Trade-offs between responsiveness and naturalness for player characters

Abstract

Real-time animation controllers are fundamental for animating characters in response to player input. However, the design of such controllers requires making trade-offs between the naturalness of the character's motions and the promptness of the character's response. In this paper, we investigate the effects of such tradeoffs on the players' enjoyment, control, satisfaction, and opinion of the character in a simple platform game. In our first experiment, we compare three controllers having the same responsiveness, but varying levels of naturalness. In the second experiment, we compare three controllers having increasing realism but at the expense of decreased responsiveness. Not surprisingly, our least responsive controller negatively affects players' performance and perceived ability to control the character. However, we also find that players are most satisfied with their own performance using our least natural controller, in which the character moves around the environment in a static pose; that differences in animation can significantly alter players' enjoyment with responsiveness being equal; and that players do not report increased motion quality with our most natural controller, despite viewers outside of a game context rating the same controller as significantly more natural than our other conditions. AbstractReal-time animation controllers are fundamental for animating characters in response to player input. However, the design of such controllers requires making trade-offs between the naturalness of the character's motions and the promptness of the character's response. In this paper, we investigate the effects of such tradeoffs on the players' enjoyment, control, satisfaction, and opinion of the character in a simple platform game. In our first experiment, we compare three controllers having the same responsiveness, but varying levels of naturalness. In the second experiment, we compare three controllers having increasing realism but at the expense of decreased responsiveness. Not surprisingly, our least responsive controller negatively affects players' performance and perceived ability to control the character. However, we also find that players are most satisfied with their own performance using our least natural controller, in which the character moves around the environment in a static pose; that differences in animation can significantly alter players' enjoyment with responsiveness being equal; and that players do not report increased motion quality with our most natural controller, despite viewers outside of a game context rating the same controller as significantly more natural than our other conditions.

Designing Game Feel: A Survey

“…Dahl & Kraus [87] provide a good starting point for exploring this topic. Normoyle and Jörg [88] look at the trade-off between naturalness of movement and responsiveness of controls. Pignole [89] describes 10 different aspects of how to design controls that feel responsive.…”

“…1) Basic Movement: This design element is concerned with the most basic parameters defining the interactive movement of an on-screen object, in most cases the player character. The parameters in question are speed, acceleration, friction, and breaking speed (see [87], [88] and [89]). If the player can jump, the strength of the jump force as well as eventual air friction come into play, too.…”

Bicycle kicks and camp sites: Towards a phenomenological theory of game feel with special attention towards ‘rhythm’

“…A group of game designers see game feel as associated with naturalness or realistic presentation (Dahl and Kraus, 2015; Normoyle and Jörg, 2014); of what exactly is unclear, since most games are fictional representations (Juul, 2005). Still, the argument circles around how to make the player feel as if (Larsen, 2015) she is present in the game or transported to another reality.…”

The effect of animation controller and avatar on player perceptions

“…That work studies the delays between the user's input and the processing of that input. The effect of a different source of delays, however, has not been investigated yet: The animation system can create delays of a similar magnitude and even longer delays if high naturalness is being aimed for . This type of delay is different as a longer delay comes with improved motion naturalness.…”

“…The effect of a different source of delays, however, has not been investigated yet: The animation system can create delays of a similar magnitude and even longer delays if high naturalness is being aimed for. 9 This type of delay is different as a longer delay comes with improved motion naturalness. In this paper, we are particularly interested in how much delay might be tolerated by the player when it allows the character to move in a more natural way.…”