This thesis aim was to find the answer the following research question: What do queer gamers think of the game Monster Prom. The material gathered for this thesis was through a participant observation with four people from the LGBTQIA+ community playing the game Monster Prom and a subsequent focus group interview with these people. The material was analysed using Queer Game Studies research. In this paper I came to the conclusion that representation does matter to queer gamers. According to my interviewees, there is a need for representation in games and that it needs to be diverse and made undramatic. The interviewees brought forward how and why this design of an avatar system gives the player freedom, queer possibilities, and being positively received by queer players. The interviewees also brought forward how and when one should/shouldn't write a story surrounding the representation of queer oppression from a queer player´s point of view.

In First-Person shooter video games, spread is a mechanic that adds a random artificial inaccuracy to the player’s shots. Movement-amplified spread is a particular implementation of spread which amplifies the inaccuracy based on the speed the player is moving at. As a consequence, players that are moving are unable to fire accurate shots, whereas players standing still remain accurate. The purpose of this thesis is to study the effects of movement-amplified spread of different intensities on gameplay dynamics. To this end, we created a First-Person shooter target practice course for testers to complete 15 times. For every third completion we made movement-amplified spread more intense. The results showed that as movement-amplified spread increased, testers were more prone to halt before shooting, firing more shots and engaging with targets at a somewhat shorter distance. / I förstapersonsskjutare, även kallat FPS, är spread en spelmekanik som applicerar enslumpmässig inexakthet till spelarens precision när de skjuter. Movement-amplified spread ären specifik implementering av spread som amplifierar inexaktheten baserat på spelarens rörelse och hastighet. Som en konsekvens av detta så har spelare som rör på sig svårt att samtidigt vara träffsäkra, medan spelare som står still förblir precisa. Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur effekterna av en ökande movement-amplified spread påverkar spelkänsla och dynamik i spel. För detta har vi byggt en FPS hinderbana med stationära mål som testare har fått springa igenom 15 gånger. För vart tredje genomförande har vi ökat intensiteten av movement-amplified spread. Resultaten visar att när movement-amplified spread ökade, så var testarna mer benägna att stanna före de avlossade skott, de sköt mer eller så sprang de närmare för att bekämpa måltavlorna på ett kortare avstånd.

En grafisk designer är van att arbeta i en klassisk rak metod, och skapa sina designlösningar med tanke på användaren i tron om att de är experter på att visuellt kommunicera. Samhället kräver dock mer hållbara och användbara produkter och tjänster, vilket tyder på att slutanvändarintegrering kan vara en lösning som ger bred feedback på en potentiell lösningsmetod. En grafisk designers uppgift är att visualisera sin uppdragsgivares uppdrag, göra en målgruppsanalys och leverera en produkt eller tjänst efter en brief; detta inom designerns konstnärliga stil samt expertis. Hur blir det då att inkorporera en slutanvändare i en process där man som grafiker ofta gör individuella beslut? Denna uppsats undersöker vilket värde slutanvändarintegrering skapar och i vilken grad det används idag inom brädspelsbranchens skapandeprocess. Uppsatsen utmanar också genom att presentera barriärer för implementering av en slutanvändar-baserad designmodell. Med utgångspunkt i ett intervjumaterial destilleras ett standardiserat arbetsflöde för brädspelsdesign fram, vilket leder till en bättre förståelse för när och hur slutanvändaren framgångsrikt kan inkorporeras i processen. Detta jämförs sedan med egenutförda användarcentrerade designmetoder där brädspelet ”Green Guardians” har designats men hjälp av speltestningsgrupper bestående av slutanvändare. Intervjumaterialet ger en bred och generell förståelse för hur brädspel skapas, med ett fokus på vad moderatorn studerar under ett speltestningstillfälle. Det sammanfattade resultatet redovisar integrering av slutanvändare som en vital och tillförlitlig del av skapandeprocessen av brädspel. Däremot finns för lite forskning på hur teori och metod tillämpas i praktiken. Dessutom påvisar resultatet att det inte är vanligt att få feedback om brädspelets grafiska utformning och utmanar denna teori med påståenden om att den grafiska designern ser sig som expert, och att kommunikationsproblem kan stå som barriär. Uppsatsen ger därför förslag på hur interaktionen kan förbättras mellan moderator och speltestare för att brädspelet ska utvecklas optimalt.

Sometimes games that belong to the same genre achieve different levels of success among the playerbase of the genre. As an example, of two space RTS games Homeworld (released in 1999) and O.R.B. (releasedin 2002), which feature a similar setting and similar gameplay mechanics, Homeworld has beenmore successful. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for the different popularityof the two games, using game reviews as the primary source of data to learn about the strengths andthe weaknesses of the two games. Thematic analysis has been applied to a total of 27 game reviewsof space RTS games Homeworld and O.R.B. Codes describing various strong and weak aspects of bothgames have been extracted from the texts. The codes have been grouped into various categories traditionallydescribed in game reviews, such as the story line, the UI, the graphics, etc. Using these codesas a basis, a number of explanations have been suggested as to why the game Homeworld has beenmore successful than the game O.R.B. The main reasons discovered are that Homeworld was releasedseveral years before its competitor and that some of important game features of O.R.B. suffered frompoorer technical execution in comparison to equivalent features in Homeworld.

Denna artikel undersöker hur förväntningarna hos spelaren inför en upplevelse påverkar dennes subjektiva upplevelse med ett verk. Genom självutvärdering från spelare påvisar undersökningen kopplingen mellan förväntningar och upplevd upplevelse genom den tillhörande gestaltnings designkontext. Denna undersökning ämnar försöka ge en definition på termen “spelarens förväntningar”, samt hur denna term kan användas i spelskapande som ett verktyg för att uppnå förståelse för spelaren. Detta genom ett fokus på de subjektiva politiska-, etiska- och kulturella värderingarna hos spelaren. / This article investigates how expectations among players before an interaction with a game design could influence the subjective experience. This article shows the influence a player’s expectation has on the subjective experience with a specific design context through the prototype accompanied by this paper. This investigation aims to give the term “Player’s Expectation” a definition, as well as a demonstration of using said term with the goal of understanding the individual player. While simultaneously focusing on the player’s political-, ethical- and cultural values.

In the capitalistic landscape of games today there exists a paradigm where metrics rule over game design which constrains the creativity and diversity of game design. Realistic games have seen a surge in popularity under this paradigm and as an artist I look to the art movement of impressionism for answers. In 19th century France, impressionist painters managed to escape the conventional realism of their time and their work diversified art. I explore how game mechanics could be refined using impressionist painting techniques as inspiration. Existing definitions of game mechanics such as Sicart (2008) which sees mechanics as methods invoked by agents, designed for interaction with the game state and Lundgren et al. (2003) which see mechanics as any part of the rule system that covers one possible kind of interaction that takes place during the game, both definitions fail to recognize the context (game) in which they exist and looks at mechanics in isolation. Using the analogy of a game as a painting, the properties of a brushstroke is translated into six considerations (size, placement, angle, visibility, shape, and overlap) which can be used to explore game mechanics in a novel way. Through three case studies I learned that my approach to game mechanics can be complementary to existing definitions and provides a language to discuss game mechanics. The six considerations proved useful both in research and in practice and enables a designer to quickly explore game mechanics, embracing the context of the game they exist in. / I dagens spels kapitalistiska landskap existerar det ett paradigm där metrik styr över speldesign vilket stryper speldesignens kreativitet och diversitet. Realistiska spel har blivit mer populära under detta paradigm och som en konstnär så letar jag i konströrelsen impressionism för svar. Under 1800-talets Frankrike lyckades impressionistiska konstnärer fly från tidens konventionella realism och deras arbete diversifierade konst. Jag utforskar hur spelmekaniker kan förädlas med användning av impressionistiska målningstekniker som inspiration. Existerande definitioner av spelmekaniker som Sicarts (2008) ser spelmekaniker som metoder åberopade av agenter, designade för interaktioner med spelets tillstånd och Lundgren et al. (2003) som ser spelmekaniker som en del av det regelsystemet som täcker en möjlig interaktion som tar plats under spelets gång, både definitionerna misslyckas med att se på spelmekaniker i deras kontext och kollar på spelmekaniker i isolering.  Med analogin av ett spel som en målning, så översätts ett penseldrags egenskaper till sex överväganden (storlek, placering, vinkel, synlighet, form och överlappning) som används till att utforska spelmekaniker på ett originellt sätt. Genom tre studier har jag lärt mig att mitt tillvägagångssätt bevisar sig vara användbart både för forskning och i praktik samt att det tillåter designern att snabbt utforska spelmekaniker med spelets kontext i åtanke.

In recent times, companies have been motivated to transition towards sustainable development. This motivation is driven by several external and internal factors such as awareness about limited resources, environmental degradation, economic profitability, changes in regulations, etc. Transitioning towards sustainability is not an easy task. There can be several challenges such as the multi-dimensional aspect of sustainable development, changes in workflow , investing in/inventing new technology , etc. T o tackle these challenges, a strategic transition is required. In order to help organizations strategically move towards sustainable development, Göran Broman and Karl- Henrik Robèrt have provided a framework through their research. It can be an overwhelming task for a company to understand and implement this framework. The thesis addresses this challenge by designing a board game around the operational procedure provided by the framework. To develop the game, Evensen et al.’s model was leveraged which utilized different inputs such as literature review, Broman and Robèrt’s framework, and thematic analysis of interviews as inputs for game development. The interviewing process included semi-structured interviews of eight employees (sustainability-related positions) from different companies to understand how their companies are perceiving sustainable development, implementing sustainable practices, and what are the needs and challenges faced. This thesis contributes to academia in two ways. First, it extends the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) by providing an application-based learning tool. After studying the theoretical side of the framework, the developed game can enhance the understanding of the framework. Second, it modifies the game design model by substituting generative research with a framework (FSSD) as an input and further discusses the benefits of having FSSD as an input element. From a practical perspective, apart from providing a better understanding of sustainability and educating companies about FSSD, the board game session enables the employees to think about how to implement FSSD for their specific scenario. Additionally, it also provides companies a controlled environment to think about risks and foresee the consequences of their future actions. Hence, providing a safety net before the initiation of the implementation process.

The stories humans tell and are told about climate change matters in our understanding of the phenomena, and have an impact on how we act in relation to it. However, climate fiction video games are few in numbers. This project presents the development of “The Testing Bureau”; an interactive fiction game with a story inspired by climate research. The research used is that of the shared socioeconomic pathways: five scenarios that present different socio-economic and political movements and their impact on mitigating and adapting to climate change (O’Neill et. al 2015). The game has been created as a response to the lack of climate fiction within video games, as well as being a way to make climate change research visible outside of scientific circles. Playtests indicated that the game held the potential of spurring personal reflection and engagement on the topics of the policies and possible endings.

En esta investigación se evaluó la influencia de los principios de jerarquía visual en la aprendibilidad de las interfaces de videojuegos de administración de recursos, a lo cual se postuló la hipótesis de que la jerarquía visual aplicada en el diseño de la interfaz de usuario en juegos de este género influyen de manera positiva en la aprendibilidad, facilitando el reconocimiento de los elementos gráficos y la memorización de los pasos a realizar para lograr la victoria disminuyendo la posibilidad de abandono del juego por parte de jugadores nuevos. Para llegar a este supuesto, se analizó documentalmente dos videojuegos del género Estrategia en Tiempo Real desarrollados del 2008 al 2018. De igual manera, se realizaron pruebas de usabilidad en dichos videojuegos y, consecuentemente, encuestas que midan la aprendibilidad según la opinión de los participantes. Los resultados del análisis documental sugieren la aplicación de los principios de semejanza, región común, proximidad y de contraste. En los resultados de las pruebas de usabilidad y encuestas se registró que los usuarios consideran que el ordenamiento de los elementos gráficos les ayudó a realizar las acciones dictadas, memorizarlas y usarlas de manera más rápida para poder conseguir la victoria. Podemos concluir que existe una influencia positiva de la jerarquía visual en la velocidad y eficacia de aprendizaje de las interfaces en los videojuegos del género estudiado y, que la aplicación de los principios busca el logro de uso en lugar de un orden de importancia de los elementos del juego. / In this investigation we analyzed the influence of the principles of visual hierarchy in the learnability of resource management video game interfaces, to which a hypothesis was postulated regarding how visual hierarchy applied to user interface design on games of this genre influence positively in the learnability, making easier the recognition of graphic elements and the memorization of the steps to achieve victory lowering the possibility of game quitting in new players. To achieve this supposition, two Real Time Strategy video games that were developed from 2008 to 2018 were analyzed. Similarly, usability tests of such games were made, and, therefore, surveys that measure the learnability from the participants standpoint. The results of the documentary analysis suggest that the application of the principles of similarity, common fate, proximity and contrast. In the results of the usability tests and surveys it was recorded that the arrangement of graphic elements helped them to achieve the dictated tasks, memorizing them and using them in the fastest way to achieve victory. We can conclude that there’s a positive influence of visual hierarchy in the speed and effectiveness of learning from the videogame interfaces of the studied genre and, that the application of the principles look for a successful experience rather than just a hierarchy order between the game assets. / Trabajo de investigación

El escultismo es una de las asociaciones juveniles más grandes y reconocidas del mundo. Su propuesta formativa, conocida como Método Scout, trabaja con niños y jóvenes a nivel personal y grupal con el objetivo de formar mejores ciudadanos. Sin embargo, tiene un déficit para presentar su material formativo, ocasionando falta de motivación entre scouts para iniciar su progresión. Por ello, el principal objetivo del presente trabajo es rediseñar el material formativo de la Asociación Scouts del Perú haciendo uso de las herramientas que brinda el diseño de información. Se espera que aplicando el diseño de información como herramienta se pueda transformar el material formativo de la Asociación Scouts del Perú brindando una alternativa que genere mayor motivación en los lobatos. La metodología utilizada es investigación experimental, ya que incluye una variable experimental, en un entorno fijo. El nivel de investigación es experimental y el enfoque que se ha elegido es mixto ya que se utilizara tanto el método cuantitativo como el cualitativo. La solución presentada es un juego para móviles en el cual los lobatos responden preguntas para ir avanzando a través de un circuito, tiene la opción de juego en equipo donde las seisenas y manadas compiten entre sí. La propuesta responde a las dificultadas encontradas en el material actual sin desligarse de las bases del escultismo. En conclusión, luego del testeo, el 100% de lobatos respondieron positivamente a la propuesta, demostrando interés hacia el material y motivación por iniciar su progresión, validando así la hipótesis presentada. / Scouting is one of the largest and most recognized youth associations in the world. Its formative proposal, known as the Scout Method, works with children and young people on a personal and group level with the aim of forming better citizens. However, they have a deficit to present their formative material, causing lack of motivation among scouts to start their progression. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to redesign the training material of the Scouts of Peru Association using the tools provided by the design of information. It is expected that applying the information design as a tool can transform the training material of the Scouts of Peru Association providing an alternative that generates more motivation in scouts. The methodology used is experimental research, since it includes an experimental variable, in a fixed environment. The level of research is experimental one and the approach that has been chosen is mixed one since both the quantitative and the qualitative method will be used. The presented solution is a game for mobiles in which the scouts answer questions to go through a circuit, has the option of team play where they compete in teams. The proposal responds to the difficulties found in the current material without breaking away from the foundations of Scouting. In conclusion, after testing, 100% of scouts responded positively to the proposal, demonstrating interest in the material and motivation to start their progression, thus validating the hypothesis presented. / Trabajo de investigación