Click through these task instructions using the buttons at the bottom.
Throughout this game you will use 3 keyboard buttons: the left, up, and
right arrows.
In this study you will play 18 rounds of the Undersea Adventure game.
You play a little fish in the ocean. Your goal is to gain as much ‘energy’ as possible
by eating delicious algae without getting eaten by predators.
You can gain energy by eating algae (by pressing the RIGHT arrow key). Note
the amount of available algae varies over time – so sometimes you gain more
energy when you eat and sometimes less.
You can keep track of your energy by looking at how much green is filling the
horizontal bar on the left side of the screen (see red circle). Whenever the bar is
completely filled you gain an extra ‘life’.
But be careful - there may be a predator
somewhere in the area! Predator swim towards you in a straight line until they reach you and eat you. To check for pedators
press the UP arrow key. This will allow your fish to see in a certain direction for a short
time.
When you are searching, the section of the environment that is revealed when you
check will rotate each time you press the button. After you’ve discovered a predator,
checking will always reveal the correct predator location. Note: There will only be one predator at a
time.
You can avoid being eaten by clicking the LEFT
arrow key to hide in a cave. While hiding, you can watch the predator reach the centre of the screen
and then swim away again.
Once the predator starts to swim away it will not return, so it is safe for you to come back out by
pressing the LEFT arrow key again. There are sometimes short and sometimes longer delays before another predator appears.
If you do not hide in time, the predator will catch you! Then you will lose 1 Life.
You will play 18 rounds, each lasting 90 seconds. The time left in the current round
is shown by the circular clock on the left-hand side (see red arrow). Health points roll over across rounds.
Whenever a new round starts, the ocean may become less clear (more areas to check) or
more clear (fewer areas to check). This can make it harder to tell
whether there is a predator in the area and you might need to check more often.
When you start a new round, the type of predators also change randomly.
Different predators swim at different speeds. Jellyfish are the slowest, squid have a
medium speed and sharks are the fastest.
Before and after each round, you will be asked to answer two questions about your current mood.
Click on the slider to rate your experience. When you click on the first slider, the second will appear.