulated space

Polish

• Any effect which artificially enhances interaction without changing the underlying simulation

• Emphasizes the physical nature of interactions, helping the player see the objects as real (not including collision)

Side Note: McGurk Effect

Our Final Definition

• Game feel is real-time control of virtual objects in a simulated space, with interactions emphasized by polish

Experiences of Game Feel

Real-Time Control Simulated SpacePolish

Building Blocks

Experiences

Skill and Learning

Flow

Aesthetic Sensation of Control

Appeal

Unique Physical Reality

Spatial Immersion

Extend Senses

Extend Identity

Aesthetic Sensation of Control

• When a player refers to controls feeling “smooth,” “floaty,” or “stiff,” they are referring to the raw feeling of operating an object

• There is a large palette of sensations for designers to draw from

• How does the game respond to input? What are the mappings between input and motion?

Skill• In order to achieve certain results in a real-time

context, we must learn coordinated muscle movements

• The same process goes on in sports, but with most games the movements are smaller and more focused

• with games you can change the properties of the world (!)

• Skillful control is a different experience than “just” control

Game Feel and Skill• Sensation of control is affected by challenge:

by focusing the player on different areas of the possibility space of motion, you can reward exploration

• The feel of the games changes depending on the skill of the player

• When players can translate intent to outcome without ambiguity, they find the controls to be intuitive

Success Failure

Intuitive Clumsy

Bored

Frustrated

New Challenge Introduced

Point of Highest Frustration

Skill

Cha

lleng

e

FLOW

Frustration/ Anxiety

Boredom

Extension of the Senses

Extension of Identity

A Unique Physical Reality

A Unique Physical Reality

A Unique Physical Reality

Summary thus Far

• Game feel is the real-time control of virtual objects in a simulated space, with interactions emphasized by polish

Summary thus Far• Five kinds of experience:

• Aesthetic sensation of control

• Pleasure of learning, practicing, and mastering a skill

• Extension of the senses

• Extension of identity

• Interaction with a unique physical reality within the game

The Model Human Processor

HUMAN COMPUTER

1. Senses (input)

2. Brain

3. Muscles (output) 4. Controller (input)

5. Processor

6. Display (output)Sight Sound Touch Proprioception

Arms Hands

Screen Speakers Rumble Motors Joystick “pushback”, mouse position

Mouse, Wiimote Keyboard, Joystick

what’s going

on here?

~100 ms ~70 ms ~70 ms

Perceptual Cognitive Motor

Procedural Module

Pattern Matching

Production Selection

Production Execution

Goal Buffer Retrieval Buffer

Declarative Module

Manual Buffer

Motor Module

Device Module

External World

Visual Buffer

Vision Module

Visual-Location Buffer

Aural Buffer

Vocal Buffer

Speech Module

Audio Module

Goal Module

Temporal Buffer (accumulator)

Temporal Module (pacemaker)

Imaginal Buffer

Imaginal Module

~100 ms ~70 ms ~70 ms

Perceptual Cognitive Motor

Information from Environment Muscles

Comparison (cognitive processor)

Perception Action

Keep Car in Lane

Turn right onto Fulton St.

Drive to Shalimar

Eat Chicken Tikka MahkaniGoal

Hierarchy of Intentions

World

• Provide the impression of motion – 20 fps for a tolerable minimum, 30 fps to be safe. Assumes good motion blur!

• Instantaneous response – 30ms. 100ms lag is noticeable but tolerable, 200ms feels sluggish

• Continuity of response – cycle time for the computer’s half of the interaction needs to be 50ms maximum

If the average human response time is 240 milliseconds, with a theoretical minimum of 105ms, why is 50ms the slowest we can accept for the computer’s response?

respond frame 3

process frame 3

respond frame 2

time

process frame 2

respond frame 1

perceive frame 3

process frame 4perceive frame 4

perceive frame 5

Perceptual Processor

Cognitive Processor

Motor Processor

Concurrency!

Homework

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

(due 3/28)

Homework The Hatchlings Sunny Day Sky

Winterbells High Delivery Starry Night

The Pond Fishball

The Snowrider What Comes Around

Bauns Pocketfull of Stars

Snowbowling The Three Monkeys

Swordsman Hold the Rope Apple Season

Homework• Describe how each game “feels.” Did it feel right

or wrong? If wrong, why?

• Were there any games where you felt compelled to reach the high score list? Why that particular game? (“Because I was good at it” is not a valid response)

• Did the “cutesy” themes enhance or detract from the experience? Out of the Orisinal games, would any themes/mechanics be better if switched with another in the group?