Model for Automatic Generation of Difficulty Curves in Digital Games

This paper presents a model for the generation of difficulty curves adaptive to the user's context. From studies on Flow theory combined with difficulty curves, element of digital game development process, mathematical models and previous data were used to create an adaptive difficulty curve based on user performance. It was used a research developed digital game as a case study, The Incredible Adventures of Apollo and Rosetta in the Space, which provided previous user data to perform the statistical analysis. Through the applied study, it is proposed the Difficulty Curves Generator Model (DCGM) for the generation of adaptive difficulty curves in digital games. Different approaches were used, and the final results demonstrated via simulation of the DCGM the ability of the generator to predict and adjust the game level for the player to experience, by calculating the relation between difficulty and player performance, aimed and focused in the Flow state.