Comments on: Balance and Flow Maps /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/ Each day a little more #gamedev love Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:28:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ultrakardas /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/#comment-5552 Ultrakardas Sun, 12 Jun 2011 05:39:12 +0000 In my experience, you can put a lot of valuable information in "heat-maps". Players behavior can surprise you in single player games too. If you do focus tests, asking questions is not likely to give you the same results as just recording and observing how the players experienced the game. In the past (at a dev studio that shall go unnamed): Looking at player deaths from a focus-test, we could learn that some players jumped to their death in a certain spot because the level was constructed so that it looked like level continued at the bottom of the death-fall and players did not find the expected path. We fixed the level. During production we also painted another heat-map with performance information (like FPS and memory usage), this way we could get a nice map of where we needed some performance love. In my experience, you can put a lot of valuable information in “heat-maps”. Players behavior can surprise you in single player games too. If you do focus tests, asking questions is not likely to give you the same results as just recording and observing how the players experienced the game.

In the past (at a dev studio that shall go unnamed):

Looking at player deaths from a focus-test, we could learn that some players jumped to their death in a certain spot because the level was constructed so that it looked like level continued at the bottom of the death-fall and players did not find the expected path. We fixed the level.

During production we also painted another heat-map with performance information (like FPS and memory usage), this way we could get a nice map of where we needed some performance love.

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By: Sean Houghton /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/#comment-5072 Sean Houghton Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:50:12 +0000 As an MP Designer, heatmaps are an invaluable tool in assisting the designers with 'feedback' that you cant extrapolate from traditional feedback and playtests alone. Having the ability to see the habits of players (outside of what is verbalized in feedback sessions) proved enormously beneficial during the development of Transformers:WFC. These heatmaps also assisted us designers with data that we could only speculate on during the initial construction. In some cases, we were right; in others, wrong. Regardless, its data that helped us make better choices as we progressed during the development. Knowing where player were more likely to engage in combat allowed us decide better locations for choke-points, pickups (health, ammo, etc..), optimal placement of spawns (to get player back into action), as well as where to place items of contention (power-ups, unique weapons, etc..) or objective points. As an MP Designer, heatmaps are an invaluable tool in assisting the designers with ‘feedback’ that you cant extrapolate from traditional feedback and playtests alone. Having the ability to see the habits of players (outside of what is verbalized in feedback sessions) proved enormously beneficial during the development of Transformers:WFC. These heatmaps also assisted us designers with data that we could only speculate on during the initial construction. In some cases, we were right; in others, wrong. Regardless, its data that helped us make better choices as we progressed during the development. Knowing where player were more likely to engage in combat allowed us decide better locations for choke-points, pickups (health, ammo, etc..), optimal placement of spawns (to get player back into action), as well as where to place items of contention (power-ups, unique weapons, etc..) or objective points.

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By: Forrest Smith /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/#comment-5067 Forrest Smith Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:06:52 +0000 That's the problem - I haven't worked with them. I see that the map is a guide but what I don't really understand is how that information can be applied in the game. I can imagine giving these maps to AI to make their actions more intelligent by allowing them to learn from the mistakes of the players but that's about it. That’s the problem – I haven’t worked with them. I see that the map is a guide but what I don’t really understand is how that information can be applied in the game.
I can imagine giving these maps to AI to make their actions more intelligent by allowing them to learn from the mistakes of the players but that’s about it.

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By: Nathan Runge /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/#comment-5060 Nathan Runge Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:00:36 +0000 I love this kind of stuff. <em>Love!</em> Thank you for posting and sharing this data. I used to study TF2 heatmaps for fun, not because I was a serious TF2 player, but because I just found them so fascinating. I'd never see a flow map before, and I found the interactive version (oh my god everyone click the link) to be mesmerizing. Curious: * Wouldn't it be simple to filter bins in spawn locations? * What about people that are standing around idle? * What happens when you union these sets with some kind of "true skill" (for lack of a better term) data. As in, players with very high trueskill values could be finding very very effective kill zones, but because they make up such a minimum set of the total players their values are not offsetting the data enough for them to emerge? I love this kind of stuff. Love!

Thank you for posting and sharing this data. I used to study TF2 heatmaps for fun, not because I was a serious TF2 player, but because I just found them so fascinating. I’d never see a flow map before, and I found the interactive version (oh my god everyone click the link) to be mesmerizing.

Curious:
* Wouldn’t it be simple to filter bins in spawn locations?
* What about people that are standing around idle?
* What happens when you union these sets with some kind of “true skill” (for lack of a better term) data. As in, players with very high trueskill values could be finding very very effective kill zones, but because they make up such a minimum set of the total players their values are not offsetting the data enough for them to emerge?

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By: Sean Houghton /2011/06/01/balance-and-flow-maps-2/#comment-5051 Sean Houghton Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:35:19 +0000 I read the post twice and didn't find any clue to how they're useful. Could you (or anyone else who's had some experience with such data representations) please tell me a bit more about that? I read the post twice and didn’t find any clue to how they’re useful. Could you (or anyone else who’s had some experience with such data representations) please tell me a bit more about that?

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