Game development is a complex and time-consuming activity that requires domain-specific knowledge and implementation skills. Networked games are particularly difficult due to the additional challenges of implementing the distribution. In recent years, game development has been simplified through tools that allow game development based on entities (objects that compose the game, e.g., avatar, vehicles, trees, and monsters). Entity-based tools simplify game programming by providing entity-level constructs and abstractions to the game developer. However, current entity-based tools fail to appropriately address the development of networked multiplayer games; they either do not support network gaming at all, or compromise the purity of the model by exposing low-level network programming to the game developer. In this thesis, we present a pure entity-based model for developing networked multiplayer games. In our model, the game developer is completely shielded from network programming concerns. In order to demonstrate the model’s practicality, we implemented a game development toolkit called Meerkat. Meerkat uses a combination of generic distribution algorithms and a proxy-based architecture to provide a pure entity-based game programming interface. The same interface can be used to develop both distributed and non-distributed games. Meerkat automates all aspects of networking for the game developer. To evaluate the performance of our system, we built three multiplayer games of different genres. Our experiments show that the overhead of using fully-automated networking can be acceptable for a wide range of games, except in extreme cases where there are strict performance requirements. Meerkat demonstrates that it is possible to extend the pure entity-based approach to networked games while ensuring sufficient performance. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-29 14:54:00.647

Balancing is usually done in the later phases of creating a game to make sure everything comes together to an enjoyable experience. Most of the time balancing is done with a series of playthroughs by the designers or by outsourced play testers and the imbalances found are corrected followed by more playthroughs. This method occupies a lot of time and might therefore not find everything. In this study I use information gathered from interviews with experienced designers and designer texts along with features from methods frequently used for aiding the designers to make a conceptual design of a tool that is aimed towards simplifying the process of balancing and reducing the amount of work hours having to be spent on this phase.

The purpose with this thesis is to investigate whether Sprite Kit is a good tool to simplify the development process for game developers when making 2D games for mobile devices. To answer this question a simple turn based strategy game has been developed with Sprite Kit. Sprite Kit is a game engine for making 2D games released by Apple. Based on the experience I got during the development I will go through and discuss some of the most important tools provided by the game engine and how they helped us to complete our game. The conclusions I reached after making a game with Sprite Kit is that the frame- work provides all the tools necessary for creating a simple 2D mobile game for iOS. Sprite Kit hides much of the lower level details and gives the game de- veloper comprehensive development support. This helps the game developer to save a lot of time and focus more on the gameplay when creating a game.

While the video game development industry has had big success and increases in the amount of competition, using new tools which accelerate and improve the process is inevitable. Especially, domain-specific tools prevent game developers from performing unnecessary effort by providing reusable com- ponents. Partial automatization of the games that fall under the same game genre significantly decreases the development time. In this thesis, we propose an exten- sible framework architecture for roguelike video games development with a visual node-based user interface which is also artist and designer-friendly. The archi- tecture aims to provide a faster game development process by wrapping common patterns in the roguelike games into simple node representations.

The computer game industry has grown in a rapid rate over the past two decades becoming a billion dollar industry, even rivaling the movie industry. The greed for money caused the industry to grow large but the maturity did not grow in proportion. Compared to software engineering, game development is still a seed waiting to blossom. In this paper a development process (RGP) for games development using various software engineering paradigms is proposed. Furthermore a comparison between RGP and other game development processes will to some extent show the strengths and weaknesses of this process. The conclusions drawn are based on already validated software processes since the game process inherits a subset of these.

With computer games getting more and more advanced with every year, game developers need to get creative to attract an audience. Throughout the years, tries has been made by moving away from the traditional gaming controller to enrich the gaming experience and to create a more healthy view upon the gaming industry. Most of these has involved the need of additional equipment to play the game, but what if all you need is the hardware in the computer? This report made findings in how to create a game that easily can be scaled by adding additional levels with custom tools for creation and modification in Unity. While only using the built-in web camera in the computer, it made it an accessible motion- based platformer game. This report also investigates the performance of the game when using these tools and the camera, as well as what is needed for improvements, including rendering and lighting effects in the game.

The use of video games as a sustainable tool for preserving existing archaeological data in an entertaining and interactive manner was investigated. The main aim of such investigation was to explore the potential benefits in terms of archaeological/heritage education, broadcasting, and representing data in a manner that is interactive and encourages critical thinking through play. Game Pass Shelter, located at Kamberg in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park was used to create a virtual environment in a video game that accurately represents traditional Bushmen rock art and folklore. Two phases were featured in the development of the video game: (i) getting feedback from gamers through a questionnaire I had designed, and (ii) using the identified recommendations to design the 2D video game using Unity Game Engine (a free video game development piece of software). This 2D video game, defined by authenticity to the represented folklore, features rock art motifs from Game Pass Shelter used against the backdrop of the Spoiling of the Eland traditional story. The video game begins with the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of southern African rock art and contextualises it using selected traditional folklore. Through this process, the video game aims to show why hunting was so important to the traditional Bushmen way of life. It further shows why eland were so valued and some unique beliefs that the Bushmen had concerning them. / Dissertation (MA (Archaeology))--university of Pretoria, 2020. / Anthropology and Archaeology / MA (Archaeology) / Unrestricted

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a long-standing mental condition characterized by hindered mental growth and development. In 2018, 168 out of 10,000 children are said to be affected with Autism in the USA. As these children move to adulthood, they have difficulty in communicating with others, expressing themselves, maintaining eye contact, developing a well-functioning motor skill or sensory sensitivity, and paying attention for longer period. Some of these abnormalities, however, can be gradually improved if they are treated appropriately during their adulthood. Studies have shown that people with ASD can enhance their social-interactive skills by playing video games. During the past decades, however, educational games have been primarily developed for autistic children, but not for autistic adults. We have developed a gaming and recommendation system that suggests therapeutic games to autistic adults which can improve their social-interactive skills. The gaming system maintains the entertainment value of the games, to make sure people are interested in playing them, whereas the recommendation system suggests appropriate games for autistic adults to play. Customizable games are designed and implemented in Minecraft such that each game focuses on enhancing different weakness areas in autistic adults based on games that the users have not explored in the past. The effectiveness of the gaming and recommendation system is backed up by an empirical study which shows that recommending therapeutic games can aid in the improvement of social-interactive skills of adults with ASD so that they can live a better life in the years to come.

This work introduces a data model, compiler and runtime interpreter to drive the logic of animation graphs in game engines. The primary purpose of an animation graph is to allow for animation logic to be evaluated in a data driven way, which enables game programmers and animators to work iteratively and in parallel. The combination of animation blend trees and hierarchical state machines serves to empower animators to break down the complexity into simpler units with precise and predictable control over animation sampling and the transitions between them. Additionally, the system also serves as a synchronization point between game play elements and animation with input parameters and output events which can potentially trigger other systems such as audio and visual effects. The result is a standalone library which can be used as a foundation in a project and expanded with additional functionality as required. / Detta arbete introducerar en data model, kompilator och körmiljö för att driva logiken av  animationsgrafer i spelmotorer. Huvudsyftet av en animationsgraf är att tillåta datadrivet animationslogik vilket möjliggör spelprogrammerare och animerare att arbeta iterativt och parallellt. Kombinationen av animationblandningsträd och hierarkiska statmaskiner ger animerare ett sätt att bryta ner komplexa problem till mindre enheter med exakt och förutsägbar kontroll av animationer och övergångar mellan dem. Systemet verkar också som en synkroniseringspunkt mellan spelelement och animation med inmatningsparameterar och utgående händelser som potentiellt kan utlösa andra system som ljud- och visuella effekter. Resultatet är ett fristående programbibliotek som kan användas som en startpunkt i ett projekt och vars funktionalitet kan utökas vid behov.

The research topic of this thesis is the perceptions and expectations of the LGBTcommunity in China and Sweden regarding LGBT-related content in games. With the development of games, the frequency and ways of LGBT content appearing ingames have become more and more diverse, but whether these are what the LGBT groupitself expects, and whether Chinese LGBT groups and Swedish LGBT groups in differentenvironments and policies are having a different view is the focus of my research. In this study, I will mainly conduct sample interviews and questionnaires with LGBTgroups in China and Sweden to collect their thoughts and make statistics on them.Therefore, the content of this research involves sociology, ethics, etc. In addition, this thesis will conduct homogeneous and differentiated discussions basedon the data and will be no subjective interferences to praise or disparage any of thepoints made in it.