Juicy Text: Onomatopoeia and Semantic Text Effects for Juicy Player Experiences

TL;DR

This study investigates how onomatopoeia and semantic text effects contribute to juiciness in games, showing that juicy text can enhance user experience similarly to particle effects and suggesting combined effects may be beneficial.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of juicy text effects and their relationship with particle effects in enhancing player engagement.

Findings

Users rate juicy text effects similarly to particle effects.

Juicy text effects lead to comparable performance and more reliable feedback.

Combining text and particle effects may further improve user experience.

Abstract

Juiciness is visual pizzazz used to improve player experience and engagement in games. Most research has focused on juicy particle effects. However, text effects are also commonly used in games, albeit not always juiced up. One type is onomatopoeia, a well-defined element of human language that has been translated to visual media, such as comic books and games. Another is semantic text, often used to provide performance feedback in games. In this work, we explored the relationship between juiciness and text effects, aiming to replicate juicy user experiences with text-based juice and combining particle and text juice. We show in a multi-phase within-subjects experiment that users rate juicy text effects similarly to particles effects, with comparable performance, and more reliable feedback. We also hint at potential improvement in user experience when both are combined, and how text stimuli may be perceived differently than other visual ones. We contribute empirical findings on the juicy-text connection in the context of visual effects for interactive media.