Vi undersöker den narrativa stilen som Flower och Journey använder sig av. I denna narrativastil finns det varken dialog och text. Utifrån Flower och Journey skapade vi en designmetodsom ska finnas till som inspiration för utvecklare som vill testa denna stilen. Resultatet avundersökningen ger upphov till en designmetod som vi applicerar på vår gestaltning för atttesta den i en annan spel genre. Mycket av metoden är fokuserad på hur Flower och Journeygör då vi bara undersöker de två spelen. Vi skulle vilja göra en mer generell undersökning dåvi undersöker mer spel som också har ett narrativ utan dialog och text. / We study the narrative style that Flower and Journey uses. In this narrative style, there is nodialogue and text. Based on Flower and Journey, we created a design method that will be aninspiration for developers who want to test this style. The result of this bachelor thesis givesrise to a design method that we apply to our game idea this applies the method to anothergame genre. Much of the method is very focused on what Flower and Journey do when weonly examine these two games. We would like to do a more general study when we examinemore games that also have a narrative without dialogue and text.

Générer du gameplay est un incontournable objectif de la réalisation d’un jeu. Nous le recherchons lorsque nous nous rentrons dans la bulle ludique. Pourtant, les éléments produits par les game designer sont des systèmes de jeu, des règles, une simulation, etc. Pour que ce système permette la naissance du gameplay, les game designers doivent nécessairement tenter de modéliser le joueur. Empiriquement ils manipulent des modèles psychologiques et sociologiques du joueur : Courbe d’apprentissage, gestion de la difficulté, degré d’efficience (etc.). Au cœur de la session de jeu industriel et chercheur ont besoin de moyens pour mieux cerner le joueur. La question que nous nous posons est celle de la détection des traits psychologiques, d’éléments caractérisant du joueur, au travers du gameplay ou, pour le moins, engagé dans une expérience ludique. Nous proposons une méthode de game design dédiée à la création d’un profil psychologique du joueur. Nous avons pu l’expérimenter lors d’un travail de collaboration avec INETOP et Paris Ouest sur la question des tests d’orientation professionnelle. Il s’agit du serious game JEU SERAI, développé en partenariat avec l’industriel Wizarbox. Cette première expérimentation nous permet d’envisager un développement de ce champ de recherche à la croisée des sciences de l’informatique, de la psychologie et des sciences cognitives. / Can we track psychological player’s traits or profile through gameplay or, at least, when the player is engaged in a ludic experience? We propose a game design methodology dedicated to the generation of psychological profile of the player. The main experimentation, a vocational guidance game, was created with academic experts and industrial game developpers. The first results set the basis of the exploration of a field at the crossover of computer sciences, in particular game design, psychology and cognitive sciences.

Digital games have been used mostly for entertainment but recently researchers have started to use digital games in other areas such as education and training. Researchers have shown that digital games can provide a compelling, creative, and collaborative environment for learning. However, the popularity of computers and the Internet brings this question to mind: Are the assessment methods falling behind and remaining traditional? Will the traditional methods of learning and knowledge assessment be sufficient for this new generation who are starving for new technology? This study investigates the effectiveness of using a digital interactive game as an assessments method - in this case a mini-game that was designed to assess the student's knowledge on basic Boolean logic. The study reports on the performance differences of the students who participated in this study and correlations between the performance of these students in a digital interactive game, written tests and their in-class performance to examine the effectiveness of using a digital game as a new knowledge assessment method.

How to best develop educational computer games is an open question and an active area of research. It is clear that computer games are able to instill the desire for players to rise to challenges, learn new and complex skills, and most of all to be entertained. Researchers are now trying to identify the underlying motivational nature of computer gameplay to harness it for teaching and learning. This research explores the world of educational game design and development within the field of Serious Games, and presents the Structural Playability Process (SPP) for educational game design and implementation. Serious Games are games designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The development of the Structural Playability Process was undertaken through the design and production of two serious games; GeoThermal World, which provides a virtual geothermal field‐trip experience; and Ora – Save the Forest!, a simulation‐driven game for pest management in New Zealand forests. Using these games as case studies we describe the four SPP spaces of; education, translation, design, and engine, in support of research into the delivery of effective game design methods that facilitate engagement with educational topics. The main contributions of this research are in the development of a new, generalisable model of educational game design combined with a practical method for implementing the design into a game engine. The results infer that the SPP approach provides a means for ‘designing‐in’ conditions that can support motivation through ‘gameflow’ mapping, and provide support for the impact of serious games on learning; the games designed with the new model increased learning gains post‐play and supported knowledge retention. Finally, this research contributes empirical evidence to the field, as the SPP allows for the measurement of learning outcomes which are tracked throughout the design and development process.

In a traditional Middle Eastern society, men and women have been confined within society’s gender definitions. Those imposed social constructs condition men differently from women by dictating expected behaviors, establishing a hierarchy of gender positioning and enforcing definitions that limit abilities and potential. Based on postmodernist philosopher, feminist and social theorist, Simone de Beauvoir and postmodernist American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, gender is not an inborn role, but rather created through stylized repetition of acts informed by society, named performative acts. For de Beauvoir and Butler, gender can never be a stable identity (Butler 1988). Informed by Butler’s phenomenological nature of gender constitution, this research explores the possibility of empowering Arab women in the workplace. Via an online platform called Kooni, the design aims to help women rethink the nature of gender and gender roles in the workplace and introduces the concept of performative acts as a role playing mechanism to induce change.

As a bachelor’s degree project, the study examines elements that may affect or distort players’ perception of opponents’ behavior in games. More specifically in stationary character driven games such as Texas Hold ‘em Poker. Elements that were chosen as a focus in the study were visual character design and participants previous experiences, such as knowledge of games in general and familiarity with Texas Hold ‘em Poker. A game prototype was designed as a tool to use when examining the subject. In the game prototype, players were seated at a Texas Hold ‘em Poker table and faced two opponents. One opponent was designed to be visually aggressive and the other visually defensive. Participants of the study were asked to answer a questionnaire and the resulting answers were analyzed in an attempt to find relevant information in regards to the subject of this project. The results of the study suggest that the elements chosen do affect players’ perception of opponents’ behavior. / Som ett kandidatexamensarbete undersöktes vilka element som kan påverka eller förvränga spelares uppfattning om motståndares beteende i spel. Mer specifikt i stationära karaktärsdrivna spel så som Texas Hold ‘em Poker. Element som utvaldes för undersökningen utgjordes av visuell karaktärsdesign och medverkandes tidigare erfarenheter, så som kunskap om spel i allmänhet och kännedom om Texas Hold ‘em Poker. En spelprototyp skapades som ett verktyg för att undersöka ämnet. I spelprototypen sattes spelare vid ett Texas Hold ‘em Poker-bord och mötte två motståndare. En motståndare var utformad att vara visuellt aggressiv och den andra visuellt defensiv. Medverkande i studien blev tillfrågade via ett frågeformulär och de resulterande svaren analyserades i ett försök att hitta relevant information gällande ämnet. Studiens resultat antyder att elementen som valdes verkligen påverkar spelares uppfattning om motståndares beteende i spel.

Our everyday lives are surrounded by gadgets and digital devices that help us perform our daily chores with ease and efficiency. However, these digital devices can also separate us from what we should do ourselves. Although children who are exposed to high levels of technology might become attuned to the latest and the best gadgets, they might not learn to use their physical abilities. Another implication of a child’s over dependence on technology is that parental interactions such as encouragement, tutoring and reinforcement are provided by gadgets rather than living, breathing parents. Research done by Padma Ravichandran and Brandel France de Bravo, revealed the importance of child interaction with live people and games noting that “Very young children learn best by relating to real live people, but they also learn by moving and doing. Part of the problem with screen time is that young children who watch TV and DVDs or use computer games may be substituting these activities for free play”. The aim of this project is to reduce the gap between young children and the tactile world by creating toys that are attractive for the children, but are low-tech and involve parental interaction. Thus, the primary goal that this thesis seeks to achieve is the stimulation of children toward tactile games, while the secondary goal is to allow and encourage parental involvement in the playtime of the child. The research is guided by the premise that children can absorb substantial knowledge through the tactile world and that such tactile centered play will broaden the horizon of their knowledge and experience.

This Post Mortem discusses the choices made during the design and development process of In a Haystack, a narrative based adventure video game that discusses Privilege and Discrimination in American Society. As a solo project, I created a polished interactive experience that I intend to turn into a published episodic video game series. This document goes over the methodology choices, technical and artistic difficulties, and challenges faced by in pursuit of this goal.

Spel som Journey (Thatgamecompany, 2012) och ICO (Team Ico, 2001) har betonats som minimalistiska spel och har lyckats skapa en känsla av minimalism. Samtidigt motsäger dem vad Towards Minimalist Game Design (Nealen & Saltsman & Boxerman, 2011) anser är minimalism inom speldesign och kan därför inte tolkas som minimalistiskt. Eftersom detta tankesätt upplevs strikt söker vi att skapa ett mer öppet designtänkande för minimalism inom speldesign. Denna undersökning handlar om att kolla på minimalism som begrepp och utforska olika perspektiv av minimalism. Detta görs med målet att leda till nya tillämpningar inom speldesign, utan att sikta på total minimalism. Genom att titta på minimalismens områden inom: konst, design och livsstil; kan en bättre förståelse för minimalism och begränsningar uppnås. Begränsningar är ett gemensamt tema inom minimalismen och har upplysts inom de valda områdena. Under digitaliseringen fick minimalismen ett nytt tankesätt då den anpassades till att reducera komplexitet till slutanvändade istället för hur det brukade vara: att reducera överdriven komplexitet.  Genom brainstorming och MDA ramverket har en spelidé skapats. Denna spelidé har utvecklats till ett spel genom användandet av minimalistiska begränsningar på både design och arbetsmetod. Resultatet visar spår av en mix olika versioner av minimalism och lyckas demonstrera hur mångfaldigt begreppet kan appliceras. Med detta motiverar vi vårt nya synsätt på minimalism inom speldesign, där vi delar in det i två större kategorier som vi namnger Total Minimalism och Smart Minimalism. / Games like Journey (Thatgamecompany, 2012)  and ICO (Team Ico, 2001) have been emphasized as minimalist games and have managed to create a sense of minimalism. At the same time, they contradict what Towards Minimalist Game Design (Nealen & Saltsman & Boxerman, 2011) consider minimalism within game design and therefore cannot be interpreted as minimalist. Since this way of thinking is perceived as strict, we seek to create a more open way of thinking about minimalism in game design. This study is about looking at minimalism as a concept and exploring different perspectives of minimalism. This is done with the goal of leading to new ways of applying minimalism within game design, without aiming for total minimalism. By looking at minimalism within different areas: art, design and lifestyle; a better understanding of minimalism and limitations can be achieved. Limitations are a common theme in minimalism and have been highlighted in our chosen areas of minimalism. During the digitalization, minimalism gained a new way of thinking when it was adapted to: reduce complexity to end users; instead of how it used to be: to reduce excessive complexity.  Through brainstorming and the MDA framework, a game idea has been created. This game idea has evolved into a game by using minimalist limitations on both design and work method. The result shows traces from a mix of different versions of minimalism and manages to demonstrate how diversely the concept can be applied. With this we motivate our new approach to minimalism in game design, where we divide it into two larger categories that we name Total Minimalism and Smart Minimalism.

Esse trabalho tem como finalidade a análise de aspectos econômicos e sociais do mundo sintético World of Warcraft, um Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). A escolha desse jogo se dá pela sua popularidade no mundo, contando com mais de 11 milhões de jogadores segundo dados divulgados pela Blizzard Entertainment, em outubro de 2008. A etnografia, que se desenvolveu online realizada por meio de dez personagens especialmente criados para integrar o jogo nas terras virtuais de Azeroth, observa os aspectos de desenvolvimento da comunidade de jogadores e dos mecanismos de governança da Blizzard, constitui uma introdução a jogos desse gênero, com o objetivo de ressaltar a dinâmica econômica que se estabelece nesse complexo universo digital. O jogar é uma fonte de valor e o lúdico tem a sua própria economia. / This work aims to analyze economic and social aspects of the synthetic world entitled World of Warcraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). This choice was made because of the popularity of this game around the world, counting 11 million players according to Blizzard Entertainments data published in October 2008. The etnography was developed online by ten avatars speacially created to take part of the world inside the virtual land of Azeroth, and observes the developing aspects of the player communities and their relationship with Blizzard governance while it also constitutes an introduction to this genre of game which highlights the economic dynamics of this complex digital universe. Play is a source of value and the ludicity has its own economy.