research-article

Juicy Game Design: Understanding the Impact of Visual Embellishments on Player Experience

Authors:

Kathrin Gerling,

Patrick Dickinson,

Vero Vanden AbeeleAuthors Info & Claims

CHI PLAY '19: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

Pages 185 - 197

https://doi.org/10.1145/3311350.3347171

Published: 17 October 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Visual embellishments (VEs) are design elements that support information already conveyed by other means. In games, this concept is known as juiciness, and refers to the provision of redundant feedback in situations where a single player action triggers multiple non-functional reactions. Academia and industry both view the concept as a means of improving player experience; however, empirical evidence to back the assumption is lacking. Here, we present findings from two studies: one initial study with 40 participants comparing the effects of visual embellishments in two research games, the Frogger-clone Cuber, and the FPS game Dungeon Descent, and a second study with 32 participants using the commercially available game Quake 3 Arena. Results show that visual embellishments contribute to the visual appeal of all games, but only affects aspects such as competence under specific circumstances. We discuss implications of our findings for the integration of visual embellishments and juiciness, and their relevance for game development.

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Cited By

Willems ZCuypers LMalfait IGeurts L(2025)A Juicy Haptics Enhanced Keyboard for a Touch-Typing Course for Learning Disabled ChildrenProceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3689050.3705980(1-7)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689050.3705980
Fabre ÉSeaborn KVerhulst AItoh YRekimoto J(2024)Juicy Text: Onomatopoeia and Semantic Text Effects for Juicy Player ExperiencesProceedings of the 26th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction10.1145/3678957.3685755(144-153)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678957.3685755
Hicks KRogers KGerling KNacke L(2024)Juicy Audio: Audio Designers' Conceptualization of the Term in Video GamesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770848:CHI PLAY(1-28)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677084
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Index Terms

Juicy Game Design: Understanding the Impact of Visual Embellishments on Player Experience
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
      1. Computer games

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI PLAY '19: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

October 2019

680 pages

ISBN:9781450366885

DOI:10.1145/3311350

General Chairs:
Joan Arnedo
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
,
Lennart E. Nacke
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Vero Vanden Abeele
KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
,
Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
New Mexico State University, New Mexico, USA

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 17 October 2019

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CHI PLAY '19

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CHI PLAY '19: The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

October 22 - 25, 2019

Barcelona, Spain

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CHI PLAY '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 51 of 181 submissions, 28%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 421 of 1,386 submissions, 30%

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Cited By

Willems ZCuypers LMalfait IGeurts L(2025)A Juicy Haptics Enhanced Keyboard for a Touch-Typing Course for Learning Disabled ChildrenProceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3689050.3705980(1-7)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689050.3705980
Fabre ÉSeaborn KVerhulst AItoh YRekimoto J(2024)Juicy Text: Onomatopoeia and Semantic Text Effects for Juicy Player ExperiencesProceedings of the 26th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction10.1145/3678957.3685755(144-153)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678957.3685755
Hicks KRogers KGerling KNacke L(2024)Juicy Audio: Audio Designers' Conceptualization of the Term in Video GamesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770848:CHI PLAY(1-28)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677084
Smith IScheme EBateman S(2024)Designing a Technique-Oriented Sport Training Game for Motivating a Change in Running TechniqueProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770648:CHI PLAY(1-29)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677064
Hougaard BKnoche H(2024)Aiming, Pointing, Steering: A Core Task Analysis Framework for GameplayProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770578:CHI PLAY(1-48)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677057
Tyack AMekler E(2024)Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned ParadigmsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/367323031:3(1-74)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3673230
Opp MGerling KAlsheail MAlexandrovsky DWolf M(2024)Snarky's Adventure: A Research Tool to Explore How Children Understand Playtime and Experience Closure When Disengaging From GamesCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3665463.3678834(312-317)Online publication date: 14-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3665463.3678834
Luz AMarcher FNacke LVogel D(2024)Encouraging Disengagement: Using Eye Tracking to Examine Attention with Different Levels of Juicy DesignProceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3656650.3656694(1-5)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656650.3656694
Chen MSmith G(2024)Game Development as Project-Based Learning: Synthesizing Postmortems of Student-Created Mobile GamesProceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3649921.3649999(1-11)Online publication date: 21-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649921.3649999
Kao DBallou NGerling KBreitsohl HDeterding S(2024)How does Juicy Game Feedback Motivate? Testing Curiosity, Competence, and EffectanceProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642656(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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