This study explores what potential influence on players’ gameplay experience in Soulsborne games could be brought by the design decision of removing the Stamina system, which is an iconic feature in Soulsborne games that puts a certain level of constraint on players’ in-game actions. A Soulslike game prototype with a melee combat system designed on the basis of Soulsborne games was developed for the research goal of this study. Two different versions of the prototype, with the only difference between which being the removal of the Stamina system in the second version, were used for playtesting. The survey data collected from a total of 24 participants suggests that most players were less concentrated during the in-game combats and experienced a smaller sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when achieving the in-game objective when playing the version that doesn’t have the Stamina system compared with the version that has the Stamina system. On the other hand, as also indicated by the collected survey data, although removing the Stamina mechanic might result in less fun for players, it might help players mitigate their frustration level in games, especially for players with relatively poorer gameplay skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-533645 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Wu, Zonghao, Peng, Shengan |
| 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 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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