Designing Games for Humans Or: A Rosetta Stone for Computers
An overview of Human Computer Interaction topics, such as short term memory, long term memory, reaction times, input methods, and feedback methods. Comparison of human languages and computer langues, along with lexical scanning and grammars.
• Can you memorize these 42 letters? • Humans don’t memorize every character; Words are chunks BQQMF PSBOHF CBOBOB LJXJ CMVFCFSSZ HSBQF DPDPOVU APPLE ORANGE BANANA KIWI BLUEBERRY GRAPE COCONUT
lowercase “L” and the number 1 • Capital letter “O” and number zero • Context • Handwriting, Cursive • Barcode readers, QR Codes • Reference points • Standard
• Sequence of words • subject, verb, object (English) • subject, object, verb (Japanese) • Modifiers (adjectives, adverbs) • Prepositions • Exceptions (idioms) • Prosody • sarcasm doesn’t work on the Internet Character Word Language a り apple りんご I ate an apple. 私はりんごを食べました。
amount is unlimited? • Does long term memory fade over time? • Rote learning • Pattern memorization • Enemy movements • Button sequence memorization • Memorization vs muscle memory • Does muscle memory fade over time?
player responds with input (or lack of thereof) • Player reacts to the state of the game • Find the right amount of time to give the player to react • Fitt’s Law • Keystroke Level Model, GOMS
(+14) 6258 (+22) Frame Number at 60 FPS (Offset time) Hit if not started dodging by here. 13 total frames to react. First noticeable change. Same stance but position changes Stance Changes Flash First hit feedback displayed 0 Hundredths of a Second 5 7 23 37
computer? • Random number tables • Randomizer seeded by time is usually good enough • Seeding a random number generator will the same value will produce the same number sequence