An experimental testbed to enable auto-dynamic difficulty in modern video games

Auto-dynamic difficulty, difficulty adjustment in games Providing gameplay that is satisfying to a broad player audience is an appealing goal to game developers. Considering the wide range of player skill, emotional motivators, and tolerance for frustration, it is simply impossible for developers to deliver a game with an appropriate level of challenge and difficulty to satisfy all players using conventional techniques. Auto-dynamic difficulty, however, is a technique for adjusting gameplay to better suit player needs and expectations that holds promise to overcome this problem. This paper presents an experimental testbed to enable auto-dynamic difficulty adjustment in games. Not only does this testbed environment provide facilities for conducting user studies to investigate the factors involved in auto-dynamic difficulty, but this testbed also provides support for developers to build new algorithms and technologies that use auto-dynamic difficulty adjustment to improve gameplay. Initial experiences in using this auto-dynamic difficulty testbed have been quite promising, and have demonstrated its suitability for the task at hand