Cryptical

Game Description

This is a game that I am using to research the concept of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) in games, how it is applied and how effective it can be. This game is an extremely simple rogue-like game entirely created by myself, that has a DDA system implemented as a core component. As you play the game and complete levels, the game will attempt to alter its difficulty to match your skill level.

The objective of each level is to simply defeat all the enemies on the level. They wander randomly around the level, and will pursue you if they see you. You start each level with a simple sword, with the enemies dropping more powerful items for you to use. You can hold only one weapon at a time, and whichever weapon you are holding will carry across with you to the next level - everything else will be reset.

There are controls listed in the game, which you can find from the main menu as well as during the game using the pause menu ('Escape'). But if you are confused at all please feel free to reach out to me.

Playtest Instructions

First of all, thankyou for completing a playtest for me, I really appreciate it! The general gist of doing these playtests is to see how accurate my implementation of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment has been thus far, as such I have the game recording some data regarding some important parameters that are changing as well as how well you are doing whilst playing each level. No personal data is being recorded, you will be able to see all data recorded by the game if you wish. 

• 1). Once you have completed your playtest (please note you can play as much or as little as you like), please return to the Main Menu by either using the Pause menu whilst playing the game or by quitting and re-opening the game
• 2). On the Main Menu, in the bottom right-hand corner you will find an "Export" button, clicking this will open the folder where all game data has been recorded

• 3). You will see an excel spreadsheet in that folder named "output.csv" that contains all data recorded by the game, please feel free to look at the data if you wish
• 4). Could you please attach that file to an email to me ([email protected])

Again, thankyou so much for participating in this playtest, if you have any comments or ideas on how the game can be improved please also note that down in the email to me.