Motion sickness has been a significant obstacle for the development of Virtual Reality technology since the beginning of its existence. Research has shown that audio can be used to reduce motion sickness in VR. It has also been proven that binaural ambisonic audio can enhance a player’s feelings of immersion and spatial presence, which is known to correlate negatively with motion sickness. This study aims to determine if the application of spatialized binaural ambisonic audio in VR environments can make users feel less motion sick, by enhancing the feeling of presence, compared to environments that utilize regular stereo sound. To validate our hypothesis, two versions of the same VR environment were created: one with binaural ambisonic audio, and another with regular stereo audio. The data was collected with surveys that included both motion sickness-related and experience-related questions. The results indicate that binaural ambisonic audio helped to reduce motion sickness compared to regular stereo audio, even though testers did not show any clear preference for one type of sound over another. / Rörelsesjuka har utgjort ett allvarligt hinder för utveckling av virtual reality-teknologi  (VR) från dess tidigaste utvecklingsfas. Forskning har visat att ljud kan användas för reducering av rörelsesjuka i VR. Det har också påvisats att binauralt ambisoniskt ljud kan förstärka spelarens känsla av immersion och spatial närvaro, som har en negativ korrelation med rörelsesjuka. Denna studies syfte är att avgöra om  användning av spatialt binauralt ambisoniskt ljud i VR-miljö kan reducera användarens rörelsesjuka, genom att förstärka känslan av närvaro, till skillnad från miljöer där rådande stereoteknologi används. Hypotesen testades genom att två  versioner av samma VR-miljö skapades: ett med binauralt ambisonisk ljud och ett  med vedertaget stereoljud. Insamlad data genom ett frågeformulär inkluderade även frågor rörande rörelsesjuka och tidigare erfarenhet av VR. Resultatet indikerar att binauralt ambisoniskt ljud reducerar rörelsesjuka, till skillnad från stereoljud, trots att testpersonerna inte visade på en tydlig preferens för den ena eller den andra ljudtypen.

In war propaganda you dehumanise your current or potential enemy by giving them undesirable traits. During the world wars it was common to see propaganda posters. During the cold war the posters evolved into television. In this paper we are examining potential instances of propaganda in video games.  We use an immersive research method with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and compare the key scenes representing russians to enemy archetypes found in propaganda. We also use the dynamics of enmity to analyse how enmity is furthered through the russians context in the conflict in relation to the player.  We found that Russians show similar traits to enemy archetypes found in propaganda while the player is represented by a character portrayed as protecting the western world from nuclear war. In conclusion games serve as an interactive medium where players can be subject to propaganda messages where they need to accept taking actions in accordance with propaganda message that furthering enmity.

This thesis explains the process of two researchers conducting a formal analysis of the graphical user interfaces (GUIs), specifically the heads-up displays (HUDs), of the main entries of the two game series The Elder Scrolls (1994 - 2011) and Deus Ex (2000 - 2011). The goal: to see how the evolution of their HUDs over time compare and to analyse them. After playing the games and taking notes about their HUDs, the researchers find that there is a common trend between the two series. The HUDs become more simplified over time, with some non-critical elements of the HUD being removed. They also become more precise at instructing and informing players about how to play the games. While similar additions and changes are made, the timing is different and the researchers conclude that further research is necessary in order to decide if the observed pattern of HUD evolution is unique to the two series or can hold up as a framework for a larger selection of games. As is, this thesis presents the patterns and trends within the heads-up display design of the observed games as well as a library of the observed games’ GUI elements, that future GUI designers and researchers can use to be made aware of past design decisions and revisions that has been common throughout several other games within the genre. / Denna kandidatuppsats går igenom undersökningen utav heads-up displays (Förkortas till HUD, uttalas “hadd”) som en del av de grafiska användargränssnitten tillhörande spelserierna The Elder Scrolls (1994-2011) och Deus Ex (2000-2011). Målet var att se till hur dessa utvecklades med tidens gång. Efter att data hade samlats in från spelen kom författarna fram till att det fanns en gemensam trend för hur HUDar i de två spelserierna utvecklades. Dessa HUDar hade blivit simplifierade med tiden, där icke-kritiska element försvann. De hade också blivit bättre på att instruera och informera spelare i hur de spelar spelen. Samtidigt som liknande tillägg och förändringar skedde för båda spelserierna så skiljde sig tidpunkten för när detta skedde. Författarna kom till slutsatsen att mer forskning är nödvändigt för att det ska kunna fastslås huruvida det observerade mönstret är unikt till de observerade spelserierna eller kan appliceras på andra spelserier också. Denna kandidatuppsats presenterar de mönster, designtrender, samt ett bibliotek av de komponenter, som funnits i datorspelens HUDar och kan användas av gränssnittsdesigners och forskare för att få insikt om tidigare designval och förändringar som har blivit vanligt förekommande genom flera andra spel av samma genre.

This project deals with usage of programming languages and compilers in computer games. Purpose of this project is to give young people motivation for programming, which isn't always done by usual work in Pascal at high school. This idea was applied on a developed computer game with has a few integrated languages which can be used for creation of the game's content (adventures, campaigns and objects in them). This computer game was based on a RPG desk game Dragon's Lair (a Czech equivalent of D&D) from ALTAR(TM) publishing company.

The goal of this thesis is to describe the issue of computer game creation and to develop a race game for people connected to the Virtual World using Unity 3D game engine. The first part of this thesis is dedicated to the history of video games, platforms and to describing of development processes and development tools. The next part is about Unity 3D game engine, which was used for creating the game. The resulting application is described in the last part.

Playing computer games in English affects one’s vocabulary size, and thus this project’s aim was to examine how the strategy and turn-based computer game Rebuild 2 can affect adult learners’ vocabulary acquisition according to their perceptions. This project also examined what effects note-taking has on vocabulary learning while playing the game. Two studies were conducted with university students with B1 to C2 level of English where one group took notes and the other group did not. The participants did a vocabulary test of 20 words from the game before playing and after playing the game. Then a retention-test was done one week later. They were tasked to explain and to use the words in sentences. The results indicated that the game helped the participants learn new words. On the other hand, it also caused confusion and words that were once explained correctly were incorrectly explained. Moreover, this project showed that there is a difference in vocabulary acquisition between taking notes and taking no notes. However, the questionnaires revealed that the difference is caused by how the participants perceive the game. Namely that the participants with a positive view on the game learnt more words than the participants with a negative view on the game.

Analysens syfte var att presentera om ett datorspel kan betraktas som en berättande text, hur ett datorspel skiljer sig från andra berättande texter, samt hur datorspelet The Witcher 2: Assassins of kings (2011) kan användas som en berättande text i gymnasieämnet svenska. Analysarbetet genomfördes genom att spela datorspelet, skriva loggbok och spela in spel-tillfällena. För att klargöra om datorspelet kan betraktas som en berättande text använde jag mig av forskning som definierar en berättande text. Sedan jämförde jag datorspelets berättelse mot forsknings-resultaten. Gällande användningen i gymnasieämnet svenska reflekterade jag över Skol-verkets formuleringar i det centrala innehållet för kurserna. Resultatet som jag kunde utläsa var att datorspel kan betraktas som berättande text och är möjliga att använda i gymnasieämnet svenska. Beträffande skillnaderna från andra berättande texter är ett The Witcher 2 ett icke-linjärt datorspel med interaktiva inslag, vilket innebär att berättelsen kräver större engagemang från en spelare i jämförelse med en läsare.

With the success of technology, computers and digital games have become a new, more advanced, medium for storytelling. What sets digital games apart from more traditional forms is that the player must engage and interact with a game world and the characters on a whole new level. Immersion is a term that is described as the experience of feeling deeply engaged within another reality. So how does a player become immersed in the game? In order to enable the necessary interactions between the player and the game, a user interface is required. User interface elements can be designed in a variety of ways. Some elements are part of the game’s geometric world and its narrative, so-called diegetic elements. Then there is the opposite, nondiegetic elements, which have no connection to the game story at all and only fulfill the purpose of conveying information to the player. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how the user interface affects the players’ immersion. The study consisted of a theoretical literary section and two empirical investigations in the field of user tests and online surveys. What was investigated in this thesis was how non-diegetic user interface elements affect immersion as well as whether immersion increases by integrating the user interface into the gaming world. Determining a statistical significance difference in immersion seems difficult. But with the help of interviews and online surveys, the player’s preferences have shown that minimizing non-diegetic elements can increase immersion and that integrating the user interface into the game world is a very good and preferred solution for conveying the necessary information to the player. However, the data collected indicate that failure to convey the necessary information can lead to the opposite, reduced immersion.

The diploma thesis deals with the subject of video games heroes. The goal of this thesis is to analyze the image of a video game hero and the components of which this image consists. Another focus of this thesis is to compare the images of video game heroes of the RPG (role-playing game) genre with the FPS (first person shooter) genre and to find out which aspects the images have in common and which are different. Content analysis of the games is applied in this thesis, based on predefined criteria and field notes gathered during playing top 100 rated games (50 games of the RPG genre and 50 games of the FPS genre) by Metacritic for 30 minutes each. The selection of the research sample is limited by the main character of the games; analysed games are such in which the hero is determined by the game and the player can't adjust him in any way, for example by choosing the character's gender, their physical predispositions and their occupation. The analysis of the games proved that the main hero was mostly an adult Caucasian human male. This characteristic was registered in the FPS genre more frequently.

Procedural content generation is a method that is sometimes used in video games to increase their replayability. In our previous work (Nepožitek, 2018), we implemented an algorithm for procedural generation of 2D dungeons, with the main focus on giving game designers complete control over the structure of generated levels. The algorithm takes a set of user-defined building blocks as input and produces levels that all follow the structure of a specified level connectivity graph. In the first part of the thesis, we address some shortcomings of our previous work. We improve the algorithm with several new features such as better support for corridors between rooms or the possibility to generate platformer levels. We also propose several performance improvements and analyze the speed of the algorithm on various inputs. In the second part of the thesis, we present an integration of our algorithm into the Unity game engine. In the final part of the thesis, we demonstrate that our generator is able to produce levels that are similar to what we can see in two popular games - Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells. The resulting algorithm is much faster than the previous version, contains new features and is ready to be used in the Unity game engine.