Procedural Content Generation for Game Props? A Study on the Effects on User Experience

This work demonstrates the potentials of procedural content generation (PCG) for games, focusing on the generation of specific graphic props (reefs) in an explorer game. We briefly portray the state-of-the-art of PCG and compare various methods to create random patterns at runtime. Taking a step tow...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers in Entertainment 2017-06, Vol.15 (2), p.1-15
Main Authors: Korn, Oliver, Blatz, Michael, Rees, Adrian, Schaal, Jakob, Schwind, Valentin, Görlich, Daniel
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Artists
Computer & video games
Effects
Players
Studies
User experience
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This work demonstrates the potentials of procedural content generation (PCG) for games, focusing on the generation of specific graphic props (reefs) in an explorer game. We briefly portray the state-of-the-art of PCG and compare various methods to create random patterns at runtime. Taking a step towards the game industry, we describe an actual game production and provide a detailed pseudocode implementation showing how Perlin or Simplex noise can be used efficiently. In a comparative study, we investigate two alternative implementations of a decisive game prop: once created traditionally by artists and once generated by procedural algorithms. 41 test subjects played both implementations. The analysis shows that PCG can create a user experience that is significantly more realistic and at the same time perceived as more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the ever-changing nature of the procedurally generated environments is preferred with high significance, especially by players aged 45 and above.
ISSN:1544-3574
1544-3981
DOI:10.1145/2974026