Ricardo Lopes
Rafael Bidarra
ABSTRACT
The use of procedural content generation to support adaptive games is starting to gain momentum in current research. However, there are still many open issues to tackle, namely the reusability of methodologies. Our research focuses on reusable and generic methods for linking the procedural generation of 3D game worlds with gameplay, as measured by player modelling techniques. As the interface for that link, we propose the use of gameplay semantics, a knowledge representation technique that allows our case-based generator to match content to player models. We present and discuss the implementation of our proposed method in an existing game, Stunt Playground. Gameplay semantics is created by designers in a generic way and is then used to procedurally generate player-matching Stunt Playground game worlds, both at the design and game stage. Current results show that our approach can automatically create such adaptive game content, thus effectively bridging game world designers, procedural generation and gameplay.
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Index Terms
- Using gameplay semantics to procedurally generate player-matching game worlds
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Reviews
Jun Ma
With the rapid development of computer hardware, modern video games have become more and more realistic, especially in terms of visual impact. On the other hand, the contents of games still tend to be simple and somehow mechanical. As a result, adaptive game content generators that offer players more exciting, balanced, and effective gameplay experiences have garnered increased attention in recent years. This paper presents the use of gameplay semantics, a knowledge representation technique that allows the case-based generator to match content to player models. The authors first introduce the key concept behind adaptive games. By recognizing and comprehending players' interactions, adaptive games can generate content elements in a dynamic fashion. This not only affords the players a more unpredictable and flexible game experience, but it also widens the appeal of such games for a larger audience. In the related work section, the authors introduce previous research on the architectural principles behind game adaptivity. They discuss two types of methodologies in detail: player modeling and content generation. To better explain the proposed system, they outline their previous framework for generating player-matching content for complex and immersive game worlds in section 3. This section also discusses some new rules that were added for the proposed work. Section 4 demonstrates how the authors incorporated their framework into a real video game, Stunt Playground . Due to the nature of that game, the authors used heuristic vector-based models for behavior and experience modeling. Two simultaneous scales were used to measure the different player behaviors: Evel Knievel and Sunday Drive. The authors also measured the game fun factor by defining four heuristic values. Section 5 illustrates several stunt arenas generated by the system according to the interactions of different players. As the complexity of the arenas is strongly related to player performances, the claim that the system can adaptively create new game contents based on the knowledge from previous player behaviors is convincing. The authors describe a novel way to generate adaptive game contents using semantic-based methods. They demonstrate the effectiveness of their system by applying the framework to a real video game and the results verify their claim. As adaptive games become a new trend in the video game industry, this work could provide a new prototype for researchers to investigate in order to optimize game adaptivity. While the contributions of the system are obvious, some improvements should be emphasized. First, a more general semantic system would make the framework more useful for current commercial video games. Second, modeling user behavior and experience is critical for generating adaptive game content, so it would be useful to discuss how to define and measure this in more detail. Third, as the authors mention, using a simple game to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework cannot guarantee it will work as well for other games, especially complex video games. Nevertheless, this paper is definitely a pioneer in adaptive game development and is worth reading. Online Computing Reviews Service
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