Developed as part of my research into the concept of 'Grinding' in games (loosely defined as the repetition of simple tasks for the purposes of progress or short term gain), with a particular interest in establishing what kept players engaged in grinding beyond the simple trick of positive feedback.

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One thing that came up through interviews and case studies was the idea that novelty was in important factor in maintaining player interest (or at least satisfaction). With in that in mind, Cashteroids was designed to test the idea of Progress Vs. Novelty.

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Casteroids is a 2 player competitive scrolling shooter, in which players gain currency in 60 second rounds by shooting down enemies. Between each round players have the option of purchasing upgrades, either buffing their own stats or increasing the difficulty of the game for both players, increasing the amount of potential reward.

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In addition, players were also allowed to purchase "downgrades" for their opponent, but instead of reducing their stats these downgrades would apply distracting and outright dangerous effects to their opponent. For instance causing their ship to randomly misfire, spraying bullets haphazardly, or causing their speed to randomly multiple threefold.

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The intention was to observe how players weighed up the strict advantage of increasing their own stats against the novelty of messing with their opponent. Whilst players were interested in purchasing cheap upgrades for themselves at the start of a match, they would inevitably fall into a loop of downgrading each other until the game was significantly harder for them that it needed to be.

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Art: Joseph Tomlinson