This paper aims to answer how a game developer should implement tutorials for a given game mechanic in an action-adventure game. How do you ensure that the players both understand how it works, and are enjoying their time with the game. A game was created with a set of mechanics of different complexity and created different tutorials for each and gave them to testers to evaluate. The testers played through one version of the game and answered a questionnaire. The results show both the importance of tutorials and the effects of picking the correct type. It also shows that more research needs to be done on more complex game mechanics or on other game genres.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de donner une définition générale et mesurable de la difficulté du gameplay dans un jeu vidéo. Elle propose une méthode et un outil pour mesurer cette difficulté. La méthode de mesure couramment employée est en effet principalement heuristique et propre au contexte de chaque jeu. Nous proposons une approche générique d’analyse du gameplay qui prend en compte l’apprentissage du joueur et permet une évaluation statistique de la difficulté d’un gameplay. Dans un premier temps, la thèse explore les liens entre difficulté, game design, et plaisir de jouer. Nous étudions diverses formes de difficultés : sensorielles, logiques et motrices. Après diverses expérimentations d’analyse automatique de gameplay, nous détaillons notre modèle de mesure de la difficulté, et l’analyse en challenges et capacités d’un gameplay, ainsi que le logiciel associé. Finalement, nous présentons une expérience, dont l’objectif est de tester la faisabilité et la précision de notre modèle. / The goal of this thesis is to propose a general and measurable definition of the difficulty in video games. The current approach, widely adopted, is mainly heuristic, and depends on each game’s context. We propose a generic way to analyse a gameplay, taking into account the player’s apprenticeship, which allows to statistically evaluate the gameplay’s difficulty. The thesis first explores the links between difficulty, game design and the player’s enjoyment. Then, we study different types of difficulties, sensory, logical and motor. After a few experiments on automatic gameplay analysis, we detail our measurement model, base on the splitting of gameplay into challenges and capacities. We present the developed software, and report an experiment that we ran to test the feasibility and accuracy of our measuring technique.

This study is about how a person who is used to play games experiences playing a game with their eyes as input. The participants played a 3D game where the player had to collect coins by moving a ball over them. The participants first tried the game with keyboard as input and then right after only interacting by gazing via screen. The achieved score was recorded both for input from keyboard and input from eye. After the game session the participants were asked to answer two questionnaires that contained questions about their background and questions referring to the game they just played. The experiment was performed in a lab with a TobiiT60 eye tracker. All participants got lower score when they used eye tracking as input but most of the participants found it to be more fun. We reached the conclusion that, with the game used in our experiment, the participants felt that gaining a high score was not the most important. Instead they ranked having fun as a more important factor. Our experiment has shown that using an eye tracker can make a casual game more fun.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de donner une définition générale et mesurable de la difficulté du gameplay dans un jeu vidéo. Elle propose une méthode et un outil pour mesurer cette difficulté. La méthode de mesure couramment employée est en effet principalement heuristique et propre au contexte de chaque jeu. Nous proposons une approche générique d’analyse du gameplay qui prend en compte l’apprentissage du joueur et permet une évaluation statistique de la difficulté d’un gameplay. Dans un premier temps, la thèse explore les liens entre difficulté, game design, et plaisir de jouer. Nous étudions diverses formes de difficultés : sensorielles, logiques et motrices. Après diverses expérimentations d’analyse automatique de gameplay, nous détaillons notre modèle de mesure de la difficulté, et l’analyse en challenges et capacités d’un gameplay, ainsi que le logiciel associé. Finalement, nous présentons une expérience, dont l’objectif est de tester la faisabilité et la précision de notre modèle. / The goal of this thesis is to propose a general and measurable definition of the difficulty in video games. The current approach, widely adopted, is mainly heuristic, and depends on each game’s context. We propose a generic way to analyse a gameplay, taking into account the player’s apprenticeship, which allows to statistically evaluate the gameplay’s difficulty. The thesis first explores the links between difficulty, game design and the player’s enjoyment. Then, we study different types of difficulties, sensory, logical and motor. After a few experiments on automatic gameplay analysis, we detail our measurement model, base on the splitting of gameplay into challenges and capacities. We present the developed software, and report an experiment that we ran to test the feasibility and accuracy of our measuring technique.

Le Cloud computing émerge comme le nouveau paradigme informatique dans lequel la virtualisation des ressources fournit des services fiables correspondant aux demandes des utilisateurs. De nos jours, la plupart des applications interactives et utilisant beaucoup de données sont développées sur le cloud: Le jeu vidéo en est un exemple. Avec l'arrivée du cloud computing, l'accessibilité et l'ubiquité du jeu ont un brillant avenir; Les jeux peuvent être hébergés dans un serveur centralisé et accessibles via l'Internet par un client léger sur une grande variété de dispositifs avec des capacités modestes : c'est le cloud gaming. Le Cloud computing, dans le contexte de jeu vidéo a beaucoup attiré l'attention en raison de ses facilités d'évolution, de disponibilité et capacité de calcul. Cependant, les systèmes de cloud gaming actuels ont des exigences très fortes en termes de ressources réseau, réduisant ainsi l'accessibilité et l'ubiquité des jeux dans le cloud, car les dispositifs clients avec peu de bande passante et les personnes situées dans la zone avec des conditions de réseau limitées et/ou instables, ne peuvent pas bénéficier de ces services de cloud computing. Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une technique d'adaptation inspirée par l'approche du niveau de détail (Level of detail) dans les graphiques 3D. Elle est basée sur un paradigme du cloud gaming dans l'objectif de fournir une accessibilité multi-plateforme, tout en améliorant la qualité d'expérience (QoE) du joueur en réduisant l'impact des mauvaises conditions réseau (delai, perte, gigue) sur l'interactivité et réactivité du jeu. Notre première contribution se compose de modèles de jeu reliant les objets du jeu à leurs besoins en termes de communication représentés par leurs importances dans le jeu. Nous avons ensuite fourni une approche de niveau de détail pour gérer la distribution des ressources réseau basée sur l'importance des objets dans la scène et les conditions réseau. Nous validons notre approche en utilisant des jeu prototypes et evaluons la QoE du joueur, par des expériences pilotes. Les résultats montrent que le framework proposé fournit une importante amélioration de la QoE. / With the arrival of cloud computing technology, game accessibility and ubiquity havea bright future. Games can be hosted in a centralize server and accessed through theInternet by a thin client on a wide variety of devices with modest capabilities: cloudgaming. Some of the advantages of using cloud computing in game context includes:device ubiquity, computing exibility, affordable cost and lowered set up overheads andcompatibility issues. However, current cloud gaming systems have very strong requirementsin terms of network resources, thus reducing their widespread adoption. In factdevices with little bandwidth and people located in area with limited network capacity,cannot take advantage of these cloud services. In this thesis we present an adaptationtechnique inspired by the level of detail (LoD) approach in 3D graphics. It is based ona cloud gaming paradigm in other to maintain user's quality of experience (QoE) byreducing the impact of poor network parameters (delay, loss, bandwidth) on game interactivity.Our first contribution consist of game models expressing game objects and theircommunications needs represented by their importance in the game. We provided twodifferent ways to manage objects' importance using agents organizations and gameplaycomponents. We then provided a level of detail approach for managing network resourcedistribution based on objects importance in the game scene and network conditions. Weexploited the dynamic objects importance adjustment models presented above to proposeLoD systems adapting to changes during game sessions. The experimental validation ofboth adaptation models showed that the suggested adaptation minimizes the effects oflow and/or unstable network conditions in maintaining game responsiveness and player'sQoE.

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 present work is based on the research and design of a mobile AR experiment performed in the context of the emerging interdisciplinary fields of digital heritage and experience design. In an attempt to find a method to support the justification and discovery of elements that can influence the user towards the fulfilment of an objective in a heritage experience, my experimental research reveals that a combination of play moments including elements of embodiment and sensuousness in mobile AR are most suitable to convey a story. Determining suitable gameplay and game mechanics requires an appropriate setting and context for a user’s encounter with digital heritage. My research outlines a design methodology to reveal how the aesthetics of mobile AR technology can be designed to support critical user experiences through play and discovery. / Designing Digital Heritage. Seeing Secrets

Estudo de estruturas narrativas no cinema e nos games construídas a partir do elemento onírico. As obras analisadas são elaboradas como emulação/simulação de sonhos, memórias ou alucinações dos personagens. A análise servirá para o desenvolvimento do roteiro de um jogo eletrônico baseado no conceito de sonho lúcido, fenômeno em que o sujeito adquire consciência da realidade onírica. / The Master Thesis\'s objective is to study narrative structures in cinema and games that is constructed with oneiric elements. The films and games studied are representation or emulation/ simulation of the character\'s dreams, memories or hallucinations. The research will serve as basis to write a screenplay and a Game Design Document to a electronic game based on the concept of Lucid Dreaming. Lucid Dream is when one adquire conscious thought and lucidity in their dream state

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:22:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabricio Mario Maia Fava.pdf: 17540766 bytes, checksum: dbdc481a71a11cbb7c042f4b6f5eee16 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Evaluating the quality of interaction with digital games has been a hard task. This is due mainly to the unawareness of proper tools and criteria or to its inappropriate application. The usability methods, for instance, are often used for the analysis of applications aiming productivity. Nevertheless, they are not established regarding the evaluation of interaction with videogames, which are developed to help players to have fun. Another tool adopted to measure the quality of interaction with other digital games is the playability. However, the unawareness of its evaluation criteria makes this method even less explored. So, we propose on this work to discuss the relations between playability and usability in digital games, trying to identify characteristics and concerns in every technique regarding design and evaluation of videogames. To cover up such questions, we weaved dialogues with game researchers as Jesper Juul, Katie Salen and Erick Zimmerman; scholars of topics related to fun and entertainment, as Nicole Lazzaro, Donald Norman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; besides researchers in the field of playability, as Carlo Fabricattore and Aki Jarvinen; and of the usability, like Katherine Isbister, Noah Schaffer and Sauli Laitinen. The knowledge of the topics discussed by these authors led us to adopt the application of usability and playability heuristics as research methodology, with the first person shooting games for computers as gender and study platform. Through this approach it was possible tot identify the observation needs concerning kinds of interaction problems before choosing the evaluation method (playability and usability) that will be used. By doing so, the measurement of the interaction quality will be more accurate and will contribute to the project of games able to keep players emotionally evolved. Considering the few literature about playability and usability in digital games, it is expected that this work help professionals and researchers in the designing and evaluating processes of videogames / Avaliar a qualidade da interação com os jogos digitais tem sido uma tarefa complexa. Isso se deve principalmente ao desconhecimento de ferramentas e critérios adequados ou à sua aplicação de forma inapropriada. Os métodos de usabilidade, por exemplo, são bastante utilizados para a análise de aplicações com Rns de produtividade. No entanto, não estão estabelecidos quanto à avaliação da interação com os videogames, que são desenvolvidos pensando em ajudar os jogadores a terem diversão. Outra ferramenta adotada para mensurar a qualidade da interação com os jogos digitais é a jogabilidade. Todavia, o desconhecimento de seus critérios de avaliação torna esse método ainda pouco explorado. Nesse sentido, propomos com este trabalho discutir as relações entre jogabilidade e usabilidade em jogos digitais, buscando identificar as características e preocupações de cada técnica no que diz respeito ao design e avaliação de videogames. Para dar conta dessas questões, traçamos diálogos com pesquisadores de jogos como Jesper Juul, Katie Salen e Erick Zimmerman; estudiosos das questões relacionadas à diversão e ao entretenimento, como Nicole Lazzaro, Donald Norman e Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; além de pesquisadores do campo da jogabilidade, como Carlo Fabricattore e Aki Jarvinen; e da usabilidade, como Katherine Isbister, Noah Schaffer e Sauli Laitinen. O conhecimento das questões discutidas por esses autores nos conduziu a adotar a aplicação de heuristicas de jogabilidade e usabilidade como metodologia de pesquisa, tendo os jogos de tiro em primeira pessoa para computador como gênero e plataforma de estudo. Com essa abordagem, foi possivel identificar a necessidade da observação dos tipos de problemas de interação antes da escolha do método de avaliação (jogabilidade e usabilidade) que será utilizado. Dessa forma, a mensuração da qualidade da interação será mais precisa e contribuirá no projeto de jogos capazes de manter os jogadores envolvidos emocionalmente. Considerando a pouca literatura pertinente à jogabilidade e usabilidade nos jogos digitais, espera-se que esse trabalho auxilie profissionais e pesquisadores no processo de design e avaliação de videogames

Den här uppsatsen har skrivits i samband med ett examensarbete som jag gjorde på Shortfuse, ett företag under bildning i Gothia Science Park vid Högskolan i Skövde. Det som jag har gjort under examensarbetet var att ändra vissa befintliga spellägen och att designa helt nya spellägen till fightingspelet Colosseum. Målsättningen är att utveckla nya spellägen utan att lägga till eller ändra på befintlig spelmekanik. Resultatet av arbetet ledde till en lösning på hur målsättningen kan uppfyllas, nämligen genom att kombinera befintlig spelmekanik på nya sätt. Men jag kom fram till att det ändå inte går att designa något nytt utan att ändra på spelmekaniken åtminstone lite grann. Slutsatsen är att den positiva inverkan en idé skulle ha på spelet måste övervägas mot hur mycket det kostar i form av tid och pengar. Dessutom ledde arbetet till beskrivningar av tre olika metoder för att komma på nya idéer. De tre metoderna kallar jag för användning av konventioner i liknande spel, överföring av idéer från helt andra typer av spel, och användning av spelets tema.