Denna uppsats behandlar frågeställningen “Hur underlättar man en parallell utveckling av en- samt flerspelar-funktionalitet i ett spel?”. Anledningen till frågeställningen är att en separation mellan de två lägena, tror vi, får en positiv inverkan på agilitet i mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt inriktat mot spel, något som spelutvecklingsföretagen och utvecklare historiskt sett haft problem med. Samtidigt som en separation av funktionaliteten delar de olika kunskapsområden (spellogik och nätverk) så att rätt person kan arbeta med rätt sak. Målet med denna uppsats är att försöka bana väg för vidare forskning snarare än att helt lösa problemet. Problemet har studerats genom att applicera aktionsforskning vilket praktiskt har lett till en iterativ process som resulterat i en potentiell lösning vilket på veckovis basis reflekterats över samt förbättrats. I rapporten beskriver vi en lösning i form av en mjukvarudesign och regler att förhålla sig till, samt erfarenheter vi har erhållit under arbetets gång. / This paper addresses the question formulation “How does one aid a parallel development of singleplayer and multiplayer in game development?” The reasoning behind is that we believe a separation between the two achieves a greater agility in software development minded towards games. Something that the industry and developers alike historically have struggled and had problems with. At the same time a separation of functionality divides the different areas of expertise (game logic and network) so that the right person can focus on the right thing in a development cycle. The contribution to the scarce research in the general area computer science more narrowly and specific, game development research is mainly to pave the way for further research. The problem has been tackled through Action Research, meaning the use of practical development iterated towards a potential solution, and on a weekly basis considered the solution and made improvements and adjustments on it. This paper describes a solution in form of a software design and a couple of rules to relate to as well as the experience we obtained throughout this project.

This report investigates if tutorials are necessary in a hard fun game of emergence with tutorialistic gameplay. This is done by comparing the performances of players who have and have not played a tutorial. The study is based on research of the classification of different kinds of games as well as research regarding the effect of tutorials on player experience. The terms tutorialistic gameplay and restrictive tutorials are introduced and defined. The method used for data collection was a game that automatically recorded performance data at one minute intervals. This performance data was then compiled and analysed to answer the research question: How does learning through tutorialistic gameplay affect player performance innormal gameplay compared to learning through restrictive tutorials in a hard fun game of emergence? Not enough results were received to answer the question, but they show examples of learning through tutorialistic gameplay having both positive and negative effects.

In this study, the understanding about multimodal perception from previous studies has been used to create a perceptually demanding visual search task inside a game. Also, a subtle multimodal cue was created to be in-directly informative about the visual search target’s location by attracting subjects’ attention. 20 subjects were divided equally among the experiments two conditions, one where the subjects had no access to the multimodal information and one where the subjects did have access to the multimodal information. The multimodal information conveyed to the subjects in this experiment was temporal synchrony between a visual light pulsating and a sound being modulated using level and low-pass filtering. Results showed that the subjects that were given the multimodal information improved more on the search task than the group without multimodal information, but the subjects in the multimodal group also perceived the pace of the task as higher. However, it is unclear exactly how the multimodal cue helped the subjects since the playing subjects did not seem to change their search movement pattern to favor the location of the search target, as was expected. Further, the difficulties and considerations of testing in a game environment is discussed and it is concluded that the gamer population is a very varied group which has big impacts on methodology of in-game experiments. To identify sub-groups, further research could study why different players use different search behaviors.

The Survival games genre is infamous for its lack of narrative. In this paper we look at thepossibility of emerging narrative in open world survival sandbox games. The survival aspectof a game is heavily tied to specific survival-centric mechanics that are frequently occurringin the genre. These mechanics and systems can in and of themselves give way to an unwrittennarrative for each individual player. By working with the concept of Narrative gamemechanics, we interviewed a pool of people about their stories and narrative experiences insurvival games. After analysing the results we found recurring patterns to indicate how certaintypes of survival-mechanics can lead to certain types of narrative situations.

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.

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This study investigates how linear and nonlinear level designs inspire game flow in cooperative gameplay through a close reading analysis. The research focuses on It Takes Two, a highly successful cooperative game with compelling and unusual combination of game elements that enhance the cooperative experience. Employing a close reading methodology, the study examines the reciprocal relationship between game mechanics and game flow, considering elements such as cooperation mechanics, task structures, and guidance within levels. The analysis utilizes Sweetser and Wyeth's (2005) eight elements of flow to evaluate the game flow in cooperative scenes. By exploring the interaction patterns, mechanics design, and player experiences, the study offers insights into the impact of level design on cooperative gameplay in relationship with flow for designing engaging cooperative experiences. The findings contribute to the understanding of how different level designs shape game flow in cooperative games.

Deeper understanding of character gameplay identity is crucial for designers in an industry where crossover content is more commonplace than ever. Despite its relevance, however, research in the field of game design has yet to be widely conducted on character gameplay identity. Consequently, this study explores how a character’s gameplay identity is preserved across genres through the use of gameplay mechanics. This was achieved by using Pokémon Trainer as a case study, examining how they were adapted from the Pokémon games into the Super Smash Bros. games. By analysing gameplay and select online sources, we conducted a close reading of the Pokémon Trainer, granting insight into the various mechanics that the game designers use to retain the character’s gameplay identity. We have broken these mechanics down into systems, which we then analysed and categorised according to systems theory, giving further insight into the nature of gameplay systems. The results from our analyses show that understanding a character’s gameplay identity can be adapted through multiple different types of gameplay mechanics, and that systems theory is a useful tool to categorise different types of gameplay mechanics.

Our thesis revolves around how intrinsically motivational incentives can be created by using gameplay elements and features instead of creating motivation with extrinsically mediated rewards. We find problems with achievement systems being too focused on rewarding players extrinsically instead of adding to the increase in motivation along with the gameplay experience. Using theories from the psychology field on motivation we created a foundation from which we started to design a game that creates motivation through its features and mechanics. From the feedback we received on our user testing and interviews, all within an iterative design process, we found that users responded more positively to our suggested improvements concerning the high score list feature in particular, followed by general gameplay features like visual feedback.From the summarized data we have collected we have noticed that one of the main features people wanted in games was feedback on what and how they were doing, whether it was an action or where their competition was.

Brave Rats is a short game with simple rules, yet establishing a comprehensive strategy is very challenging without extensive computation. After explaining the rules, this paper begins by calculating the optimal strategy by recursively solving each turn’s Minimax strategy. It then provides summary statistics about the complex, branching Minimax solution. Next, we examine six other strategy models and evaluate their performance against each other. These models’ flaws highlight the key elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the Minimax strategy and offer insight into simpler strategies that human players could mimic. Finally, we analyze 123 games of human data collected by the author and friends and investigate how that data is different from Minimax optimal play.