Human and Dog: An Experimental Game using Unequal Communication Mechanic

Abstract

Inequality of communication capabilities may cause an awkward experience in real life. %However, in terms of gaming, unequal communication mechanic can make games more challenging and interesting. However, in terms of gaming, this can be a challenging and interesting mechanic. Charades[1], where one player tries to express a word via body language while others try to guess it, is a good example of such cases. Different from most digital co-op games, which equal communication mechanics have been widely used, we experiment with this unequal communication mechanic. Thus, we have designed a digital co-op game called getGameName, in which 2 avatars, a human and a dog, communicate to solve a series of puzzles with unequal communication capabilities. Ultimately, we conducted an experiment to evaluate our game. Several interesting patterns were discovered from our observation. We then concluded some design suggestions from our collected data for future reference.