Independent Game Development

DES 442 Capstone research project with production

Research Protocol Title: Investigating the Perceptions of Post-Gaming Emotions: what causes college-aged gamers to act with exaggerated excitement and anger while playing videogames & how to solve it.

Media: Unity, Blender, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier

The emotional impact of video games on players, particularly in terms of the heightened excitement and anger experienced by college-aged gamers, has been a topic of growing interest in recent years. This literature review seeks to explore the factors that contribute to these exaggerated emotional reactions, focusing on aspects of game design, such as color, shape, and character expression, as well as potential solutions to minimize negative emotional responses.

Starting from briefly describing my research, it aims to learn more about the post-gaming experiences of gamers, with a broader goal to understand how to de-escalate it. This research is interested in examining the aspects that trigger a college gamer’s emotional behavior after playing video games and what causes them to act with exaggerated excitement and anger while playing games. To solve these problems, the research project also focuses on the development of my own digital program. Studies suggest that a myriad of emotions are experienced during gaming, and that much of these heightened feelings last long after the game is over. Studies also suggests how these and that much of these heightened feelings last long after the game is

Introduction

Investigating the Perceptions of Post-Gaming Emotions: what causes college-aged gamers to act with exaggerated excitement and anger while playing videogames & how to solve it.

over. Studies also suggests how these effects can impact the social relationships that gamers have with others, and their personal feelings of self-worth. It is important because emotions affected by video games have become a more severe problem in recent years for those college students who just step into an environment without parents’ control. The goal of my study is to survey gamers between the ages of 18 and 25 (Gen-Z) to gather their perceptions and experiences of the after-effects of gaming and emotions, and to obtain a broad range of opinions about what might soften or de-escalate these effects. The data will be analyzed and used to develop recommendations that can be used to design a digital post-gaming add on. This study contains phases, with the first step being qualitative research; I will use google to get both basic information of my samples and what elements they want the digital program to contain; for the second & third phases (interviewing for opinion & quantitative rating) are when I refine and polish my digital program after I make the digital program based on the first phase information.

Ideas from research

Base on the first step of the research I conducted, 100 % of my 30 samples play games and had been experienced bad emotions during their game experience. About 65.5% of them use PC as the main console, 41.4 % of them think losing bring them negative emotion, and 43.3% of them play games for fun. Since these are the most popular choices among these 30 people, my game design direction heads to a “fun game that doesn’t have a logic of losing on PC” with the main purpose of relaxing after intense gaming. It is also made purposely for phase 3 game evaluation that strongly reveals three design aspects: 3D models styles, character build ideas, and scene creation with colors and natural element. In the production of “ZOOEASE”, the variables which is not changing is simple 3D models with smooth texture in anime style, low poly character build such as matches human-being and cute animals, and warm color scheme in natural environments scene creations with clouds, trees, mountains, houses, and transportation tools.

“Secondly, 17 out of 30 persons rate above 3.7 points for character build which could be used to evaluate the effectiveness for relaxing of this element. Only 4 out of 17 think the character build of ZOOEASE could effectively help them relax or even better. So, we can make prediction that the low poly character build such as matches human-being and cute animals won’t help players relax effectively. (Figure. 2)”

“Firstly, 20 out of 30 persons rate above 3.7 points for 3D models production which could be used to evaluate the effectiveness for relaxing of this element. 18 out of 20 think the 3D models of ZOOEASE could effectively help them relax or even better. So, we can make prediction that the simple 3D models with smooth texture in anime style could effectively help players relax. (Figure. 1)”

“Finally, 28 out of 30 persons rate above 3.7 points for scene creation which could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of relaxing of this element. 26 out of 28 persons rate above 3.4 for the effectiveness of relaxing, which we could predict that scene creation with warm color scheme in natural environments such as clouds, trees, mountains, houses, and transportation tools could moderately or perfectly help players relax in game. (Figure. 3)”

In phase 3, the rating up to around 4 (minimum 3.7) means that this sample think the specific element is good enough to be put in the game, or effectively help them relax after playing the game for 10 minutes. Two type of evaluation is based on the way of how I ask the questions. For example, the question “Do you think the 3D model design is good enough” comes with the question “Do you think the 3D model design help you relax after playing 10 minutes?” for further discussion. Based on my study, the simple 3D models with smooth texture in anime style and warm color scheme in natural environments scene creations with clouds, trees, mountains, houses, and transportation tools are two basic features in ZOOEASE that reveals positive outcomes when it comes to make player relax. But the low poly character build such as matches human-being and cute animals comes out negatively, which means oppositely a well-made character with details in a more realistic style might better help player relax.

Game Design

My game, titled "ZOOEASE," would be an action-adventure daily task game with a unique feeling that makes people feel like they drop into another perspectives of world without competing and anger emotions. Instead of focusing solely on the in-game character's progression, the game would encourage players to try their best to relax and feel satisfied in about 10 minutes. The game art include color, scene build, and character design would help players much on their visual balance and heart rates therapy after excessive addiction to their main game.

  • Chipmunk

  • You

  • Rabbit

  • Owl

The average poly of models is in a moderate number. It is good for device running the software without crashing, and the number of polys reveals how I keep the design in a simple style. Low poly model is also easy to DIY like giving it a unique color in specific part. Every model in ZOOEASE is built in a way for both designer and audience better adapting the software.

“...Their findings showed that emotionally expressive game characters with distinct color and shape characteristics could enhance players' engagement and learning...” (Plass et al., 2020)

The protagonist is your soul that drops into a fantasy world where animals play a leading role in this natural environment. There are no other human-beings at all, and you are the most unique existence in this world, and you surprisingly find that those animals also have their own society just like yours. In your adventure, you will see how they govern their animal society, and as a human-being, you not only learn from them but also help them with the things they couldn’t finish easily. “Kindness heals, and it is mutual”, in this game you will find it true when you make more contact with the animal.

The color scheme is following the monochromatic order or high contrast color scheme with warm color. In most of the scene in game, the visual are meant to give players a relax feeling with emotion change from nervous to comfortable.

“...For example, changing color saturation, brightness, and contrast can evoke feelings of excitement or relaxation, depending on the intended gameplay experience...” (Geslin, Jégou, & Beaudoin, 2016)

“...different colors were associated with specific emotions, with colors like blue, green, and purple linked to feelings of calmness, whereas red and yellow were connected to excitement and anxiety...” (Kaya & Epps, 2014)

Warm color scheme in natural environments scene creations with clouds, trees, mountains, houses, and transportation tools is the main idea on scene creation. In order to keep the task simple, the manipulation usually require two hands but less frequency on tapping the keyboard. Overall, the main thing to manipulate with are this transportation showing in the picture such as plane and bicycle. And the game task is asking players manipulate the transportation and collect things on the scene.