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"Subconsciously Interacting"

Technology is moving so fast now that surely there must be ways to improve the player’s interactivity? We have had huge graphical leaps over the last few generations of consoles, jumping into fully 3D worlds and now seeing them come to life more and more. But these do little to immerse the player into the game world unless the game world is trying to imitate reality. So how can we increase interactivity and immersion? Well, are there ways to do it that the player would not even realise?

I’m sure I have mentioned before that there was a Tetris game (I don’t think it got a UK release though) released on the N64 which had a sensor you clipped to your ear. It measured heart rate somehow to tell how nervous / excited you were, and if your heart rate increased, the game would up the ante so to speak. Couldn’t this be used in other games and genres? I think it would be especially cool in a survival horror such as Resident Evil. If the game senses a low heart rate, low tension, you aren’t likely to be too scared if something then jumps out at you. So it waits, and builds tension, maybe through music, having doors creaking or various sound effects and then when the player’s heart rate increases and they are nervous the game springs a surprise on them. It could be used in other genres such as space shooters (a la Lylatwars or Star Wars: Rogue Leader) so when your heart rate is high, more enemies appear.

Another idea is measuring adrenaline levels in the body. Now I’m not sure how this could be achieved short of putting something into you blood stream to pump out blood and measure it in a machine, then put blood back, but in the future I’m sure something could be devised that wouldn’t involve sticking needles in your arm. Anyway, if you remember Perfect Dark and the combat boosts used, it could act as a similar system to that. As adrenaline levels rise in the player, the game gets a little slower, allowing the player to be more accurate or react to the game quicker (well, quicker in game terms… you know what I mean). This could be used in something such as the Tony Hawks franchise too. One of the cheats on it is when you jump the game moves in slow motion, allowing you to pretty much land perfectly every time. If the player’s adrenaline level raised then this could happen so the player could land more easily. And it could be done in levels, so if there is only a little adrenaline the game only goes a little slower than normal, if there’s a lot it’ll slow down a bit more, giving more of an advantage.

These could add a lot to the gameplay experience, quite simply because if you’re far into a level that you’ve never won before and it’s a hard one, your heart is pumping as you frantically try to win it. Your adrenaline levels go hyper. It would give a much more on edge experience. And developers could add any effect to it. I remember reading about a formula one game based on a film starring Sylvester Stallone (I think it was called Driven) which allowed you to get ‘in the zone’. This could be measured with adrenaline levels, or heart rate, or a combination of the two. They could make the effect for you to go a little faster (in racing games), the gameplay to move slower so you can react better, to make the game more frantic with more enemies, or to make the game less frantic. It could also be used to great effect with the shock value as detailed above for Resident Evil.

All this time the player would be interacting more with the game, and they wouldn’t even know it.

Sibs wrote:
>
> Heh, I was actually thinking what the game would do if it couldn't
> detect a pulse... It might come up with a message asking the player if
> they were still alive or something ;-)

Lol, fun.. "Player 1, are you alive..?"

*No response*

"Fine, have it your way, termination"

*Thing that is subconcious kills you*

Mm, could be very fun in testing ;o)

GasMask wrote:

> Yeah, that would be nice, it'll probably kill you, but thats
> unimportant :o)

Heh, I was actually thinking what the game would do if it couldn't detect a pulse... It might come up with a message asking the player if they were still alive or something ;-)

Nice idea Sibs. You have come in leaps and bounds since I first saw you on the Nintendo forum. Nice job.

Yeah, that would be nice, it'll probably kill you, but thats unimportant :o)

Yeah, I am pretty sure the sensor they used for that Tetris game I mentioned went on you ear lobe... But I spose you could have a sensor anywhere where you can easily feel the pulse, so I suppose with a good enough sensor one could simply be put on the controller and measure the pulse through the players hand, or short of that there could be a small attatchment to put around your wrist where the pulse is quite strong anyway.

Well, developers take note! :D

Top idea Sibs. Me likey. I've got a penchant for games with novelty peripherals as it is, but that's a fantastic idea. In fact, you could incorporate a heart-rate sensor into a joypad.

Heh, yeah, I'm sure there's been a few revolutionary gaming ideas on here over the months and years. Thing is getting developers to hear the ideas, take note, and then actually have the balls to take the risk and implement them...

That's the problem with gaming these days, only a few developers (Sega, Nintendo, Konami) are willing to stray from the well-trodden paths to make something properly original. It would be great though if, finally, somebody decided to use some of the many ideas SR-ees have thought up over the past few years - think about it, out of the hundreds we've thought up, there must be a winner in there somewhere.

Thank you for your kind words. Although I don't think too many developers would be willing to take the risk of developing something like this, it could add hugely to gameplay I think...

Hopefully someone will take note, and maybe we could see some great games using these features relatively soon!

Thats a great post, interesting and something which I haven't actually seen before on these forums. If you aren't given something for your efforts I'll eat...












...a big slice of chocolate cake.


Heck, if you do win I'll eat a big slice of chocolate cake.

I can't lose!!!!!



Seriously though, adrenaline levels and heart rate is a great idea. It could work in a racing game as well, the faster your heart beat the slower the game seems. Not a drastic amount though, just enough to slightly improve reaction times etc.

If you're heart rate is low, and something in a game like Resi surprises you and your heart rate goes up, your character could gasp, or jump or something like that.

Novel ideas, and great ones too.

Adrenaline is spelt correctly.

Oh yeah, good post *murmur*