Investigating Player Agency and Role Appeal in Asymmetric Cooperative Games

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Asymmetric cooperative games face a critical design challenge in balancing player agency with the appeal of differentiated roles, as seen in the development of the 2-player prototype 'Cheeze'd It!'.See it on page 1
02
Effective asymmetric design relies on interdependent gameplay where players possess distinct perspectives and information sets, forcing communication and coordination to achieve shared objectives.See it on page 2
03
Playtesting revealed that open-ended level design can lead to player confusion regarding objectives, necessitating the inclusion of clear visual and audio prompts to guide progress.See it on page 4
04
Repeated failure in cooperative tasks can lead to a decline in communication and intrinsic motivation, suggesting that developers must provide checklists or hints to maintain engagement during difficult segments.See it on page 4
05
The 'Cheeze'd It!' prototype successfully bridged the engagement gap between roles, with most playtesters reporting that both the 'Marco' (infiltrator) and 'Harvey' (hacker) roles felt similarly tension-filled and engaging.See it on page 1
06
Future development of asymmetric games should focus on scalable systems that allow for modular additions, such as new adversarial traps, interactive tools, and varied enemy types, to enhance replayability.See it on page 5

Summary

Investigating Player Agency and Role Appeal in Asymmetric Cooperative Games Jia Qian Peh Renee Teo Samantha Sze College of Computing and Data College of Computing and Data Nanyang Technological University Science Science Honours College Nanyang Technological University ...

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