Citation

Li, Aoran (2026) Smooth adaptive dynamic difficulty adjustment algorithm for endless running games. PhD thesis, Multimedia University.

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Abstract

Societal pressures often cause mental fatigue, anxiety, and other health issues. Physical exercise can enhance well-being, foster self-awareness, and support future work and life. As smartphones become more and more useful, lifestyles are changing, and more people are using them on a daily basis. People need to pay attention to their own health. According to the latest research by WHO, obesity has become a major health threat to human beings, and proper exercise will improve human health. Due to weather or work from home and other reasons, it is often not possible to go outdoors for exercise every day. Therefore, there is a need to use gamification to motivate people to exercise indoors. This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an indoor physical exercise game to enhance user engagement and support sustained physical activity. Leveraging the popularity of motion-based gaming, the game utilises smartphone sensors to capture player movements and translate them into in-game actions within an endless running environment. A key contribution of this research is the application of the proposed Smooth Adaptive Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (SADDA) algorithm, which dynamically tailors game challenges in real time according to individual player performance metrics such as survival time, collision number, and coins collected. By incorporating both adaptive balancing and smoothing mechanisms, SADDA ensures gradual difficulty transitions, prevents abrupt intensity spikes, and maintains a fair and motivating gameplay experience. To evaluate their effectiveness, a user study was conducted comparing gameplay sessions using Traditional DDA and SADDA. The results indicate that participants evaluated SADDA more favourably than Traditional DDA in terms of motivation, enjoyment, retention intention, and perceived support for suitable exercise intensity. These findings suggest that SADDA’s smooth and gradual adjustments may provide a more acceptable and engaging player experience than the more abrupt difficulty shifts associated with Traditional DDA.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	Call No.: QA76.9.H85 L53 2026
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Human-computer interaction
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA71-90 Instruments and machines > QA75.5-76.95 Electronic computers. Computer science
Divisions:	Faculty of Computing and Informatics (FCI)
Depositing User:	Ms Nurul Iqtiani Ahmad
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2026 06:47
Last Modified:	05 Oct 2026 06:47
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/16883

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