Image Courtesy: Affectiva
Wouldn’t it be amazing if video games could change themselves according to our mood? Well, with Affectiva it is possible for game developers to use emotion-sensing and analytics technology to revolutionize the gaming industry. With this technology, developers are provided with tools to create immersive games and gamers are provided with the unique ability to drive gameplay with their moods.
The prime purpose of designing games is to take the gamers on an emotional journey, but they do not sense and adapt to human emotions. This scenario is going to change with this latest technology, which will allow the games to read your emotions and adapt them in real-time.
In old days, the game developers had to do a lot of guesswork to know if the gamer is enjoying the game or is bored. They had to develop a game that fits all the moods, which really gave a tough time to gaming companies.
“Nevermind”, a psychological thriller game will be the first one to deploy this technology in order to measure gamers’ reactions and alter the level of difficulty in the game accordingly; the more anxious or frightened the player gets, the harder the game becomes.
Flying Mollusk, a game from California studio already measures the pulse rate of players while playing the game through a heart rate monitor and increases the difficulty level as their pulse rate increases.
Affectiva uses a webcam to measure and analyze a player’s facial expressions in real time, providing emotion-aware games. Also, provides robust game analytics in a manner that is accessible and scalable. The company’s Affdex SDK and APIs allow developers to add emotion sensing and analytics technology to the games that they create.
The thriller game “Nevermind” will use this Affectiva to monitor the anxiety on players’ faces as they undertake new levels, and respond on the basis of their emotion. For instance, the game can unexpectedly unveil a nerve-racking challenge through which user needs to keep calm and solve it before moving further.
Furthermore, this emotion sensing and analytics technology is not limited to gaming; it can also be used in advertising, movie trailers, content to brands, and TV programs to increase emotional engagement of the target audience.