Emotion-based Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Video Games

Current review papers in the area of Affective Computing and Affective Gaming point to a number of issues with using their methods in out-of-the-lab scenarios, making them virtually impossible to be deployed. On the contrary, we present a game that serves as a proof-of-concept designed to demonstrate that—being aware of all the limitations and addressing them accordingly—it is possible to create a product that works in-the-wild. A key contribution is the development of a dynamic game adaptation algorithm based on the real-time analysis of emotions from facial expressions. The obtained results are promising, indicating the success in delivering a good game experience.