Research into gameplay can contribute to more self-conscious approaches to design, allowing designers to create effective gameplay with less testing, or to target specific cognitive and emotional affects of gameplay for serious games applications. Self-conscious design includes theoretically motivated design of game systems to facilitate gameplay motivated by cognitive, scientific and/or rhetorical theories of game affect and functionality. Deepening the understanding of gameplay requires a consideration of basic epistemological questions about the nature of understanding. Understanding gameplay is a matter of generating mappings to explanatory frameworks in alternative interpretation paradigms. All games are cognitive skill learning environments, and an especially useful approach that may aid in the creation of more self-conscious game design practices is to conduct research into gameplay using theories and methods of cognitive science and cognitive psychology. On this basis, a framework is proposed based upon the integration of schema theory with attention theory. Cognitive task analysis provides a foundation for developing schema descriptions, which can then be elaborated according to more detailed models of cognitive and attentional processes. This approach provides a rich explanatory framework for the cognitive processes underlying gameplay. Playing a commercial PC or consol game is a highly visual activity regardless of whether the purpose is entertainment or situated learning. Information about the visual attention of the player is an important foundation for detailed schema modelling. A range of different eyetracking equipment has been used in many studies of visual cognition. However, very few studies describe dynamic stimuli involving the visual interaction of a user/ player with a moving 3D scene displayed on a computer screen. In order to address this, a software interface has been developed linking a Tobii™ eyetracking system with the HiFi game engine for use in automated logging of dynamic 3D objects of gaze attention. The system has been verified in a detailed study, confirming correct operation of the system as well as providing a characterisation of its spatial and temporal accuracy. The integrated Tobii/HiFi system has been validated in a study to test three hypotheses concerning visual attention in a first-person shooter (FPS) computer game. Firstly, the cuing effect of the passive gun graphic on visual attention was tested, with no evidence being found to support this hypothesis. A second hypothesis, that a player directs their gaze at a target opponent while shooting at them, was found to be supported in most cases, while in a small percentage of cases targeting is achieved in peripheral vision. Finally, in most cases, a player targets the nearest opponent. These results provide a baseline for further investigations in which the stimulus game design may be modified to provide more detailed models of the visual cognitive processes involved in gameplay and how they are involved in player decision-making.

The emphasis on making game development more accessible to novice users is becoming increasingly more common. Gone are the days when game development was a pursuit only available for those with a broad programming background or extensive technical skills. Today, game development has become much more approachable, with a wide variety of tools and resources targeted at both novice and experienced users. Despite being a focus point for many game engine companies, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to fully democratise game development. How could a tool for the adjustment of complex colliders’ shape in the Unity3D game engine targeted at game developers with little to no programming proficiency be designed and implemented? In this research study we delve into the process of creating a tool that enables adjustment of complex mesh colliders in Unity 3D's game engine, with an aim of making it accessible to users regardless of their previous experiences. A prototype of such a tool is developed using a design science strategic approach, which is later evaluated through interviews and thematic analysis. This study presents an exemplary approach to address the aforementioned task by providing the reader with an understanding of the tools used, how they were presented, and how the resulting prototype was perceived by its test users. The findings of this research study provides a framework for developing a tool that enables the adjustment of mesh colliders, while highlighting the significance of a comprehensive design process required when developing tools for novice users, and serves as a practical example of such a tool and how it could operate. Future research on the topic should focus on refining the design and features of the developed tool to further enhance its user friendliness.

Title: Multi-platform Multiplayer RPG Game A multi-platform game, which would be able to run on various devices with Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 systems, was created in this work. It was supposed to be a universal game client executable on desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets or mobile phones. The game was supposed to be role-playing game (RPG) with focus on turn-based action combat. In this work, a 3D scene renderer was written which supports rendering simple scenes with objects and animated characters. A cross-device communication library based on bluetooth technology was implemented in this project as well. This communication library allows two game clients running on two different types of devices to communicate with each other. Then a server-client communication library was created. This library was then used to implement a game server which offers online gaming feature.

Title: Multi-platform Multiplayer RPG Game A multi-platform game, which would be able to run on various devices with Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 systems, was created in this work. It was supposed to be a universal game client executable on desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets or mobile phones. The game was supposed to be role-playing game (RPG) with focus on turn-based action combat. In this work, a 3D game engine was written which supports rendering simple scenes with objects and animated characters. The engine was developed using DirectX. The engine was written in .NET C# using SharpDX library. A cross-device communication framework based on bluetooth technology was implemented in this project as well. This communication framework allows two game clients running on two different devices to communicate with each other.