Additional research

The emotional and psychological effects of colour 

After the final reviews it became evident that we were missing some key areas of research which would help to better connect the final design with the original intention. We had to make sure that the game itself wouldn't become so competitive that it increases stress rather than decreases. One of the ways it was suggested to do this was by researching the emotional and psychological effects of colour and embedding the more "relaxing" colours in the flashing dots that appear in the game.

Red is a colour that increases blood circulation, breathing rates, and metabolism. It can easily attract attention but it can also prompt aggression. Although this would be ideal to stimulate cognitive function during a game, Red can inhibit relaxation therefore it probably would not be good to make the flashing dots in this colour as it goes against our aim of the game being a stress reliever.

Orange shares Red’s energetic qualities but in a more positive way as it stimulates playful and more youthful behaviour. It would be good to consider making the dots this colour as it would also relate to our original intension of getting office workers to de-stress by engaging in fun activities in a more “childlike” way.

Yellow is a strange colour: it is often associated with happiness, but also activates the anxiety centre of the brain. Lighter shades of yellow play on the happiness aspects of the colour so it might be worth including this in the sequence of coloured dots.

As a bridge between warm colours (orange, red, yellow) and cooler calmer colours (blue, purple) Green is a very neutral colour, standing out and stimulating action but in a softer way than some of the warmer colours. It could therefore be a valuable colour in the creation of the game.

Blue is the colour of calm and serenity, and as such inspires security and a feeling of safety. Light blue is probably a better shade of the colour to use in these circumstances, as it can be refreshing and energising whilst also retaining its calming properties.

Purple can indicate luxury and romance none of which benefit the purpose of the game however, like blue it also possesses certain calming qualities which might be useful to consider.

Pink can have innocent childlike connotations which like orange could be good at bringing out the fun in office workers and encourage them to engage with the game in a freer and more “child-like” way.

White can symbolise cleanliness and health but it can have quite a sterile and cold impact. Therefore it might not be a good colour to use within the game however Ivory and creams are more comforting and less stark alternatives to white which could be something to consider.

Generally orange, pink, purple and blue seem to be the ones that we would most likely use as their calming and playful properties might be useful to counteract the possibility of the competitive nature of the game building more stress. However it will be important to consider how these colours go together aesthetically and perhaps orange is the only one that is the furthest away from the others on the colour wheel.

Game development (research done by Marisa)

Considering the game would be a fairly quick way to release stress within seconds or a couple of minutes, introducing levels to such a game can be difficult as we would need to keep it within a time limit.

Time Limit based Game:

It may be best to have a time limit of 150 seconds so each level would only last about 30 seconds each so in total there would be 5 levels. The intensity of the game would get harder depending on the level they are on. First level there may only be one at a time so for another circle to appear you would have to click it or hit it.

Second level it would be more fast paced with multiple circles appearing. For the next levels it would get faster with more shapes in different colours offering x2, x3 or x10 the amount of points that a usual shape would give when hit.

Problems that may arise because of this system would be that people would not want to spend 150seconds of their lunch break playing this game, maybe there can be an option to play less levels like having an Easy (1), Intermediate (3) and Hard (5) mode so the players would actually get to choose how many levels they would play.

How to Introduce Multiplayer:

To introduce multiplayer, we could always have an option in the main menu. Another way we could introduce multiplayer could be that we make the game too hard for one person to get a full score within the game.

Point System:

In the first 2 levels points would be 10 per hit, making the only difference between those two levels the intensity of which the ‘circles’ come at, in level 3 multiple shapes would be appearing in different colours but some shapes may have x3 on them meaning they get 3 times the amount a normal shape would give, so 30 points, as the levels get higher the more bonus points will be available one going as high as x10.