Quantifying Whether Virtual Reality Alters Juiciness Effects

Context & Hypothesis

As part of my Games Computing degree at the University of Lincoln, I designed three distinct VR mini-games to test how heightened sensory feedback ("juiciness") affects player memory, motivation, and competence. The primary objective was to quantify whether traditional 2D "game feel" techniques translate effectively to physical immersion in virtual reality, and whether these concepts alter each other's benefits in meaningful ways.

Research Methodology

• Test Environment: Developed a custom VR application in Unity containing three mini-games, each with a "juicy" and "non-juicy" variant to isolate the effects of visual feedback.
• Playtest Moderation: Conducted 1-on-1 supervised sessions with 10 participants, directly observing player behavior and tracking quantitative scoring metrics.
• Data Synthesis: Gathered qualitative feedback using the Player Experience Inventory (PXI) alongside quantitative in-game telemetry to assess curiosity, mastery, autonomy, and challenge.

Figure 9: The memory room testing environment with interactive objects.

Key Findings

• Memory & Cognitive Function: The presence of juicy feedback significantly improved memory recall, with the non-juicy participant group taking 28.3% longer on average to complete memory-based item collection tasks.
• Competence & Skill Execution: Increased juiciness enhanced player competence, leading to a 13% faster completion rate in the dynamic time trial mini-game compared to the non-juicy control group.
• Player Experience (PXI): While juiciness successfully increased a player's perceived mastery, autonomy, and ease of control, it had a neutral or even negative effect on overall game immersion and sense of meaning. This indicates that juiciness improves task-specific performance but relies on narrative context for deep immersion.