This paper investigates if real-time biofeedback can be used to enhance individual player experience by increasing the sense of flow and immersion with the player and to what extent this can be achieved. We used an oximeter, the Contec CMS50D+ to capture live biometric data which was in turn interpreted and implemented in the game Half-Life 2. The data was used to alter the damage taken and inflicted by the player, the timescale and the field of view, all to enhance the players sense of flow and immersion.An experiment group playing the modification and a control group playing the original game were evaluated, whose test results were compared to one another to analyze the alterations. The test subjects filled out a game experience questionnaire customized to this game and research, and were lastly interviewed. While the results indicate that it is possible to enhance gameplay experience by using biometric data, further research is needed in order to conclude to what extent this is possible.

Visual cues are a technique used for the purposes of guiding a viewer towards points of interest. Most commonly this is done with the use of color and contrast to make objects stick out more from its environment. Within the context of video games, visual cues are implemented to guide player actions in otherwise complex scenarios. Due to the steady increase of high-fidelity graphics in video games, visual cues are becoming more important for players so that visual clarity can still be maintained. In the video games analyzed in this thesis this is primarily done by adding a glowing outline (highlight) around the object or entity that the game designers want the player to interact with. Thus, this thesis attempts to explore two different qualities of visual cues: color and glow intensity, to see their effects on player performance and experience. To do this, an experiment was conducted in a scaled-down version of an FPS game with the purpose of testing these different qualities in four different scenarios and how they may influence both reaction time and player satisfaction. The results from this study indicate that neither of the tested qualities had any significant impact on a participant’s ability to complete their task. On the other hand: color had a big effect on player experience where one color, purple, was deemed irritating by most participants. Finally, the differences in glow intensity went unnoticed in most of the tested scenarios which points towards color being the more important quality of the ones tested in this study.

<p>The goal of this master thesis is to show the benefit of using computer games of the type First Person Shooter, FPS in the field of military simulations. The main focus in this is around a couple of topics. Creating the AI that controls the behaviour of the computer-controlled characters, the bots. Create an environment where it is possible to supervise the bots and also design a framework that enables cooperation between a group of bots, a squad. </p><p>The result is Total Unreal Studio, TUS, a program where it is possible to add bots to a squad, connect them to a game server and inspect what the bots are doing. Several maneuvers that could be applied to a squad has been implemented such as room clearing where the squad clear a building from eventual enemies, room by room and other different attacking strategies. Also it is very easy to create new maneuvres for a squad as effect of the design. </p><p>As the name of the program indicates, the well-known game Unreal Tournament is used as platform for the simulation. But because we use a interface between the game server and TUS, it is possible to switch to any other game and the interface is the only thing that has to be modified. To get good situation awareness a lot of node analysis is required, for instance calculating good sniping positions, pinch points and advantageous locations from where to perform an ambush.</p> / <p>Målet med detta examensarbete är att påvisa fördelen med att använda datorspel av typen FörstaPersonsSpel, FPS, inom militära simuleringar. Huvudinriktningen hos arbetet har rört ett flertal ämnen: att skapa det AI som kontrollerar beteendet hos datorkontrollerade karaktärer, så kallade botar, skapa en miljö där det är möjligt att övervaka botarna och även designa ett ramverk som möjliggör samarbete mellan botar i en grupp. </p><p>Resultatet av examensarbetet är Total Unreal Studio, TUS, en applikation där det är möjligt att lägga till botar i en grupp, ansluta dem till en spelserver och övervaka deras agerande. Flera manövrar för en grupp av botar finns redan implementerade. Ett par av dessa är rumsrensning där stridsgruppens uppgift är att rensa en byggnad från eventuella fiender rum för rum samt andra attackmanövrar. Designens utseende gör även att det är mycket enkelt att lägga till ytterligare manövrar om så önskas.</p><p>Som namnet på programmet indikerar används det välkända spelet Unreal Tournament som plattform för simuleringarna. Mellan spelet och TUS används gränssnittet Gamebots vilket gör det möjligt att byta till vilket spel som helst och det enda som behöver modifieras är gränssnittet. För att botarna ska kunna ta riktiga beslut behövs ett sätt att få uppfattning om omvärlden. Detta fås genom att analysera de navigeringsnoder som är utplacerade. Denna analys kan gå ut på att hitta bra krypskyttenoder eller fördelaktiga platser att anlägga bakhåll.</p>

The goal of this master thesis is to show the benefit of using computer games of the type First Person Shooter, FPS in the field of military simulations. The main focus in this is around a couple of topics. Creating the AI that controls the behaviour of the computer-controlled characters, the bots. Create an environment where it is possible to supervise the bots and also design a framework that enables cooperation between a group of bots, a squad. The result is Total Unreal Studio, TUS, a program where it is possible to add bots to a squad, connect them to a game server and inspect what the bots are doing. Several maneuvers that could be applied to a squad has been implemented such as room clearing where the squad clear a building from eventual enemies, room by room and other different attacking strategies. Also it is very easy to create new maneuvres for a squad as effect of the design. As the name of the program indicates, the well-known game Unreal Tournament is used as platform for the simulation. But because we use a interface between the game server and TUS, it is possible to switch to any other game and the interface is the only thing that has to be modified. To get good situation awareness a lot of node analysis is required, for instance calculating good sniping positions, pinch points and advantageous locations from where to perform an ambush. / Målet med detta examensarbete är att påvisa fördelen med att använda datorspel av typen FörstaPersonsSpel, FPS, inom militära simuleringar. Huvudinriktningen hos arbetet har rört ett flertal ämnen: att skapa det AI som kontrollerar beteendet hos datorkontrollerade karaktärer, så kallade botar, skapa en miljö där det är möjligt att övervaka botarna och även designa ett ramverk som möjliggör samarbete mellan botar i en grupp. Resultatet av examensarbetet är Total Unreal Studio, TUS, en applikation där det är möjligt att lägga till botar i en grupp, ansluta dem till en spelserver och övervaka deras agerande. Flera manövrar för en grupp av botar finns redan implementerade. Ett par av dessa är rumsrensning där stridsgruppens uppgift är att rensa en byggnad från eventuella fiender rum för rum samt andra attackmanövrar. Designens utseende gör även att det är mycket enkelt att lägga till ytterligare manövrar om så önskas. Som namnet på programmet indikerar används det välkända spelet Unreal Tournament som plattform för simuleringarna. Mellan spelet och TUS används gränssnittet Gamebots vilket gör det möjligt att byta till vilket spel som helst och det enda som behöver modifieras är gränssnittet. För att botarna ska kunna ta riktiga beslut behövs ett sätt att få uppfattning om omvärlden. Detta fås genom att analysera de navigeringsnoder som är utplacerade. Denna analys kan gå ut på att hitta bra krypskyttenoder eller fördelaktiga platser att anlägga bakhåll.

In this study, we investigate the effect of Heads-Up Display on player experience and performance when playing the first person shooter games Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4. Participants played a mission twice, once with Heads-Up Display and once without. After each session, the participant answered a PENS questionnaire. The amount of enemies killed and the amount of times the player character died during the session was recorded. No significant differences were found other than that the participants who answered that they only played first person shooter games a few times every month killed more enemies with the Heads-Up Display active, and that the overall amount of kills was generally lower when the Heads-Up Display was active. / Denna studie undersökte effekten av Heads-Up Display på spelupplevelsen samt spelarens prestationer i förstapersonsskjutspelen Battlefield 1 och Battlefield 4. Deltagarna spelade ett uppdrag två gånger, en gång med Heads-Up Display och en gång utan. Efter varje spelomgång svarade deltagarna på ett PENS-frågeformulär. Antalet eliminerade fiender samt antalet gånger spelkaraktären dog noterades.  Inga tydliga skillnader framkom mer än att deltagarna som svarat att de spelade förstapersonskjutspel några gånger i månaden lyckades eliminera fler fiender när Heads-Up Display var aktiverat, samt att antalet eliminerade fiender var allmänt lägre när Heads-Up Display var aktiverat.

Achieving a state of balance is essential when developing a video game (Schell, 2019, “Game Mechanics Must Be in Balance,” para. 1). Despite this, game balancing is frequently overlooked in game development curricula (Schreiber, 2016, 00:30). This research describes the development and pilot study of a framework that junior game designers can utilize to gain valuable skills in the area of game balance. The framework produced by this research provides users with the ability to tune weapon parameters and see the effects these changes have on a first-person shooter deathmatch game in real time. Participants in the study utilized the framework to achieve three pacing and balance goals. Data regarding the weapon parameters selected by participants and information about the participants’ usage of the framework is described in detail. This study serves as the groundwork for future research focused on finding a method for teaching junior game designers about game balance.

Background. The heads-up display (HUD) is a useful tool for displaying information to the player in a game, but the HUD is not a part of the game world. This could take away from the desired experience of the game and block important parts of the main action screen. To counteract this the HUD mostly occupies the edges of the screen and avoids drawing the player’s attention away from the main action scene except when it has important information for the player. Only having the HUD visible when it has important information to the player could remove the distraction of the HUD while keeping all the benefits of having one. Objectives. By using eye tracking to complement the HUD, the HUD can be invisible when the player does not use it, and change how the information is presented depending on where the player is looking. By creating a first-person shooter (FPS) game with a HUD complemented by eye tracking, then comparing it to how a normal HUD differed in terms of visibility and clutter, using a survey. Methods. The game was created using the Tobii Unity SDK and modifying the FPS demo scene. To create the gaze sensitive HUD three scripts were created to produce the finished result. Giving the HUD the ability to make all HUD elements invisible and able to appear after passing a specific value or when the element has new information, the HUD also has the ability to present information close to the player’s gaze point in the of notifications. The game was then presented to the participants in the form of two videos one using the normal HUD and one using the gaze sensitive HUD. After watching the partisans answered a survey related to the videos. Results. The gaze-based HUD was generally on par with the normal HUD. The most noticeable significant difference being that the normal HUDs ammunition counter and health bar was proffered over a less visible one. Conclusions. From the results gathered having a gaze-based HUD does not make it harder to notify the player of important information and dos not make the HUD less cluttered, compared to a normal HUD, but there is a difference between them.

This paper explores the appeal of customizable user interfaces (UI) in video games, and the choices players make when this option is available to them. In the video game industry at present, players aren't given much choice in regards to the UI, even though it is usually a vital element that will support them throughout their whole experience. To determine the value of customizable UIs, players were provided a testing environment with tools that allowed them to modify their UI, and quantitative data was collected during this test. A qualitative study has also been conducted with a focus on the players attitude towards the subject. The results of the study show a high favor for UI customization among the players. It does however show that players are split on several aspects within the topic and further research is required. This can hopefully lead to developers adapting more uses of user experience (UX) and implementing UI customization within their games.

This thesis project focuses on the creation and usage of external light effects to accommodate the needs of competitive gamers. Prior to the creation of these light effects, the function of audio in films and games was analyzed by examining the works of Michel Chion, who is the leading scholar in studying audio-vision: the relationship between the screen and sound. Subsequently, the possible application of these theories onto the lighting domain was discussed, showing the similarities and usefulness of these two different modalities. The goal of the thesis project was to improve the gamers’ perceived and objective performance in first-person shooter games. A counterbalanced within-group study was conducted; each participant played the game Doom 3 for 25 minutes with and without light effects. Four functional and informative light effects were created to accommodate the in-game content in an attempt to improve their performance. The players were given identical instructions on how to play the game. Four Philips Hue Go lights were placed in a rectangular shape around the participant with the TV in front. An additional Philips Hue LED strip was placed behind the TV. After each session, a standardized Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) was used to collect data on the players’ perceived performance. In-game logs were collected to determine how the players fared in combat. A linear checkpoint system was created to judge how far the participants progressed. The GEQ data showed that the light effects improved the players perceived performance. However, the results from the in-game logs and player progression are inconclusive and not statistically significant. The identified potential reasons were the low sample size (n=14), too little practice time, potential differences in player skill and physical light positioning. / Detta examensarbete fokuserar på skapandet och användandet av externa ljuseffekter  för att ackommodera tävlingsinriktade gamers behov. Inför skapandet av dessa  ljuseffekter genomfördes en utforskning av ljudets funktion i film och spel genom att  analysera Michel Chions verk inom audio-vision (eng); det vill säga förhållandet mellan  bild och ljud. Fortsättningsvis diskuterades huruvida dessa teorier kunde appliceras på  domänen ljus, genom att visa på användbarheten samt de likheter som dessa två olika  modaliteter har.    Målet för examensarbetet var att förbättra gamers upplevda och objektiva prestation i  förstapersonsskjutare (eng: First Person Shooter / FPS). En motviktad användarstudie  (within-group) genomfördes. Fyra funktionella och informativa ljuseffekter skapades för  att ackommodera spelets innehåll i ett försök att förbättra spelarnas prestation. Varje  deltagare spelade FPS-spelet ​Doom 3​ i 25 minuter med och utan ljuseffekter. Spelarna fick  identiska instruktioner om spelets grunder. Fyra Philips Hue Go-lampor var utplacerade  rektangulärt runt spelaren med TVn längst fram i mitten. En ytterligare Philips Hue LED  strip var placerad bakom TVn.    Efter varje session användes ett standardiserat Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) för  att insamla data av spelarnas upplevda prestation. Data loggades även inifrån spelet för  att uppmäta hur spelarna presterade i strid. Ett linjärt kontrollstationssystem upprättades  för att avgöra hur långt in i spelet deltagarna nådde.    Datan från GEQ-enkäterna visade att ljuseffekterna förbättrade spelarnas upplevda  prestation. Datan från spelloggarna och kontrollstationssystemet gav ett ofullständigt  resultat och var statistiskt insignifikant. De identifierade potentiella anledningarna var det  låga antalet deltagare (n=14), för lite övningstid, skillnader i spelarfärdighet och fysisk  ljuspositionering.

This paper studies how new players approach first-person games using a controller. By observingthe behaviour of five mostly inexperienced individuals as they play through the first few levelsof the game Portal 2 , the following patterns for barriers to entry can be observed:The game presumes common knowledge of its player that new players lack.Uninitiated have a hard time using buttons and sticks simultaneously for complicatedmaneuvers.New players primarily use the buttons that they can see with a casual glance, causingsome buttons to be less used.Misunderstanding due to not clearly have been shown possibilities in the gameworld.New players are unaware of the Options menu.Players find navigation and orientation difficult when lacking all the senses of a physicalbody.The fear of not being good enough causes distress.Players find it a waste of time to redo previously conquered challenges or not makingprogress fast enough.The paper then discusses possible solutions to these problems. / Denna rapport studerar hur nya spelare närmar sig förstapersonsspel som kontrolleras medhandkontroll. Genom att observera beteendet hos fem till mestadels oerfarna individer medan despelar igenom några av de första få banorna i spelet Portal 2 kan följande mönster som hindrardem från att börja spela urskiljas:Spelet förutsätter att dess spelare har en gemensam allmän kunskap. Kunskap som nyaspelare saknar.Oinvigda har svårt att använda både knappar och spakar simultant för att utförakomplicerade manövrar.Nya spelare använder primärt knapparna som de kan se vid en flyktig blick, vilketorsakar att vissa knappar blir mindre frekvent använda än andra.Missförstånd på grund av att icke klart och tydligt blivit meddelade spelvärldenmöjligheter.Nya spelare är omedvetna om Options-menyn.Spelare finner att röra sig i spelvärlden är svårt när de inte har tillgång till alla sinnen enfysisk kropp har.Rädslan för att inte vara bra nog orsakar oro.Spelare finner att det är slöseri med tid att göra om tidigare erövrade utmaningar eller attinte göra framsteg i tillräckligt hög fart.Denna rapport diskuterar möjliga lösningar på dessa problem.