General Discussion What makes a level popular ?

While creating levels and publishing them in the forum, I wondered why some levels I made where popular and other not. I was often surprised in both ways. So I tried to find a limited number of independent parameters that could produce the results I observed. Then I came up with empirical equations to understand how a level gets a certain amount of views, rates and comments. This is not meant to be accurate, but gives an idea of the influence of each parameter.

Here are the four parameters I came up with:

Attractiveness: The first thing we see is the picture of the level, its title and the name of the author. This will tell how much it is attractive to the player who sees it for the first time.

Subject to debate: If the level raises a discussion between the designer and the players.

Player motivation: How much the player wants to finish the level he is playing. To keep the player motivated, there should be a balance between challenge and reward. In other word, the difficulty curve should not be too steep. Small levels which seem simple usually keep the player motivated. It is harder with bigger levels. Bugs will also bring demotivation.

Originality: How much the player is dazzled by the levels he is playing. This is often linked to the player being surprised by something he has never seen before.

How much comments (without rates) a level will get?
Such comments are written if the level is subject to debate, because of a discussion between the designer and the players. This can happen when the level is not straightforward, when the players need help. But players do not systematically ask for help: if they are stuck right at the beginning, with no obvious way to go through a huge level, they will often give up. Of course, the level has to be seen first. So this number can be written as follow:

Comments = Attractiveness x Subject to debate x Player motivation

How much five star rates a level will get?
If a level is pretty, if the player enjoys playing it until the end, and if he has never seen something like this, the player will make the effort to rate it.

Rates = Attractiveness x Player motivation x Originality

How much views a level will get?
I have observed that a level can get some views without comments or rates. This will only depend on the attractiveness of the level. Then, each comments or rate brings about 20 views.

Views = Attractiveness + Comments + Rates

To calculate a result, we need to give empirical coefficients, adjusted in function of the statistics I observed for the past months, and affect a value to each parameter (between 0 and 10 in this example, but they can be higher for off-the-charts levels). I have made some simulations with random parameters, compared it with a whole month of data, and the results were not so bad.

C = A x S x P / 20

R = A x P x O / 50

V = A x 10 + (C + R) x 20

For example, I would give the following values to my level Interceptor:

Attractiveness = 5: It is not so attractive on the picture.
Subject to debate = 10: I raised a discussion about the difficulty.
Player motivation = 3: B was stuck and killed right at the beginning.
Originality = 7: The final mechanism was new.

Result of calculation:
Comments: 7
Rates: 2
Views: 242

For my level Creep:
Attractiveness = 8: It looks simple.
Subject to debate = 0: It was straightforward.
Player motivation = 8: This level was funny and short.
Originality = 8: Some tricks were new.

Result of calculation:
Comments: 0
Rates: 10
Views: 284

Again, these calculations are not meant to be accurate. As a designer, it was very difficult for me to have an unbiased judgment on my levels before it was released. This reflection helped me understand how it was perceived by others, but it may not fit to other designers, as they may have a different point of view.

 

@Chuckthulhu You are right, frustration plays an important role in the final rate. I would include it on the player motivation, because only a small part will replay again and again if B dies each time. I know it is a lot for one parameter but I wanted to keep it simple
It would be very interesting to use it on monthly statistics but I have to try all the 30 levels first !
@Gepeto Good point, trust could be another parameter because it only affects the first views and not the final rate. It would underline the difficulty of a new designer to be in the monthly statistics. Reality is always more complicated than any modelisation

 

Thanks but don't take it for granted, it is only my point of view !