Abstract

Open-world missions often rely on repeated formulas, yet designers lack systematic ways to examine pacing, variation, and experiential balance across large portfolios. We introduce the Mission Action Quality Vector (MAQV), a six-dimensional framework—covering combat, exploration, narrative, emotion, problem-solving, and uniqueness—paired with an action block grammar representing missions as gameplay sequences. Using about 2200 missions from 20 AAA titles, we apply LLM-assisted parsing to convert community walkthroughs into structured action sequences and score them with MAQV. An interactive dashboard enables designers to reveal underlying mission formulas. In a mixed-methods study with experienced players and designers, we validate the pipeline’s fidelity and the tool’s usability, and use thematic analysis to identify recurring design trade-offs, pacing grammars, and systematic differences by quest type and franchise evolution. Our work offers a reproducible analytical workflow, a data-driven visualization tool, and reflective insights to support more balanced, varied mission design at scale.

Citation

Xu, K., Zhang, Y., Yang, B., & Verbrugge, C. (2026). Deconstructing Open-World Game Mission Design Formula: A Thematic Analysis Using an Action-Block Framework. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Article 450, pp. 1–31). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790625

@inproceedings{xu2026deconstructing,
  author    = {Kaijie Xu and Yiwei Zhang and Brian Yang and Clark Verbrugge},
  title     = {Deconstructing Open-World Game Mission Design Formula: A Thematic Analysis Using an Action-Block Framework},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  pages     = {450:1--450:31},
  publisher = {ACM},
  year      = {2026},
  doi       = {10.1145/3772318.3790625},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790625}
}