Game Difficulty Level Research Articles

Evolutionary Algorithm in Game – A Systematic Review

Research in the game field is increasingly numerous and challenging. The high interest in research on games is influenced by public awareness of the importance of games in developing ways of thinking, although it is undeniable that many people only pursue pleasure in playing games. In the past, not much games research has influenced into topics such as artificial intelligence, education, or other computer topics. But now games are having a tremendous impact on these topics. In fact, not infrequently games are used in various areas of life. Right now, artificial intelligence is an integral part of the game. If before, it was only used for creating an enemy. Right now artificial intelligence can affect various things, starting from assets, game difficulty levels, non-player characters (NPC), and even bots (AI agents) to run player characters. The complexity of artificial intelligence which is getting higher and higher requires a good optimization algorithm. The evolutionary algorithm is one of the optimization algorithms, even though it cannot find the best one, with the high speed it can find a good solution. Through this paper review, good conclusions are drawn regarding the use of evolutionary algorithms, representations made, fitness functions used, ways to prove a success, to what topics should be studied further.

An analysis of clinical outcomes and essential parameters for designing effective games for upper limb rehabilitation: A scoping review.

Upper limb disabilities are one of the most common disabilities among different groups of people who always need rehabilitation. One of the important methods in helping to carry out efficient rehabilitation processes and exercises is the use of games. The aim of this study is to identify the parameters necessary to design a successful rehabilitation game and the outcomes of using these games in upper limb disabilities rehabilitation. This scoping review was conducted by searching the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus. The eligibility criteria were: any form of game-based upper limb rehabilitation, published in a peer-reviewed journal, published in English, and not include articles that did not focus upper limb disabilities rehabilitation games, review, meta-analysis, or conference papers. Analysis of collected data was done using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage). The search strategy retrieved 537 relevant articles. Finally, after removing irrelevant and repetitive articles, 21 articles were included in this study. Among the six categories of diseases or complications of upper limb disabilities, games were mostly designed for stroke patients. Smart wearables, robots and telerehabilitation were three technologies that were used for rehabilitation along with games. Sports and shooters were the most used games for upper limb disability rehabilitation. Among 99 necessary parameters for designing and implementing a successful rehabilitation game in ten categories. "Increasing the patient's motivation to perform rehabilitation exercises", "Game difficulty levels", "Enjoying and the attractiveness of the game for patients", and "Providing positive or negative audiovisual feedback" were the most important parameters. "Improvement in musculoskeletal performance" and "Increasing users' enjoyment/joy of therapeutic exercises and their motivation to perform these exercises" were the most important positive outcomes, and "Mild discomfort such as nausea and dizziness when using games" was the only negative outcome. The successful design of a game according to the parameters identified in the present study can lead to an increase in the positive outcomes of using games in the rehabilitation of disabilities. The study results indicate that upper limb therapeutic exercise augmented with virtual reality games may be highly effective in enhancing motor rehabilitation outcomes.

Adaptive Difficulty in Earthquake Mitigation Game Using Fuzzy Mamdani

Abstract. Earthquake disasters cause a lot of casualties. Therefore, needs to be education on earthquake disaster mitigation to minimize losses. In addition to counseling and teaching in schools, mitigation education can also be through games. Some education games for earthquake disaster mitigation have circulated quite a lot but have disadvantages, namely the difficulty level that hasn't been adaptive. A game requires an adaptive level of difficulty that can adjust between the ability and playing experience of the player with the level of difficulty so that players do not feel bored or frustrated.Purpose: This study aims to provide earthquake disaster mitigation education and discuss making the level of difficulty in the game adaptive to suit the abilities and experience of the player.Method: From the research carried out by applying the Mamdani Fuzzy Logic, the game's difficulty level for each player becomes more adaptive or different for each player according to the ability and experience of each player in the previous stage measured from 6 input parameters.Result: The level of difficulty that is obtained becomes adaptive. It changes according to conditions or is adjusted based on the player's ability. It is from the playtesting experiment conducted on 20 players. The minimum difficulty level's score is five, and the difficulty level's score is 28.36.Novelty: This paper's purpose is an educational game for earthquake mitigation with the feature of adaptive level based on fuzzy Mamdani.

Pocong Rush: Endless Runner Game Based On Finite State Machine

Endless runner Game is a Game where the player will move continuously indefinitely to get the highest point in the Game. Endless runner Game is synonymous with challenges in the form of obstacles and collective items. This study focuses on setting challenges in the non-playable character (NPC) behavior so that they can provide more dynamic challenges. Obstacle, player and NPC settings use the Finite state Machine method which is implemented in an html 5 based Game engine Construct. The implementation results are in the form of an html 5 Game which is then tested through 2 testing stages, namely blackox testing and beta testing. The test results using blackbox testing show that all functionality in the Game can run well, including the behavior of NPCs based on the designed FSM. Beta testing shows that the majority of respondents who have played endless runner Games stated that they like horror Games with local content nuances and the impression of humor and that the average Game difficulty level based on NPC responses to players is 63.75%.

A novel approach to validate the efficacy of single task ERP paradigms to measure cognitive workload

The present study examined the utility of a single-task paradigm to evaluate cognitive workload. The cognitive workload from twenty-five healthy participants was measured during a tilt-ball game while tones were presented in the background to generate event-related potentials (ERPs) in electroencephalographic (EEG) data. In the game, participants were instructed to move the ball to highlighted targets and avoid moving obstacles. The game's difficulty level was manipulated (easy, medium, hard) by adjusting the number and speed of the moving obstacles. The difficulty levels were presented in a random order during multiple short runs to minimize the effects of habituation, fatigue, and boredom. The behavioral results showed that greater task difficulty resulted in a significant decrease (p < 0.001) in game performance, i.e., participants achieved few targets with a high collision rate. To evaluate cognitive workload, we measured the amplitude of early ERP components (N1, P1, and P2) corresponding to the involuntary attention orienting response. The amplitude of the N1 component decreased significantly (p = 0.029) with an increase in cognitive workload. These findings suggest that the early ERP component, specifically the N1, corresponds to attention orienting response, and that the task difficulty modulates it. This study provided evidence that the inverse relationship between ERP components and cognitive workload can be reliably assessed by controlling for other factors such as habituation or boredom during a single task paradigm.

A Game-Based Rehabilitation Therapy for Post-Stroke Patients: An Approach for Improving Patient Motivation and Engagement

A brain stroke could result in the loss of neuromotor and cognitive functions. Poststroke rehabilitation therapy is used to enable patients to regain some of their lost functionalities. However, traditional rehabilitation faces problems related to the availability of physiotherapists and specific equipment. In home therapy is more convenient for poststroke patients, but their motivation and adherence to their medical regime must be addressed properly. This article presents a game-based in-home rehabilitation system based on two different design approaches. The first design approach (A1) consists of selecting games or ludic activities and adapting them to meet the treatment object ives, the second design approach (A2) consists of selecting and virtualizing the physiotherapy exercises being used at the hospital. The results of the usability study showed that the system is usable. The game difficulty levels were similar for both approaches. The perception of fun was greater for A1 than for A2. Additionally, both approaches were considered motivating for the subjects. The usability study showed that the rehabilitation games reported in this research are usable and motivating. In future research, these games will be integrated into a neuromotor rehabilitation program for poststroke patients.

Key factors that influence the UX of a dual-player game for the cognitive stimulation and motor rehabilitation of older adults

In this work, the results of usability and user experience (UX) evaluation of a serious video game for the cognitive stimulation and motor rehabilitation of the upper limb of the elderly are presented. The serious game includes features that allow (1) performing cooperative therapy exercises between two patients, (2) remote session configuration therapy, and (3) monitoring/analyzing the sessions’ results by the therapist. An evaluation of the game with 16 older adults provides evidence about how the tool is perceived by participants, who embraced it as stimulating, useful, usable and even fun, and which impacts in therapy compliance and acceptability by the elderly. In addition, through an in depth analysis of the participants’ performance and observed emotions, as well as their self-report, we determined which engagement attributes are present in the game. Finally, we also found evidence that suggests that the participants’ skill level and the game difficulty level rather than just a good performance on the game are key factors that influence their enjoyment and frustration.

Evaluation of escape room competitive position in Polish macro regions with 2d and 1d strategic group maps

For the purpose of this article a strategic analysis of the escape room sector in Poland has been carried out for the first time, using new variants of strategic group maps. The aim of the paper is to test the technique of multi-sector 2D (two-dimensional) strategic group maps and a new version of 1D (one-dimensional) strategic group maps for the analysis and evaluation of the competitive position of selected escape rooms in Polish macro regions in 2018. In addition, the paper proposes procedures for the development of new variants of strategic group maps, as well as recommendations to escape room owners and investors in particular parts of Poland. The main scientific problem of the article is to investigate to what extent new variants of strategic group maps can be applied in strategic analysis. The hypothesis assumes that 2D (two-dimensional) and 1D (one-dimensional) strategic group maps can have various applications in strategic analysis. The conclusions of the research conducted with the use of multi-sector 2D strategic group maps contain a partial evaluation, both horizontal and vertical, of the competitive position of escape rooms. Elements of differentiation strategy of an escape room, such as the minimum price for a room, its ranking in Lockme.pl, and the game difficulty level is taken into account. Using 1D strategic group maps the research makes it possible to evaluate the situation in escape rooms in Poland by their key stakeholders, i.e. owners and clients. 1D strategic group maps included in this paper present differences and similarities between the owners’ and clients’ opinions about the difficulty level of escape rooms. The recognition of the existence of those differences or similarities, whether the views converge or diverge, helps in the decision-making concerning future strategies.

Fusion of Artificial Intelligence in Neuro-Rehabilitation Video Games

In this paper, an intuitive neuro-rehabilitation video game has been developed employing the fusion of artificial neural networks (ANNs), inverse kinematics (IK), and fuzzy logic (FL) algorithms. The embedded algorithms automatically adjust the game difficulty level based on the player’s interaction with the game. Moreover, it is manifested as an alternative approach for possible movements to improve incorrect positioning through real-time visual feedback on the screen; 52 participants volunteered to engage in the program. Motor assessment scale (MAS) was determined to assess the participants’ functional ability pre- and post-treatments. The system input is received via the Microsoft Kinect, a foot Pedal (Saitek), and the Thalmic Myo armband. The ANN classifier integrates the limb joints orientation, angular velocity, lower arms’ muscle activity, hand gestures, feet sole (plantar) pressure parameters, and the MAS scores to learn from data and predict the improvement following the intervention. The fuzzy input generates a crisp output and provides a personalized rehabilitation program with the potential to be integrated into clinical protocols. Experiments to obtain the input signals and desired outputs were conducted for the learning and validation of the network. The networks pattern recognition, self-organizing map, and non-linear auto-regression analysis performed using feed-forward and Levenberg–Marquardt backpropagation (LMBP) procedure. The results showed the effectiveness of the non-linear auto-regression using the optimized LMBP algorithm to classify and visualize the target categories. Furthermore, the state of the network demonstrates the prediction accuracy exceeding 94%. Clustering algorithm grouped the data based on the similarity. Self-organizing map trained the network to learn the topology of samples with high correlation, presented outputs with high achievement.

THE OPPORTUNITIES OF GAMIFICATION IN BUSINESS PLANNING TRAINING

The attitude of society towards education change due to changes in the needs for education, shifts of young people's attitudes and preferences, the dynamism of life, the demand for “ad hoc” learning that saves time and practical applicability of the acquired knowledge, and the pursuit of quick professional realization. This means that the conventional training methods should either be modified or replaced with new methods that would meet these requirements. Such a new method is the gamification – an educational approach to learning by using video game design and game elements. Its goal is to maximize enjoyment and engagement through capturing the interest of learners and inspiring them to continue learning. This paper investigates some of the most popular types of computer games whose logical structures can be used to develop training games. Gamification is compared with the case-study approach in terms of automated computing, student feedback throughout the training process, changes that may be made in the course of the game to create new situations to which trainees are required to respond, achievement rate feedback, gradual increase of the game difficulty level by setting increasingly difficult tasks. The comparison clearly outlines the advantages of the new approach, viz. greater learners’ enjoyment of the learning content, improved engagement and more active participation in the learning process. The paper presents six models of computer games that can be used for training in the field of business planning in both secondary and higher schools (forecasting a company's market share, organizing production at minimal cost, profit maximization, risk mitigation, sales and output planning, and optimization of return on equity.) Each game is described in terms of the input data that should be provided to the participants at the beginning of the game, parameters that will be changed in the course of the game, restrictive conditions, and the role of the player/trainee.

Frequência Cardíaca, Atividade Electrodérmica e a Experiência do Jogador em Jogos Virtuais

Virtual reality can be defined as an immersive, interactive, and tridimensional experience that occurs in real-time. With this work we pretend to answer the following question: “How can the self-report measures of game experience and the physiological measures of excitement be correlated?”. The sample consisted of 24 men, with ages between 18 and 44. Two questionnaires were used, HTC VIVE, Quiet comfort 15, the Endless Nightgame, Nexus 10 MKII. The results showed that the level of heart frequency and electrodynamic activity vary with the game difficulty levels. It was possible to find out that there is no correlation between the satisfaction level and the physiological excitement in the different difficulty levels.

Quantitative assessment of stroke patients based on dynamic time warping algorithm

In order to accurately evaluate the similarity of motions during daily rehabilitation training for stroke patients, this paper proposed a novel quantitative assessment method based on dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm. Firstly, the raw accelerometer signals were preprocessed to eliminate the noise. Secondly, the similarity between the accelerometer signals and four standard task templates was calculated respectively, and then the motion was recognized based on the similarity measurements. Finally, the corresponding quantitative assessment model was used to compute the result. The clinical experimental results showed that there were significant differences in the shortest path distance ( R value) of DTW between different tasks, and the classification accuracy could be up to 91% when the R value was selected as the classification feature. Additionally, with the process of rehabilitation, the R value decreased gradually, which means that the R value can be taken as the assessment index to evaluate the quality of designated tasks for stroke patients. It also indicated that the R value could be applied into the scene of automatic prescription generation and interactive gaming to determine whether it is needed to change the rehabilitation plan or adjust the game difficulty level, so as to implement the individualized rehabilitation services.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON PUPIL SIZE CHANGES DETECTION ON MENTAL STRESS WITH MENTAL STRESSOR

This is a study on measuring the effect of stress that stimulated by the different difficulty of game level on pupil dilation. Playing games are claimed a method to distress in the community, however, this activity is enhancing stress level? The effect of the game playing on the changes of pupil dilation is unknown. An investigation was conducted on relating the changes of pupil diameter measurement at the different difficulty levels of the game. A simple tool was developed by using a webcam as image acquisition device together with MATLAB Image Processing Tool to analyze the acquired images. Here, experiments on the pupil detection algorithm, which consisted of four different methods are to work alternatively with one another and to provide higher chances of pupil detection. 10 subjects were involved in the experiments, which they were requested to play a selected game with four different ascending increased in difficulties, meanwhile, pupil size changes were measured simultaneously. The selected game served as a stress stimulus to the subjects. The result showed a positive proportional relationship between increased in game difficulty levels and pupil dilation. The investigation reported that the pupil dilated when the difficulty of game level increased. Limitation of this study is the sample size on the prototype testing should be increased to concrete the outcome.

Usability test of game-based learning in safe-medication education for older adults

In the area of health education, an interactive game-based learning gains popularity with the development of computer technology. This study concentrated on developing game-based learning to enhance medication safety in an elderly population and testing its usability. This educational game included such medication-safety content as knowing the medication name, usage, side effects, interactions, and storage. Older adults were recruited for a pilot evaluation of the game's difficulty level, image sizes, and speed. The program was revised based on their feedback. The results in the pilot test suggested that the game's speed and texts' difficulty level need to be adjusted to the older adults' learning speeds to facilitate effective learning in older adults.

Levels in Games for Health

There is a time-honored procedure in games for pure entertainment wherein games challenge their players by offering successfully higher levels of difficulty. An eminent researcher proposed that player engagement and enjoyment require the player being constantly challenged, but at a level she or he can handle. A game's difficulty levels enable the player to face more difficult challenges as she or he builds gameplaying skills. Although levels work in games for entertainment, it is not clear how effective or important levels are in games for health, or how they are designed. We invited several accomplished games for health designers and researchers to discuss levels.

The Novel Method of Adaptive Multiplayer Games for Mobile Application using Neural Networks

The rapid development of the games industry and its development goals were not just for entertainment, but also used for educational of students interactively. Unfortunately the development of adaptive educational games on mobile platforms in Indonesian language that interesting and entertaining for learning process is very limited. This paper shows the research of development of novel adaptive multiplayer games for students who can adjust the difficulty level of games based on the ability of the user, so that it can motivate students to continue to play these games. The authors propose a method where these games can adjust the level of difficulty, based on the assessment of the results of previous problems using neural networks with three inputs in the form of percentage correct, the speed of answer and interest mode of games (animation / lessons) to produce 1 output. The experimental results are presented and show the adaptive multiplayer games are running well on mobile devices based on BlackBerry platform.

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Computer Games Through Real-Time Anxiety-Based Affective Feedback

A number of studies in recent years have investigated the dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) mechanism in computer games to automatically tailor gaming experience to individual player's characteristics. Although most of these existing works focus on game adaptation based on player's performance, affective state experienced by the players could play a key role in gaming experience and may provide a useful indicator for a DDA mechanism. In this article, an affect-based DDA was designed and implemented for computer games. In this DDA mechanism, a player's physiological signals were analyzed to infer his or her probable anxiety level, which was chosen as the target affective state, and the game difficulty level was automatically adjusted in real time as a function of the player's affective state. Peripheral physiological signals were measured through wearable biofeedback sensors and several physiological indices were explored to determine their correlations with anxiety. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the affect-based DDA on game play by comparing it with a performance-based DDA. This is the first time, that is known, that the impact of a real-time affect-based DDA has been demonstrated experimentally.

Workload assessment of computer gaming using a single-stimulus event-related potential paradigm

Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to assess cognitive workload from expert computer gamers playing a “first-person shooter” video game. Game difficulty level was manipulated in separate conditions by adjusting the number of enemies (view, easy, medium, and hard). Infrequently presented single-stimulus tones were either ignored or counted across difficulty conditions. Game performance and tone-counting accuracy declined as game difficulty increased. ERP component amplitudes diminished for both the tone ignore and counting conditions as game difficulty increased. The findings suggest that cognitive workload induced by video gaming can be reliably assessed through behavioral and neuroelectric means, and that the single-stimulus paradigm can be a useful tool for evaluating workload in an immersive stimulus environment with less distraction than conventional tools.