Emotional Affordance

1. Emotional Affordance

One of the main features of Monument Valley is its ability to evoke strong emotions through its minimalistic yet enchanting visual design. Emotional affordance is about the feelings and atmosphere that an environment evokes and that lets the user take action and in Monument Valley the game world achieves this through surreal landscapes and subtle, meditative music. For instance, the levels are build in a way that suggest that the way of the princess is not complete. The user must find a way to rotate or interact with elements in the game to free up the way. Even though the interactions are pretty simple, the resulting visual effects and optical illusions can be very surprising and motivate the user to keep finding smart ways to rotate and move elements so that the princess can advance. There is no text or explanations whatsoever. The only thing driving the user to play is the environment and the visual goal of moving forward the princess.  

 

 

2. Stages of action Model

The stages-of-action model is a framework used to describe how users interact with systems in seven steps: forming a goal, planning an action, specifying actions, executing, perceiving the state, interpreting the state, and evaluating the outcome. An example in Monument Valley is when the player is faced with a puzzle that requires manipulating the environment to guide princess Ida, the main character, to the exit.

1. Goals: Move the princess to the next level.
2. Intention to act: Identify the moving parts of the structure.
3. Sequence of actions: Choose which part to rotate first.
4. Execution: Rotate or move the part by dragging.
5. Perceive: See the current structure of the level and the changes caused by previous actions.
6. Interpret: check if the princess is closer to the exit.
7. Evaluate: Determine if the actions were helpful for bringing the princess forward or not.

 

3. UAF Model

The stages-of-action model can be translated into the User Action Framework (UAF) by categorizing actions int Assessment, Planning, Translation and Physical Action phases:

1. Assessment: The player sees the new level and the UI. He perceives all structures, forms, colours and the music of the game and receives an initial image of the situation.
   

2. Planning: The player forms a goal (move Ida to the next level) and plans the necessary steps by identifying which parts of the structure can be manipulated and in what way.
   

3. Translation: The player specifies and performs the action, such as dragging a rotating element and moving the princess around the building.
   

4. Physical Action: The player taps on the screen and executes the plan he has come up with in earlier stages to move the princess forward.
   

This cycle repeats until the player successfully navigates Ida to the exit, highlighting a smooth flow of decision-making, interaction, and feedback.