Here are the heatmaps comparing the results of our initial prototypes to the results of our refined prototypes. The titles of the refined games are as follows:
1. Start Hacking
Before refinements, the player feel scared rather than daring because they are not willing to take the risks in the game. The players didn’t feel daring because the game mechanics ask them to explore the map under time pressure, and also taking risks that they might fail.After applying our lessons learned: 1. Removing the timer from the game ( from Daring lesson two: Time and score pressure cause some players to take risks, but not in a way that makes them feel positive.) 2. Changing scoring system that if the player explore the map more, he/she will earn higher scores. (from Daring lesson one: Rewarding risky behavior works – but mostly on players who are inclined to take risks.) Now we have a much higher hitting rate to our target emotion (quadrant)
2. Horse Trainer
Before we do the refinements, player feel confident instead of proud because they have a strong determination that they can win a match after training for a while. Also, some players regard the horse as themselves instead of other objects, which made up the feeling of confident.During refining phase, we apply multiple changes into our game: 1. Changing the training mechanics. Remove percentage, different ways of cheering to help the horse improve instead of keep pressing space bar. And more proof showing that player is not the horse. (Daring lesson three: The relationship between the player’s character and others are crucial for being proud.) 2. Adding more horses in game, training now instead of adding ability all in once, it’s increasing little by little during training sessions. (Daring lesson four: Accumulative progress is a positive reminder of the player’s performance. ) After these changes, we have a much higher hitting rate in our quadrant.
3. Mr Bluehat and His Dreams
Before refinements, our games already hit Serene, peaceful, and related emotions. However, some amount of people feel bored in the game.After we do the refinements, we changed the game by: 1. Adding different level and different control into the game to increase difficulty (Serenity lesson one: Simple gameplay works, but there is a higher risk of incurring boredom.) 2. Add mouse draging into game and ask player to keep a pace in game. (Serenity lesson two: Having a mechanic that influences players to adjust their body rhythm calms players down.)
