Paired play with speech changes game most enjoyably
Comparing Experiences of Speech-Driven Game Modification in Solo Play, Paired Play, and Paired Watching Using the Fighting Game PATCH FIGHTER
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
Changing how a game works usually means stopping to edit it, which can be boring. The authors made a fighting game where players talk to change the game between rounds using AI that listens and adjusts game settings. They tested three ways to play: alone, playing with a partner, and watching with a partner. Playing and changing the game with a partner was the most fun and made players feel heard. Watching changes without playing wasn’t as fun because people couldn’t try the new changes themselves.
What this means in practice
- •For game developers: Create games where players adjust gameplay through natural speech during play sessions in multiplayer settings to enhance enjoyment and engagement.
- •For interactive entertainment designers: Design interactive experiences that enable conversational game changes and collaborative play for richer user interactions.
Authors
Maya Grace Torii, Takahito Murakami, Yoichi Ochiai
Abstract
Players often have ideas about a game while playing it, but turning them into changes usually means stepping out of play to edit it. We built PATCH FIGHTER, a two-player fighting game defined by 91 types of adjustable parameters. A large language model (LLM) reads players' conversations during play and rewrites these parameters between games, so players can change the game just by talking. We conducted a within-subjects experiment with 27 pairs (54 participants) comparing three conditions, solo play, paired play, and paired watching. Participants rated enjoyment after each game and answered a questionnaire on speech and changes after each condition. Paired play was the most enjoyable condition. In paired play, participants also felt more able to say what they thought about the game than in solo play. In interviews, participants valued talking with the partner and checking changes through their own play. Paired watching was less preferred because they could not try the changes themselves. As our design cannot separate the enjoyment of editing from that of play, we outline a design that measures them separately and the evaluation of the resulting games as future work.