The player experience (PX) of games can be inspected in various ways to help developers understand the essential ingredients for a successful and engaging game design. Users are even able to experience games on a variety of different gaming platforms, which presents more ways of interaction compared to games that are restricted to only a single gaming platform. The overall chain of interactions between games and platforms, becomes a central design target to understand the complex nature of digital games. However, there are a limited number of studies that investigate how the gaming platforms affects the general PX, and how to conduct an effective evaluation on a game that exists on several platforms. The purpose of this thesis is to research the general PX of these multi-platform games and to generate information about a topic of interest where there is not much prior knowledge. This was done through a single case study using participants and measure their overall PX when played on two different platforms. This process used playability heuristics based on literature focusing on PX and usability, along with semi-structured interviews and observations. The data from this case study would then be discussed to serve as a base for a future hypothesis to be studied, and to discuss how research around multi-platform gamescan be managed and assist game developers in their process of creating an enjoyable PX.Besides presenting how games developed for several platforms can affect the evaluation of the PX, the study also presents findings for how players personal preference for gaming platforms can impact both their performance, and their opinions of a games design.

Otome games are most simply described as Japanese games in which players play through a romance story as a female protagonist wooing a male love interest, the game equivalent of a romance novel. Indie otome games are otome games made in English, and the developers of these games have created a unique development community that is casually observed to be majority female, majority LGBTQ+, and is motivated to make games in part by the lack of romance games available and is only incidentally motivated by the possibility of earning money. After a background discussion on what otome games are, this unique community is examined through survey and interview answers to understand what they consider otome games to be and why they make otome games, while differences from the mainstream game development industry are highlighted. Survey results demonstrate that women make up the majority of developers in the space and that the majority of developers identify as LGBTQ+. The survey and subsequent follow-up interviews show that while a gap in the market of games is a motivating factor for these developers, for a large portion of developers it is not the primary factor, and they would still be making games regardless. The survey also provides insights into how the indie otome developer community defines itself and suggests that the community is still in the process of growing and defining itself.

Digital games are part of the creative industries, which is based on value creation through ideas and creativity. This market has gained relevance due to technology development that attracted both new firms and users. The present dissertation aims to explore three themes: (1) video game market as a two-sided market; (2) the effects of characteristics and behavior of game titles on consoles sales; and (3) project management to develop digital games. Those themes were explored through three articles: the first is a literature review and a bibliometric study of the economic concepts on two-sided market, which focused at identifying main topics, research trends and avenues for futures research. The second text is an analysis on the simultaneous influence of games\' quality and exclusivity on console sales. The last one is a qualitative, multiple-case study to understand, explore and suggest improvements to game project management in the Brazilian market. Findings include: (1) the main authors and topics, trends and developments, from and avenues for future research; (2) combinations of quality and exclusivity can affect console sales either positively or negatively, (3) quality has a predominant effect on sales over games non-exclusivity; and (4) the use of agile methodologies and Design Thinking are diffused among game developers. / Sem resumo.

Att utveckla 3D-animeringar till dataspel är kostsamt eftersom det tar mycket tid och resurser för att uppnå den kvalitet som dagens spelare kräver. För att både spara arbetstid och göra det lättare för ovana animatörer att skapa animationer av tillräckligt hög kvalitet undersöker detta arbete hur ett verktyg för regelbaserad procedurell animering kan utformas, vad spelare anser om resultatet och vad utvecklare anser om både resultat och användning. För att testa detta skapades en artefakt (ett rymdspel) bestående av 3D-modeller och programmering (C# i Unity) av script, API, klasser och metoder. Arte­fakten animerar procedurellt utifrån algoritmer baserade på variabler. Utvärderingen av artefakten genomfördes med stöd av funktionsprotokoll, enkät och intervjuer. Slutsatsen är att regelbaserad procedurell animering är användbar för mekaniska delar utifrån synpunkter från dataspelsutvecklare och spelare. Framtida arbete kan bestå av en utökad undersökning med fler respondenter, tillförande av ett grafiskt gränssnitt, produktutveckling tillsammans med företag, skapande av fler verktyg och användade av AI.

The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyse the development of the Swedish video and computer game industry. The main focus is on the Swedish game development industry. The research was conducted with two different methods. First with a macro approach where all Swedish game developers were identified and general data from the annual reports was collected. The second part is a case study with three Swedish game developing companies focusing on the production and development of the firms. The game industry has expanded and some of the successful games have generated spectacular revenues. In Sweden the industry has received attention from different actors like universities, government bodies and media. Yet little research has been done about the Swedish game industry. In general the game industry outside the larger videogame producing countries USA, Japan and the UK has been ignored to a large part in academic research. The first computer games were made for some of the very first computers in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In the 1970’s, a market for games was created when arcade machines and somewhat later home consoles were introduced. The industry has grown and today it includes some of the largest companies in the world. The Swedish industry follows the international pattern. Evidence suggests that the first Swedish games were created in the 1950’s at the large university computers. But a game developing industry seems to have developed a bit later than internationally when the first Swedish game companies were founded in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The Swedish industry entered an introduction phase from the middle of 1980’s, a couple of years after the introduction of personal computers, until the end of the 1990’s. An expansion phase started in 1998. The expansion was strong between 1998 to 2002 and 2006 to 2008. In 2008 the number of people employed in the industry had increased to over 1300. During the studied period the industry seems to have had constant problems making a profit. Especially in 2002 and 2003 the industry had economic problems and some of the larger companies went bankrupt. The distribution among the companies shows that the concentration within the industry is growing. A few companies have expanded rapidly and have well over a hundred employees. The industry is very gender segregated and the number of women working in the industry is under ten percent. To study the development on a micro level, three Swedish game developing companies were selected. The focus was the development and change in production and organisation. The structure of the industry seems to have been changing with the fast technical development. A more modular structure seems to be emerging within the industry. In a number of areas a modular system has emerged. It is possible to buy more parts and productions capacity on the market. It is possible to buy game engines and outsource motions-capture work to other specialized companies. The relation to game publishers seems to influence the companies and create uncertainty for the game developers when they do not own the rights to the intellectual properties. The three game developers also have a similar development being founded by computer interested young men wanting to pursuit their interest as a job. The Swedish subculture around the so called “demoscene” seems to have been a factor in the early development of the industry and a recruitment base for the early developers.

Companies and projects often face the challenge of creating something new to increase their competitiveness. In this process of creating something new creativity is an important factor. By using a creative approach and utilizing creative processes new innovations emerges. An industry that has grown in recent years is the computer games industry. Competition is fierce and for the companies to succeed, the product need that extra something to make it stand out among all the produced games. The project manager's role in the creative process and the ability to be creative within a distance based company is not something highlighted by previous research. This formed the basis of our research question: How do project managers act to create conditions for creativity among employees in a remotely organized computer game company? To answer our question, we chose to make a descriptive case study. The project is based in the Nordic countries with employees worldwide. It is altogether a distance based project with no shared workspace. We interviewed the projects two project managers, and supplemented with a qualitative survey amongst the employees. The collected material was analyzed with a methodology inspired by Grounded Theory and previous research results. Three approaches of how the project managers act to promote creativity are evident in their stories. These approaches are trust, availability and tolerance. They form the basis of our model on how the project managers in this case act to promote employee creativity. Besides the three approaches, two concepts emerged as important tools for creativity in the project: motivation and communication. Our conclusion can be described as follows: Motivation provides the conditions for creative thinking. By building an organization where project leaders show trust in the ability of employees, and allows tolerance to be a watchword for collaboration, project managers work to improve employee motivation. This will create opportunities for creativity among the employees in this distance based project. Communication is essential for creative work in the project and virtual means of communication a way to increase availability. / Företag och projekt ställs ofta inför utmaningen att skapa något nytt för att till exempel öka sin konkurrenskraft. I processen att ta fram denna nya produkt är kreativitet en viktig faktor. Med hjälp av ett kreativt förhållningssätt och en kreativ process kan nya innovationer växa fram. En bransch som växt mycket de senaste åren är datorspelsbranschen. Konkurrensen är hård och om företagen ska lyckas krävs det att produkten har något extra som gör att det sticker ut bland alla spel som produceras. Projektledarens roll i kreativitetsprocessen är ett område som tidigare forskning inte har belyst särskilt mycket. Inte heller har möjligheten att skapa förutsättningar för kreativitet inom ett distansbaserat företag behandlats särskilt mycket. Studiens forskningsfråga är: Hur agerar projektledare för att skapa förutsättningar för kreativitet hos projektmedarbetare i ett distansbaserat datorspelsutvecklingsprojekt? För att besvara vår frågeställning valde vi att göra en deskriptiv fallstudie. Projektet har sin bas i Norden med medarbetare över hela världen. Det är helt och hållet ett distansbaserat projekt på så sätt att ingen delar arbetsplats. Vi djupintervjuade projektets två projektledare och kompletterade med en kvalitativ enkät till medarbetarna. Med en utgångspunkt i Grounded Theory och tidigare forskningsresultat analyserades materialet. Ur projektledarnas berättelser framträdde tre förhållningssätt. Dessa är tillit, tillgänglighet och tolerans. De ligger till grund för vår modell om hur projektledarna i det undersökta fallet agerar för att främja kreativiteten hos medarbetarna. Dessutom visade det sig att motivation och kommunikation var två viktiga verktyg för att skapa förutsättningar för kreativitet hos medarbetarna. Vår slutsats kan beskrivas på följande sätt: Motivation ger förutsättningar för kreativt tänkande. Genom att bygga en organisation där projektledarna visar tillit till medarbetarnas förmåga, och låter tolerans vara ett ledord för kollaboration, arbetar projektledarna för att höja medarbetarnas motivation. Därmed skapas förutsättningar för kreativitet hos medarbetarna i detta distansbaserade projekt. Kommunikation är en förutsättning för kreativt skapande i projektet och virtuella kommunikationsmedel ett sätt att öka tillgängligheten.

In a general context, electronic games have been evolving into more complex software, as well as development cost and resources invested in them have been also increased despite the considerable technological advances and new software tools being produced and deployed. The Brazilian context regarding game development gives a picture of how it currently operates with restricted resources and still shows the clear need for improved financial support. In order to fill this gap and overcome the lack of sufficient funds, the Brazilian companies usually turn their attention to creactivity, management and strategy to reach the status of a real competitive company. This article aims to present the use of strategic planning in the process of creating game concepts so it can be applied to maximize the chance of success of a low-budget game, approching the development to a more strategic process. This work presents a case study in which strategic planning is applied to the process of creating the game concept in a game developer company. / Em um contexto geral, os jogos digitais estão cada vez mais complexos e seu custo de desenvolvimento e investimentos têm se mostrado bastante elevados apesar do avanço tecnológico e de novas ferramentas de desenvolvimento de software. A realidade Brasileira no desenvolvimento de jogos eletrônicos ainda carece de investimentos de porte e operam com recursos limitados. Para compensar esta ausência de recursos financeiros, as empresas brasileiras investem em criatividade, gerência e estratégia para alcançar o sucesso necessário para atingir a competitividade. Esse artigo propõe a utilização de Planejamento Estratégico no processo de elaboração de Game Concept, buscando maximizar a chance de sucesso de jogos de baixo custo, estabelecendo um processo estratégico que irá direcionar o desenvolvimento do projeto. Esse trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso de aplicação de Planejamento Estratégico no processo de criação de Game Concept de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de jogos.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:36:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 2157506 bytes, checksum: f860bc902af866c32087958813a3a8b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Associate to Virtual Reality, the incorporation of haptic systems makes possible to extend the level of realism and provide a more efficient way of involvement, bringing better results in performing the activities of tactile nature embedded in applications and games. However, there are few incentives for implementing these devices in serious games. The development of serious games in immersive environments and the inclusion of non-conventional devices such as haptic devices, may contribute to the motivation and learning of the player. This work has as main objective the design, study, research, development and discussion of the incorporation of haptic systems in serious games, specifically in Odontology related to adult s oral hygiene. Though, the serious games development needs a multidisciplinary team. Thus, this work also proposes and tests a serious game development process which aims to achieve a good set of approach, content and technology for a correct planning and specification of the game. / Aliado à Realidade Virtual, a incorporação de sistemas hápticos possibilita ampliar o nível de realismo e oferecer uma forma mais eficiente de envolvimento, trazendo melhores resultados na realização das atividades de natureza tátil inseridas em aplicações e jogos. Entretanto, poucos são os incentivos da aplicação destes dispositivos em serious games. O desenvolvimento dos serious games em ambientes imersivos e a inclusão de dispositivos não convencionais, como dispositivos hápticos, podem contribuir para a motivação e aprendizado do jogador. Desta forma, este trabalho traz como principal objetivo a concepção, estudo, investigação, desenvolvimento e discussão da aplicação de sistemas hápticos em serious games, mais especificamente na construção de um jogo para a área Odontológica relacionada à higiene bucal de adultos, podendo este, ser utilizado para propiciar o entendimento melhor dos conceitos, como também, na fixação de técnicas de escovação e procedimentos envolvidos. Entretanto, o desenvolvimento de um serious game necessita de uma equipe multidisciplinar no qual profissionais da área que o conteúdo do jogo se relaciona precisa estar em constante comunicação com a equipe de design e desenvolvimento. Desta forma, também é proposto e testado neste trabalho, um modelo de processo para o desenvolvimento de serious games que visa alcançar um bom conjunto de abordagem, conteúdo e tecnologia para o correto planejamento e especificação do jogo.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:37:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andre Kishimoto.pdf: 6514091 bytes, checksum: cb3893235ae3a54cbfa637835b6903e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-13 / Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie / In digital game development, it is not uncommon to split the development process in three stages: pre-production, production and post-production. Game planning occurs in pre-production, in which game concept ideas are discussed and defined. In this stage, developers start working on the game design, describing what the game is about, its theme, number of players, game objectives, and others. Game design also includes game mechanics,which describes game rules, what players can and cannot do and how the game systems work. The production stage involves coding and asset creation that are used to build the game. Once the game is done, developers reach the post-production stage, shipping the game and entering the maintenance phase (bug fixing and updates). As for systems, it is possible to model a system using mathematical equations and verify its behaviour via temporal analysis. From this, this thesis aimed to evaluate the possibility of using dynamical systems as a tool to help defining game mechanics for digital games, including definition and analysis of agents and objects and their interaction via temporal analysis of the system. The time travel concept was included to offer players the ability to modify the initial parameters of the system modelled in a game, as a way to solve the challenges and problems presented in the game by changing the system behaviour over time. A digital game was developed as proof of concept, and its mechanics was based on the Lotka-Volterra model with logistic growth, applied to a three-species food chain. An agent-based three-species prey-predator model was also included in the game, and both models' behavior and outcome were compared. A pretest was taken by 11 users to evaluate the use of dynamical system as game mechanics as well as the time travel feature available in the game developed in this thesis. The proof of concept was evaluated and, together with the pretest results, it was confirmed that dynamical systems as game mechanics is possible, as it establishes the relationship between species and set the rules of temporal evolution for the game. / Na área de desenvolvimento de jogos digitais, costuma-se dividir o processo de desenvolvimento em três etapas: pré-produção, produção e pós-produção. A pré-produção envolve o planejamento do jogo, em que conceitos sobre este são discutidos e a ideia a ser desenvolvida é selecionada. Nessa etapa, começa o trabalho de game design (projeto de jogo), no qual se define sobre o que é o jogo, o tema, quantidade de jogadores, objetivos, entre outros. Um dos elementos de jogo definido no game design é a mecânica, que indica as regras e funcionamento do jogo. A produção é a etapa em que código e recursos áudiovisuais săo criados a fim de construir o jogo elaborado na pré-produção. Após o jogo ser desenvolvido, entra-se na etapa de pós-produção, com a distribuição do jogo e manutenção (correções posteriores e atualizações). Quanto ao funcionamento de um sistema real ou fictício, é possível modelar um sistema por meio de equações matemáticas e analisar seu comportamento a partir da evolução temporal. A partir disso, este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a possibilidade do uso de sistemas dinâmicos como ferramenta para elaboração da mecânica de jogos digitais, a fim de definir e analisar comportamentos de agentes e objetos e suas interações por meio da evolução temporal do sistema. Propôs-se a inclusão de viagem no tempo para permitir que o jogador modificasse parâmetros iniciais do sistema modelado, redefinindo o comportamento do sistema com o passar do tempo, com o objetivo de solucionar os desafios e problemas dispostos no âmbito do jogo. Para a realização da prova de conceito foi desenvolvido um jogo digital, sendo que aplicou-se como mecânica o modelo de Lotka-Volterra com crescimento logístico para uma cadeia alimentar de três espécies, assim como um sistema presa-predador baseado em agentes, a fim de comparar o funcionamento e comportamento de ambos os modelos. Realizou-se um teste preliminar com 11 usuários para avaliar o jogo desenvolvido na presente pesquisa quanto ao uso de sistemas dinâmicos como mecânica e ŕ funcionalidade de viagem no tempo. Com a análise da prova de conceito e resultados obtidos com o teste preliminar, confirmou-se a possibilidade de aplicação de sistemas dinâmicos como mecânica em jogos digitais, sendo possível estabelecer a relação entre espécies e definir as regras de evolução temporal no âmbito do jogo.

Digital games are part of the creative industries, which is based on value creation through ideas and creativity. This market has gained relevance due to technology development that attracted both new firms and users. The present dissertation aims to explore three themes: (1) video game market as a two-sided market; (2) the effects of characteristics and behavior of game titles on consoles sales; and (3) project management to develop digital games. Those themes were explored through three articles: the first is a literature review and a bibliometric study of the economic concepts on two-sided market, which focused at identifying main topics, research trends and avenues for futures research. The second text is an analysis on the simultaneous influence of games\' quality and exclusivity on console sales. The last one is a qualitative, multiple-case study to understand, explore and suggest improvements to game project management in the Brazilian market. Findings include: (1) the main authors and topics, trends and developments, from and avenues for future research; (2) combinations of quality and exclusivity can affect console sales either positively or negatively, (3) quality has a predominant effect on sales over games non-exclusivity; and (4) the use of agile methodologies and Design Thinking are diffused among game developers. / Sem resumo.