Visual effects (VFX) can help to make videogames more engaging and immersive for players. However, they are often also designed to support players, for instance, by pointing them to specific locations or highlighting helpful .
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Visual effects (VFX) can help to make videogames more engaging and immersive for players. However, they are often also designed to support players, for instance, by pointing them to specific locations or highlighting helpful game features.
Researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) have recently carried out a study investigating the ways in which VFX can help videogame players to make sense of the virtual worlds and environments they are navigating. Their paper, pre-published on arXiv and presented at the IEEE VIS Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities (VIS4DH), could guide the future development of both videogames and data visualization tools.
«Our study mostly builds upon our engagement with two distinct communities: the data visualization research and the videogame communities,» Henry Zhou, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. «The Computational Media department at UCSC has a mixture of scholars interested in both media artifacts. The paper originated from my colleague Angus G. Forbes’ observation of a general minimalist aesthetic as practicing wisdom in the data visualization research community, especially when it comes to visual effects (VFX) and animation.»
Some data visualization researchers argue that VFX and animations should only be used sparingly, as they increase the visual load on devices. Videogame developers, on the other hand, generally use many VFX and animations, as they can help players to make sense of game environments, rules and features.
Zhou and Forbes, by examining how VFX are used in existing videogames, sought to better understand how VFX can aid videogame players’ sensemaking. They hope that this would also highlight valuable opportunities for the design of data visualization tools.
«At first, we picked games that we’re familiar with, and then tried to diversify the selection in terms of genres like puzzles, actions and strategy games,» Zhou explained.
