The Interactivity of "The Battle of Polytopia"

During play of The Battle of Polytopia there are different ways which the game interacts with the player, including cognitive, functional and explicit interactivity. A few examples of cognitive interactivity in the game include the following. First, players cognitively interact with the game when they consider which building to build on a free tile. This decision is presented to the player when they click on an empty tile or a tile with a friendly unit on it a couple times. When the player does this a menu pops up from the bottom of the screen with the available options and their costs. This design provides the player with the necessary information to make a cognitive decision as they can see all options and the tiles around their chosen location which will be affected by the choice that they make. Second, players also cognitively interact with the game when they need to strategize which enemy city or unit to attack. Players will normally need to make this strategic decision with limited information as the game was designed to have the map hidden until a friendly unit moves close enough to the hidden tile. This supports cognitive interaction as the player will need to think about where each unit is and whether their units or the enemies have support nearby. As well, the player needs to consider how large each players territory is, as this will affect the support that that player can send and muster. Lastly, a player will cognitively interact with the game when they consider the different technologies they can unlock. As the player will have limited stars with which they can unlock these technologies, they will need to consider which technology will help them the most and which ones they can afford. This involves viewing their territory and seeing how much they can expand to gain more stars, as well as what can be gained in their territory from the new technology, and taking this information into account to make their decision.

Looking at functional interactivity with The Battle of Polytopia, there are different aspects to look at here as well. One way of functionally interacting with the game is the reactivity of buttons. This design decision supports functional interactivity as having buttons that react in a timely manner helps the game to hold the attention of the player and also allows the game to introduce new decisions and interactions sooner. Another functionally interactive component of the game is the size of text and images. By designing the game with the text and images at the size they are, it supports functional interactivity as it allows the player to more easily absorb the information that the game gives them. If the images and text were smaller, for example, then the player may not be able to understand the information and be left guessing what to do. Likewise, if the text and images were larger, then they might obscure other needed information and cause frustration or delay with making decisions. A final example of functional interactivity in the game is utilizing different screens for various tasks, rather than windows in the screen. By using separate screens for different activities such as a screen overlay for the settings when in game, or a new screen for the technology tree, the game creates a separation of activities. Having this separation of activities supports functional interactivity because it allows the players to focus on individual tasks without extraneous information disturbing them, keeping players from feeling overwhelmed.

Explicit interactivity can also be seen in The Battle of Polytopia. An example of this type of interactivity is tapping the buttons in the game. Utilizing these buttons the player is able to act more directly with the game, as well as view and experience the results of their actions, supporting explicit interactivity with the game. Another example of explicit interactivity is tapping on the screen to move units. In the game the player controls their units by tapping on the unit they want to command and then taping on the tile with the blue target that they want the unit to move to. This supports explicit interactivity as it clearly provides directions on how to perform the task the player wants to complete. A final example of explicit interactivity in the game is swiping in the screen when in a game to move the map around. When viewing the game map from any location the player can move their view of this map by swiping in any direction on the screen. This action supports explicit interactivity as the player receives a visual and almost tactile response to their movement.

Another way of inspecting the way which the game interacts with the player is through examining choices. To do this the anatomy of a choice model can be used. To explore this a couple choices can be looked at, including the selection of a tribe at the start of a game and the selection of a technology to unlock during a game.

The image above is the tribe selection screen in The Battle of Polytopia. To examine the choice here the anatomy needs to be broken down. First, what happened before the player was given this choice needs to be identified. Prior to this choice the player had selected the game mode they wished to play in, and was then taken to the tribe selection screen. The choice to select a tribe was then presented to the player by utilizing text at the top of the screen telling the player to "Pick Your Tribe" and listing the available tribes below this. The player is then able to make their choice by tapping on each tribe and reading the description of the tribe and the technology they start with. The player then selects the "Pick" button on the tribe that they want to play as resulting in a new screen being show to the player where they can then choose their specific game settings such as difficulty. The final result of the choice is then conveyed as the map is show to the player and a pop up appears telling the player which tribe they choose to play as.

Another example of choice being used to interact with the player is the selection of a new technology as shown in the above image. This choice is preceded by the player being notified that a new technology can be chosen, as the game highlights the "Tech Tree" button blue at which point the player taps the button and the tech tree screen is shown. The possibility of a choice is then presented to the player as the available technologies are in blue and have a white outline in addition to the star cost being presented for each technology. At this point the player then makes the choice of technology they wish to unlock by tapping on each technology and reading as well as viewing the unlockable features for those technologies. After choosing the technology the player wants, it is unlocked by tapping the "Research" button. The result of choosing the technology changes the game state by allowing the player to interact with the unlocked items. To convey the result of the choice the game has a pop up notification at the top of the screen saying that a new technology was discovered.

The three means of interaction discussed, and the two choices broken down using the anatomy of a choice model, show that The Battle of Polytopia effectively interacts with it's players to make an interesting and enjoyable game.