4.2 Analysis of Space Rescue
4.2.1 Level 2
We begin our analysis with level 2 of Space Rescue, seen in Figure 7(a) and solved in Figure 7(b).
This level requires the player to place two pieces to redirect the laser to the target.
There are multiple solutions because the pieces can be placed in any of the right three columns as long as they align with each other and are in the correct rows.
The CMDS visualization of this level can be seen in Figure 7(c). 35 play traces are shown for this level.
A glance at 7(c) shows that many of the players (19 out of 35) went through a state on the lower left that is further away from the goal states.
This state is shown in the visualization and the game in Figure 8. Many players tried to hit the target from the top, even though a tutorial message explained that the laser must hit the target from the right-hand side.
Further evaluation is necessary to determine why players are becoming confused here, which could be due to poor level design, ambiguous art, unclear tutorials, or simply that restricting the entrances of the targets is a difficult game mechanic that takes several levels to learn.