This Bachelor's thesis explores the impact of a fast-forwarding mechanic on player experience within Liberty Land, an in-house developed casual farming game. The research question is: How do changes in the passage of time, facilitated by the time-altering mechanic in our developed game, Liberty Land, impact the player's experience? The authors researched the question through the creation of their game and then playtesting with two distinct groups. The authors used game-feel (Swink, 2009) and the MDA framework (Hunicke et al., 2004) to do the research. Group A experienced the game with the time-accelerating mechanic, while Group B acted as the control group and did not have access to the mechanic. Players would then answer a survey that corresponded with which group they had. After the playtests, the authors reviewed the data and analyzed the results. Group A had the time-altering mechanic and did report finding it helpful in reducing waiting times. They believed it aided game progression, even though core balancing issues made some actively use the mechanic less than expected. The group found it enjoyable and easy to use, although some did express concerns about potential stress from optimizing time usage. The insights from Group B, who experienced the game without the time-altering mechanic, underscore the importance of game content and loop variations for immersion and engagement. The emotional responses from both groups analyzed through the MDA framework revealed notable themes of sensation, discovery, and submission. The study also identified challenges such as low survey participation rates, ongoing refinement in the game loop, and the state of the game. While there is evidence of a positive impact on the player’s experience, the heavy limitations and problems make the research largely inconclusive as a whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-532185 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Bhutani, Iver Adrian, Buhre, Mattias, Emriksson Apenitis, Adam, Möller, Oden, Petterson, Sarah |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för speldesign |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, video/mp4 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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