Affective Game Prototypes

If you are interested interested in using prototypes in your reasearch, please contact Paweł Jemioło.

Space Shooter is a modified version of the arcade style shooter, created on the basis of the Unity guide. Main goal of the game is to steer a spaceship and destroy incoming asteroids. The player receives points for destroying an asteroid before it reaches the bottom of the screen.

The user can shoot by clenching his fist. The speed of asteroids is manipulated based on heart rate, while the brightness of the background changes according to the calculated emotional index.

Heart rate computed during calibration phase is the default value, with which the readings are compared during the game, so as to modify the speed of asteroids. In the case of EMG calibration, readings are used later as a threshold value, above which the game mechanism will read the movement of the hand as a shot.

The name of the game is related to storyline elements that refer to the concept of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. The player is drawn into an unconventional therapy, in which he must face opponents lurking inside his consciousness, preconsciousness and unconsciousness.

Throughout the entire game, the player is kept in contact with a psychotherapist who helps him and clarifies how the system works. For example, when the player is very frustrated or very angry, enemies adjust their speed to those emotions and proper information is provided. The guidance is a key point in explainability of affective loop implemented in our application, as well as in keeping the player interested.

Similarly to the previous prototype, this one also allows for play with- and without the affective loop. Physiological signals extend standard control using the mouse and the keyboard. The player's task is to eliminate specified number of enemies using a gun, or by the activation of the SuperPower that allows to eliminate many opponents at once, by flexing the two-headed muscle of the upper arm.

The speed of opponents' movement is adjusted depending on the heart rate. What is more, randomness of spawning points is modified based on heart rate and electrodermal activity combination.

Related papers include:

1. ICAISC 2019: coming soon, Paweł Jemioło, Barbara Giżycka, Grzegorz J. Nalepa
2. FedCSIS 2017: Affective design patterns in computer games. Scrollrunner case study, Grzegorz J. Nalepa, Barbara Giżycka, Krzysztof Kutt, Jan K. Argasiński