We look at players’ mechanical experience of gameplay challenges. We consider mechanical experience as fundamental design knowledge: designers need to analyze the challenges hey craft to understand the skills necessary from their players for success. One application of this study is to explain why some challenges may be inaccessible to certain players. There is currently no comprehensive framework for describing accessibility of challenge experiences. We also propose challenge jutsu, structured representations of challenge descriptions (via competency profiles) and player models, as a first step towards better understanding the mechanical profile of various game challenges and sources of difficulty.
Sasha Soraine and Jacques Carette. 2020. Mechanical Experience, Competency Profiles, and Jutsu. Journal of Games, Self, & Society 2, 1 (Apr. 2020), 150–207. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/12215417.v1