Pixel Pals — Design, study, and evaluation of a collaborative game

Abstract

This report measures how collaborative different Game Design Patterns are by creating a four-player collaborative game, holding playtesting sessions, and analyzing the data collected from them. The project used an iterative approach to game creation, and for the analysis, Cooperative Performance Metrics were employed. The project annotates which of the patterns Concurrency, Complementary roles, Synergies between abilities, Shared puzzles, Separation gate, Gathering gate, Encrypted information, Indirect actions, and Shared resources give results in which metrics and tries to give an estimate of what patterns make for the most collaborative experience.