With  the  ever  expanding  development  and  use  of  technology,  smartphones  enjoy  an increase in use mainly as people’s personal devices. This study aims to turn smartphones into  co-located  devices  through  a  serious  game  with  the  goal  of  breaking  the  ice  when groups meet for the first time. A prototype for a game named ICE (Interactive Co-located Events) was made and evaluated with a group of 14 people in a laboratory setting. Through questionnaires,  a  focus  group  and  observations,  it  became  clear  that  the  game  works  to break down barriers between people, but didn’t succeed in supporting people to truly get to know each other. This was mainly due to the competitive aspect of the game and the time limit  set  for  it.  Future  implementations  of  the  game  could  have  these  removed  to  see  if games  like  these  can  take  the  next  step  and  go  beyond  breaking  down  barriers  between people.

With the deluge of big data, many retailers are experimenting with rich, data-driven pricing strategies. In this dissertation we study three emerging pricing strategies: (i) Opaque pricing, the pricing of products where some feature is hidden from the customer until after purchase. In a general model we give a sharp characterization for when opaque selling outperforms traditional forms of differentiated pricing. (ii) Personalized pricing, i.e. pricing strategies that predict an individual customer's valuation for a product and then offers them a customized price. Leveraging natural statistics of the valuation distribution, we prove tight upper and lowers on the ratio between personalized pricing strategies and simpler selling strategies, which, among other things, yields insight into which markets personalized pricing is most valuable. (iii) Loot box pricing, the pricing of (random) bundles of virtual items, the contents of which are revealed after purchase. In an asymptotic regime we compare and contrast the revenue of different forms of loot box pricing with traditional selling models, and give theory to explain the recent proliferation of loot boxes in mobile gaming markets.

In the present project I purpose the design and development of a collaborative game editor for the Android CityScrabble application based in the Google+ Hangouts Platform. CityScrabble is a kind of Scrabble game where several players can play in a real location. This kind of game is called location-based. The game can be located in all around the world. Each player will be able to choose a topic about which he plays in every moment, and about this topic he must answer a group of hints (called elements in the editor). If the player answers correctly a hint, it will add the score value of the hint to his score and all the players will be informed about it in real time. Many technologies have been used in the development process. First of all and because the platform is Google+ I tried to use only technologies directly supported by Google (Google + API, Google Maps API, Hangouts API, Google AppEngine, Google Datastore) but Google AppEngine and Google Datastore gave me problems with the Python server so I decided to use MySQL as database management system. The queries are requested from PHP files allocated in the university server. Moreover, to allocate the Javascript, CSS and XML files needed I have used the server appspot provided by Google. As I said before, the editor is collaborative. This means that more than one person can be editing the same game at the same time. So it is for this reasons that Google+ Hangouts is the platform; to achieve this broadcasted edition. The hangouts allows to the participant to share the application, documents (by Google Docs), the screen, etc. And also provides videoconference and chat system. If I may return to the subject of the editor, it has been developed trying to be compact (due to the conditions of the Hangouts), grouping all the information in a little space and trying also to be intuitive for the user. Despite of this and due of the information compression in the interface, the final user may need a guide to introduce himself in the edition. This guide is included in the chapter 5 of the diploma thesis. I would like to finish this report remarking the utility that an editor might have in a game as CityScrabble, allowing to create games of any subject in any place of the world. I would like to remark also, that this editor has the potential to be improved adding much more features and allowing to edit other different kind of games for CityScrabble. / -

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-08-30T17:34:37Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Janiel - Dissertação.pdf: 4742603 bytes, checksum: bfac90cf32cb35cdd6dd087a3a4bae21 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-30T17:34:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Janiel - Dissertação.pdf: 4742603 bytes, checksum: bfac90cf32cb35cdd6dd087a3a4bae21 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-25 / FACEPE / Um novo conceito de interação tem se estabelecido pelas desenvolvedoras de jogos digitais, que adotam o uso dos gestos sendo o intermediário entre o jogador e o jogo. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo um estudo detalhado sobre quais são os gestos mais utilizados nos jogos para dispositivos móveis, analisados categoricamente por gêneros. Para execução do presente estudo, foi utilizado o método GOP (Game Ontology Project), no intuito de identificar as principais tendências nos jogos analisados e suas relações. A proposta é criar um mapa de gestos de comandos e ações completo o suficiente para indicar os gestos mais adequados a serem utilizados em um novo jogo. Os resultados possibilitaram a identificação dos tipos de gestos mais comuns nos jogos para dispositivos móveis, abrindo a oportunidade de construção de um mapeamento de gestos em situação de jogo, podendo ser útil às desenvolvedoras como uma ferramenta de orientação e de criação de jogos. / A new concept of interaction has been established by digital game developers, which adopt the use of gestures as interface between the player and the game. This work aims a detailed study of the most used gestures in games for mobile devices, categorically analyzed by gender. In this study, we used the method GOP (Game Ontology Project) in order to identify the main trends in the analyzed games and their relationships. The proposal is to create a map between command gestures and actions, complete enough to indicate the most appropriate gestures to be used in a new game. The results allowed the identification of the most common types of gestures in games for mobile devices, opening the opportunity to build a gesture mapping in game situations, which can be useful to developers as an orientation tool for creating games.

No / A mobile language learning system is implemented using an adventure game. The primary emphasis is upon graphical design and rich interaction with the user. A wide range of functionalities are described, and an efficient navigation system is proposed that uses contextual information, allowing the players to move seamlessly between mobile real and virtual worlds. The game environment is designed to have consistent graphics, dialogue, screens, and sequences of actions. Quick Response (QR) codes provide the necessary shortcuts for the players and Bluetooth connections automatically send and receive scores between teams. A response for every action is produced depending on the screen type, while keeping the file size manageable. Similar user tasks were kept spatially close together with a clearly designated beginning, middle and end. The main sources of error such as entering and extracting contextual data are predicted and simple error handling is provided. Unexpected events in mobile environments are tolerated and allowed. Internal locus of control is provided by ‘automatic pause’, ‘manual pause’ and ‘save’ commands to help players preserve their data and cognitive progress. The game environment is configurable for novice or expert players. This game is also suitable for students with auditory problems and female students are also specifically addressed.

This thesis work examines how the user experience of mobile games can be evaluated with the use of session recording tools. The thesis project was carried out at the mobile games development company MAG Interactive, and the aim was to produce a workflow for the company with guidelines for how to conduct user testing with session recording tools for mobile devices. In order to evaluate the tools and services, and to develop the workflow, several user tests have been conducted. When using mobile session recording tools, it is possible to record the screen of the device, the microphone input and in some tools also the front camera input while the user is playing the game. Recording the test session makes it easier to understand and evaluate the player experience of the game and also to identify usability issues. The thesis also covers other parts necessary when conducting user testing besides the actual session recording tool. These are test set up (instructions, tasks etc.), integration, distribution of the test and the application and also analysis of the recorded test session.

<p>This thesis explores the problems and possibilities concerning the interaction between players physically located in different cars during temporary meetings in a gaming situation. The thesis is part of a study set out to investigate how traffic encounters can be used as a resource in a mobile, multiplayer game intended as entertainment for children travelling in the backseat of cars. The multiplayer capabilities are realised by using wireless networks in ad hoc peer- to-peer mode, GPS positioning and a digital compass. </p><p>Designing the interaction for an ad hoc, mobile multiplayer experience introduces several design challenges, such as how to adapt to the temporality of traffic encounters and how to establish a connection between the digital game and the physical context. The nature of traffic encounters inspired us to take a newapproach to the interaction. The interaction is accomplished using a device, which enables direct interaction between players physically located in different cars. A prototype game was constructed within the frames of the project, which this thesis was part of, to test the functionality of the game concept. The prototype has been tested in its real setting, i.e. inside a car. The study and the work on this thesis was initialised and supervised by Liselott Brunnberg and the work was carried out at the Mobility Studio at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm during late spring and summer 2003.</p>

As mobile devices still have limited battery life, processing power, memory, and display size, they cannot yet execute gaming applications with the same fidelity and quality as their PC counterparts. In response, researchers have recently performed research with the goal of the real-time delivery of game content specifically to fit within mobile devices’ limitations. In this thesis, we present a novel approach to tackling the streaming of objects to mobile devices. Our goal is to reduce the number of objects subject to streaming from the server to the target devices, while not violating the user-defined limitations through an efficient, context-aware 3D object selection and prioritization scheme. We take advantage of the game context to stream only the most relevant objects. Our evaluations have shown that this technique not only leads to better performance in general, but also increases the gameplay experience by helping the player to achieve a higher score.

As mobile devices still have limited battery life, processing power, memory, and display size, they cannot yet execute gaming applications with the same fidelity and quality as their PC counterparts. In response, researchers have recently performed research with the goal of the real-time delivery of game content specifically to fit within mobile devices’ limitations. In this thesis, we present a novel approach to tackling the streaming of objects to mobile devices. Our goal is to reduce the number of objects subject to streaming from the server to the target devices, while not violating the user-defined limitations through an efficient, context-aware 3D object selection and prioritization scheme. We take advantage of the game context to stream only the most relevant objects. Our evaluations have shown that this technique not only leads to better performance in general, but also increases the gameplay experience by helping the player to achieve a higher score.

Public transport organizations, such as Din Tur, require affordable modern solutions to improve their public image and passenger satisfaction. An easy way to create positive associations in people is to provide either useful services or, preferably, entertainment. This report covers the design, development and evaluation of an entertainment system – consisting of a smartphone game, a cloud-hosted backend, and a supporting on-bus hardware system – with the objective of making Din Tur's bus service seem more modern and appealing. The smartphone game, “Håll Platsen”, is developed in Unity game engine, focuses on providing brief entertainment during bus commutes, and incorporates gamification design elements. The Python-based back-end resides in Google's App Engine and Datastore platforms, and provides a unified virtual game environment enabling player cooperation and competition. The prototype on-bus hardware system uses the Raspberry Pi as a Light-Emitting Diode control system to supply real-world feedback of the game's virtual environment. The systems incorporate real-world busstop positioning, player location, online mapping services, team location-control mechanics, reflex-based minigames, player progression mechanics, and mobile-focused design. The resulting system can be useful in estimating public response to non-standard “smart” promotion methods, the use of games to improve everyday routines (i.e. commuting), and serve as a basis for further research in human &amp; smart-technology interaction.