Best Practices: A Framework for Modulating Melee and Ranged Combat Styles

This thesis investigates the impact of video game environmental design, resource abundance, and fault tolerance on players' in-game combat styles between melee and ranged. The researcher integrates all three aspects into a single-player level, "Dam Escape," built using Dying Light Developer Tools, to collect quantitative and qualitative player behavior data. By aligning predicted outcomes with actual gameplay data, this research seeks to refine actionable insights for balancing player agency with intentional level design. The results, derived from regression analysis and iterative calibration, will be presented in the data and conclusions.