Investigating the Interaction of Game Features and Spatial Skills with Performance and Perceived Difficulty in a Block-Based 3D Programming Puzzle Game

Paper Title

Investigating the Interaction of Game Features and Spatial Skills with Performance and Perceived Difficulty in a Block-Based 3D Programming Puzzle Game

Publication Info

• Topic area: Educational programming games and their interaction with spatial skills and game design features.
• Keywords: Block-based programming, 3D programming games, spatial skills, perceived difficulty, game design, cognitive load, educational games, player performance, block-limits, adaptive learning.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Limited research exists on how spatial reasoning skills interact with specific game features in 3D block-based programming puzzle games, leaving gaps in understanding how these factors shape player performance and perceived difficulty.
• Significance: Understanding these interactions is crucial for designing effective educational games that balance challenge and learning, particularly for novice programmers.
• Motivation and related work: Prior studies have explored general engagement factors in educational games but have not deeply examined the effects of specific programming puzzle features, such as maze complexity, block-limits, and spatial reasoning demands. This study builds on existing work by focusing on 3D environments and their unique challenges.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A mixed factorial study using the 3D block-based programming game BOTs to investigate how game features, spatial skills, and demographic factors influence performance and perceived difficulty.
• Novelty:
  1. Empirical analysis of how specific game-level features (e.g., layout size, robot orientation, loops) affect player experience.
  2. Examination of the role of spatial skills in 3D programming games, including their relationship with performance and perceived difficulty.
  3. Evaluation of block-limits as a design constraint and their impact on solution efficiency and player effort.
  4. Insights into the interplay between demographic factors, spatial skills, and game design.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Participants (N=60) completed spatial skill tests (PSVT:R) and played feature-varying and structured levels in BOTs.
  • Game logs captured performance metrics (e.g., completion time, attempts, solution efficiency), and post-level surveys recorded perceived difficulty.
  • Linear mixed-effects models analyzed the effects of game features, block-limits, spatial skills, and demographics on outcomes.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Features such as additional boxes, larger layouts, multidimensional designs, and backward-facing robots increased task difficulty, with backward-facing robots nearly doubling completion times.
  • Loops modestly increased completion time and were rated as more difficult.
  • Block-limits increased player effort (e.g., 65% longer completion times, 36% more attempts) but improved solution efficiency by up to 21 percentage points.
  • Spatial skills correlated with faster completion, fewer attempts, and higher efficiency but did not predict perceived difficulty.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Block-limits promoted more efficient solutions without increasing perceived difficulty, demonstrating their value as productive constraints.
  • Players with higher spatial skills performed better across most metrics, highlighting the importance of spatial reasoning in 3D programming games.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Feature-varying levels isolated the effects of ten game features, while structured levels tested block-limits.
  • Mixed-effects models controlled for individual differences (e.g., spatial skills, gaming experience) and contextual factors (e.g., control familiarity).
• Limitations and future work:
  • Small sample size (N=60) and lack of diversity (90% White, 62% male) limit generalizability.
  • Limited number of levels per feature restricts the scope of feature analysis.
  • Future studies should expand sample diversity, increase level variety, and test the generalizability of design implications across different games and populations.

Summary

This study investigated how game features, spatial skills, and block-limits influence performance and perceived difficulty in a 3D block-based programming puzzle game. Key findings include the significant impact of spatially and cognitively demanding features on performance, the role of spatial skills in improving efficiency, and the effectiveness of block-limits in promoting abstraction without increasing frustration. The study provides actionable design recommendations, such as early spatial scaffolds, adaptive difficulty based on spatial skills, and efficiency-based feedback mechanisms. These insights contribute to the development of more engaging and effective educational programming games.