Advancing Mixed Reality Game Development: An Evaluation of a Visual Game Analytics Tool in Action-Adventure and FPS Genres

Mixed Reality (MR) game development presents unique challenges in tracking player behavior and spatial interaction, necessitating specialized analytical frameworks. The GAMR tool, a Unity-based system designed for the HoloLens 2, addresses these complexities by providing comprehensive gameplay reconstruction, 2D heatmaps, and multi-modal tracking of gestures, audio, and object interactions. By replacing traditional, labor-intensive manual video review with automated data visualization and voice-to-text annotation, the tool offers a scalable method for developers to identify design flaws and programming anomalies within immersive environments.

Experimental evaluations conducted across action-adventure and first-person shooter (FPS) genres demonstrate that GAMR is a highly usable and effective diagnostic system. Participants consistently utilized the tool’s playback and annotation features to resolve gameplay issues, with the action-adventure genre requiring more frequent session rewinds due to higher data density and complex movement patterns. While the tool successfully facilitates the identification of bugs and spatial navigation errors, the study highlights that its utility is currently constrained by the inherent hardware limitations of the HoloLens 2, specifically regarding input reliability and processing power.

Ultimately, the research confirms that visual analytics tools are essential for maturing MR development workflows. Although GAMR proves particularly adept at supporting the exploration-heavy nature of action-adventure titles, future iterations must prioritize more intuitive interaction models and greater flexibility in data granularity. By bridging the gap between raw player telemetry and actionable design insights, such tools provide a necessary foundation for developers aiming to refine player experience and mastery in increasingly sophisticated mixed reality landscapes.