This essay is a look into the future of games with new technology at hand, it serves as acloser look at new challenges and ways to overcome those challenges in VR game design.What new untapped way of acting on immersive storytelling can we convey with thisinteractive medium and how can we treat our players sense of agency within a VR world withthe necessary respect it deserves. This paper will dive into the idea of walking a mile insomeone else’s shoes and how to create a believable, narrative driven, non-restrictive gameexperience using aesthetic choices, world interactions and environmental storytelling as ourdesign tools. Aesthetic choices aren’t just a matter of achieving the highest realism thoughgraphical fidelity, instead it requires us to go deeper and look at a more traditional way ofdesigning our games art, to deeper convey immersion through minimalism and environmentaldesign to name a few. The goal is to understand how a world’s environments and the gameart in that environment could affect agency, all to support a more deeply focused, curious andin the end more immersive session of play.A virtual reality game called Norn have been produced alongside this paper to showcasethese features come into play. Norn is a narrative driven experience set in a stylistic old norsesetting where you play as a 18 year old girl named Thora and her sister Eira in a coming ofage story told in a different way.We have concluded that methods like the “Weenie”-method help to produce ways to guideplayers subconsciously but need carefully iterative improvements to work. We have also useddesign methods such as Bartle’s (1996) taxonomy of player types and Schell’s´(2008)“Pleasures” to build an inviting game environment and gameplay around to achieve personalagency. All while streamlining the games art both to overcome technical challenges but alsoto show how stylized environments can help accentuate the intended experiences compared toa realistic one.

Master of Visual Arts / Digital/video games1 have entertained for 40 years and are a medium with the ability to reach a vast audience. In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Charles Purcell reports that; “Globally, Halo 2 has sold more than 7 million copies. Both in the US and Australia it broke the film box-office record for the most earnings in the first 24 hours of release. The worldwide Halo 2 community on X-box Live has about 400,000 players… at the World Cyber Games in Seoul. Last year, gold medallist Matthew Leto won $US20,000 ($AUS27,0000) after his second consecutive Halo title.” 2. Game consoles have become a part of many lounge rooms just as the television did before them. Games are even commonplace in many coat pockets and carrying bags. This dissertation is concerned with the medium of digital/video games in relation to its effect on Game Art. It is also concerned with the concept of my studio work that deals with “evil” and the “uncanny” which are discussed in chapter four. My research looks at games and how they have developed and the relationship to contemporary art. A history of this development is explored in chapter two. My research will help me in developing an interactive piece. Throughout my current research the thoughts of author of The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit Sherry Turkle resonate: “…not what will the computer be like in the future, but instead, what will we be like? What kind of people are we becoming?” 3 It is interesting to consider the video/digital games as experiments of who we are or who we would like to be, little fantasies of empowerment. In a game we are able to live out our frustrations or fantasies in a closed and predictable experience.

My aim in this case study has been to create a method for creature design to test this method in a production and evaluate the results. To achieve this I studied and analyzed the methods of three concept artists and illustrators named James Gurney, Neville Page and Iain McCaig. From the analysis of these artist´s methods, combined with my own personal experience, a new method was formed. To test this method a creature was designed based on directives given by a game design group in the process of creating a table top role playing game in a fictitious world. These directives where given for the creature´s role and its living conditions. When the production was completed I received feedback from the game design group and conducted an analysis of the method, based on their feedback and my own conclusions, to further improve upon this method.

Master of Visual Arts / Digital/video games1 have entertained for 40 years and are a medium with the ability to reach a vast audience. In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Charles Purcell reports that; “Globally, Halo 2 has sold more than 7 million copies. Both in the US and Australia it broke the film box-office record for the most earnings in the first 24 hours of release. The worldwide Halo 2 community on X-box Live has about 400,000 players… at the World Cyber Games in Seoul. Last year, gold medallist Matthew Leto won $US20,000 ($AUS27,0000) after his second consecutive Halo title.” 2. Game consoles have become a part of many lounge rooms just as the television did before them. Games are even commonplace in many coat pockets and carrying bags. This dissertation is concerned with the medium of digital/video games in relation to its effect on Game Art. It is also concerned with the concept of my studio work that deals with “evil” and the “uncanny” which are discussed in chapter four. My research looks at games and how they have developed and the relationship to contemporary art. A history of this development is explored in chapter two. My research will help me in developing an interactive piece. Throughout my current research the thoughts of author of The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit Sherry Turkle resonate: “…not what will the computer be like in the future, but instead, what will we be like? What kind of people are we becoming?” 3 It is interesting to consider the video/digital games as experiments of who we are or who we would like to be, little fantasies of empowerment. In a game we are able to live out our frustrations or fantasies in a closed and predictable experience.

Orientador: Milton Terumitsu Sogabe / Resumo: Nesta pesquisa de caráter teórico-pratica, procuramos discutir os processos do desenvolvimento de games, mais especificamente aqueles que existem em paralelo da grande indústria de games. Para contextualizar sua linguagem construímos um breve panorama da sua história e suas manifestações no campo da Arte. Refletimos sobre processos utilizados na produção de games alternativos através da modificação, subversão e apropriação de ferramentas, valores e tecnologias dos games comerciais, através de exemplos e reflexões sobre a Game Art e games independentes. Nossa prática utiliza esses processos e abordagens para desenvolver uma produção de games experimentais. Foram produzidos 4 jogos, entre 2 projetos individuais e 2 coletivos. / Abstract: In this theoretical-practical research, we seek to discuss the processes of game development, more specifically those that exist in parallel to the game industry. To contextualize its language we build a brief overview of its history and its manifestations in the field of Art. We reflect on processes used in the production of alternative games through modification, subversion, and appropriation of commercial game tools, values and technologies in tandem with examples and reflection on Game Art and independent games. Our practice uses these processes and approaches to develop an experimental game production. Four games were made, between 2 individual and 2 collaborative projects. / Mestre

Esta pesquisa tem como objeto de estudo principal as manifestações do labirinto nos jogos eletrônicos, dando continuidade às nossas pesquisas sobre o labirinto e à nossa produção artística em novas mídias. As investigações realizadas se deram em duas frentes, sendo uma teórica, onde fizemos uma revisão da bibliografia sobre o labirinto, com a finalidade de termos os subsídios necessários para analisar a presença do labirinto nos jogos eletrônicos. Esta análise se deu em termos espaciais e temporais, tomando a forma de dois capítulos da dissertação, tendo o apoio de estudos na área dos jogos eletrônicos e de referências da literatura e do cinema. Já na frente artística, realizamos nove trabalhos, empregando mídias digitais, que se relacionam, de alguma forma, com a temática desta pesquisa. Apresentamos estes trabalhos ao longo da dissertação, dedicando um breve texto a cada um deles, onde apontamos o diálogo entre eles e os jogos eletrônicos, assim como com referências artísticas, literárias, cinematográficas e teóricas. / This research is concerned with the ocurrences of labyrinths in electronic games, continuing our studies related to labyrinths and our artistic work in new media. The work done comprises two parts; the first one theoretical, where we revised selected references about the labyrinth, aiming to collect elements to analyse the ocurrences of labyrinths in electronic games. This analysis was performed in spacial and temporal terms, comprising two chapters of this dissertation, with the support of studies related to electronic games and literary and cinematographical references. In the artistic part, we developed nine works, using digital media, that are related, somehow, with the subject of this reasearch. These works are introduced along the dissertation, with a short text about each one, where we evidence the dialog between them and electronic games, as well as with artistic, literary, cinematographical and theoretical references.

Esta pesquisa tem como objeto de estudo principal as manifestações do labirinto nos jogos eletrônicos, dando continuidade às nossas pesquisas sobre o labirinto e à nossa produção artística em novas mídias. As investigações realizadas se deram em duas frentes, sendo uma teórica, onde fizemos uma revisão da bibliografia sobre o labirinto, com a finalidade de termos os subsídios necessários para analisar a presença do labirinto nos jogos eletrônicos. Esta análise se deu em termos espaciais e temporais, tomando a forma de dois capítulos da dissertação, tendo o apoio de estudos na área dos jogos eletrônicos e de referências da literatura e do cinema. Já na frente artística, realizamos nove trabalhos, empregando mídias digitais, que se relacionam, de alguma forma, com a temática desta pesquisa. Apresentamos estes trabalhos ao longo da dissertação, dedicando um breve texto a cada um deles, onde apontamos o diálogo entre eles e os jogos eletrônicos, assim como com referências artísticas, literárias, cinematográficas e teóricas. / This research is concerned with the ocurrences of labyrinths in electronic games, continuing our studies related to labyrinths and our artistic work in new media. The work done comprises two parts; the first one theoretical, where we revised selected references about the labyrinth, aiming to collect elements to analyse the ocurrences of labyrinths in electronic games. This analysis was performed in spacial and temporal terms, comprising two chapters of this dissertation, with the support of studies related to electronic games and literary and cinematographical references. In the artistic part, we developed nine works, using digital media, that are related, somehow, with the subject of this reasearch. These works are introduced along the dissertation, with a short text about each one, where we evidence the dialog between them and electronic games, as well as with artistic, literary, cinematographical and theoretical references.

Literature and teaching books about how to make art for games have been accessible but thearea lacked covering of genre-specific game art. Game genres require different solutions forthe art in order to aid playability of the final product. My game project, called DOMAINS was made with an outside team. The project together withmy first art guide about the cinematic platformer genre provided materials for the writing ofthe next game art guide. The old art guide was used as a template for the new guide, whichfocused on the strategy game genre. This report contains the description of the process of making my second art guide, and thewhole The Strategy Game Art Guide itself. It reviews both the successful and less successful implements in the game and will walk thereader through how the prior decisions were made and the consequences. It targets beginnersin the game development world.

This dissertation provides an analysis of, and critical commentary on, the practice of playfulness as persistent phenomenon in the arts, technology and theory. Its aim is to introduce political reflections on agency through the study of playful technological artefacts, which were largely ignored in the recent discussions on game and play. Following the critical analysis of historic discourses and actual studies of play under differing auspices, and in order to understand play as inherently political agency, this thesis’ research question addresses the immersive effects of playful agency in symbolic exchange systems and in the material consciousness of the player. This thesis conducts an analysis of material cultures, in order to categorise play as technique of an inherent critique of technological culture. It traces the development of contemporary technological objects and their materiality in relation to the application of the concept of affordance in design theory. The author consequently proposes a new category of ‘play affordances’ in order to describe these new requirements of play found in consumer technologies. The structure of the analysis in the distinct chapters is informed by a stringent historic, theoretical and arts analysis and an alternating arts practice. The convergence of these elements leads to insights on further uses, options and perspectives of the research problems discussed, in particular in relation to the requirements of playful interaction in contemporary technologies, which increasingly radicalises the importance of play. The thesis’ hypothesis states that playful practices in arts and technologies provide models for political agency, like the strategic use of Con-Dividualities (Jahrmann 2000). This term describes the concept of shared identities in society or social media consumer technologies, as discussed in historic case studies and the author’s own arts practice, related to the modification of technologies as methodology of arts research. In this way the arts practice and theory of playfulness informs the emergence of a new methodology of research, intervention and participation in society through the arts of play, which is coined as Ludics, as an original outcome of this thesis.

The teoretic part comes from the historical overview of use of spiral as main motive in the process of forged bars from romanesque style up to now overlap to free creation of contemporary artists. Concept of the game subjekt comes from combination of craft technology with motive of spiral to the model object for working game. The result is game SPIRAL ? Man, do not be angry!