7.5    Action Predictions

If possible, predict and then automate actions the player would like to perform.

Another way of potentially simplifying your game for the player, would be to try and predict what action the player would like to perform at certain moments.

Obviously this might be a complex feature to implement as you would need to ensure actions were not performed when unwanted by the player, so predictions might be based on a number of factors.

When making these predictions you could consider the current context of the player, or other actions they’ve just performed.

For instance in FIFA’s Two Button mode, when an input is pressed, the game will decide whether the player would like to play a ground pass, a through pass, or a lob pass. How it decides is based on a number of factors. The direction the analog stick is pointing at the time, and how long the input is held for, both have an effect, but the current position of other players will also be considered. And the One Button mode will do the same but will also consider if the player would like to shoot as well when pressing the Action button.

In Devil May Cry using the Auto Assist mode will let you perform intricate combos with only a single input, where normally multiple different inputs would be required. When the input is pressed in combat situations, the game will try to determine what the best action is at any moment, and automatically perform it for you.

As with many of the ways of simplifying your game, the main benefit of this is that now fewer inputs will be needed to play, as a single input can perform multiple actions, with the game deciding which action the player would like to perform each time.

If you do implement predictions into your game, how you handle them, and what effect they have, will depend on the nature of your game.

This module is a part of Simplification. Discover other modules in this topic on the SpecialEffect DevKit website at specialeffectdevkit.info.