Pervasive games are computer games that build, to various extents, on social interaction as a driving force in the game play, on integration between physical and virtual worlds and on constant access to constantly ongoing games from virtually every existing context (anytime, anywhere gaming). This new genre of computer games presents many challenges for both researchers and industry; one of the most important is how to understand enjoyable player experiences in this new kind of computer gaming. The purpose of this thesis is to identify and explore the mechanisms in pervasive game designs that are of most importance for creating enjoyable Pervasive gaming experiences, and further to translate the findings of the exploration into a playability model for pervasive games. My empirical work focuses on the most important aspects for creating enjoyable player experiences when playing pervasive games. Evaluation methods from the usability and playability area have been deployed in order to identify what factors and aspects the players consider of most importance for their experience when they play pervasive games. Three specific pervasive games have been studied; SupaFly, Pervasive Treasure Hunt and Furiae. Theoretically, the thesis departs from existing knowledge about Playability, and the most prominent and accepted frameworks for understanding player experiences in computer gaming have been considered. Of the existing models and frameworks, the GameFlow model was selected as a theoretical point of departure. The main contribution of the thesis consists of a model for understanding player enjoyment in pervasive games - the Pervasive GameFlow model. Pervasive GameFlow elaborates the GameFlow model by adding 14 new criteria identified in the empirical evaluations of three pervasive games, criteria of great importance for enjoyable Player experiences in pervasive games. Further, the thesis answers questions concerning how the players are putting the anytime, anywhere and mobility aspects of pervasive games into practice - how they perceive and handle games that offer constantly ongoing game play. The results also provide insights into the reach or impact of the novel Pervasive aspects of pervasive games and their importance for the players and player experiences. Finally, the thesis provides notes on how evaluation of pervasive games should be performed.

Detta arbete utfördes i syfte att undersöka hur en modell för spelarglädje kunde användas vid utformningen av ett mobilt pusselspel till Android-telefoner. Arbetet var baserat på Sweetser och Wyeth’s arbete där författarna har använt Gameflow-modellen för att se hur modellen kunde appliceras för realtidstrategispel.  En undersökning genomfördes där deltagarna fick spela ett tvådimensionellt pusselspel till Android-telefoner. När spelarna hade spelat färdigt utfördes en intervju där deltagarna fick ge poäng mellan 0 och 5 för varje kriterium inom varje element i GameFlow-modellen. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att Gameflow-modellen kunde användas vid utformningen av mobila pusselspel till Android-telefoner men även spelet styrkor och svagheter utifrån modellens kriterier. En intressant riktning för vidare studier vore en studie där fler banor hade implementerats där den första banan i gruppen introducerade en mekanik. Sedan skulle resten av banorna i den gruppen använda sig av samma mekanik där spelaren kunde klara av pusselelementen på olika sätt. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>

While much attention in location-based game and wearable research is about their benefits as in-class education or is aimed at children, rather less research has been done about the combination of location-based games and wearables in private use. This paper investigates a game solution for the low history knowledge of German teenagers and focuses on the learning success of the combination of a proposed location-based mobile game and wearable, called ‘Geocation’ for educational purposes as well as the enjoyment of it. Two prototype sets, functional and appearance, about the location-relevant topic ‘King Ludwig II’ were created and tested with 36 teenagers in Munich. To analyze the learning success pre-and post-test surveys were conducted and applied to the strategy of gamification. The enjoyment of the combination of the location-based mobile game and wearable was evaluated by connecting it to the GameFlow theory and conducting post-test interviews. The study has shown that the connected wearable was not crucial for the player’s learning success; however, it contributed to the user’s motivation and enjoyment.

I denna studie presenteras en genetisk algoritm som genererar fun banor till ett bilspel. Detta görs genom att utforma fitnessfunktionen efter redan identifierade designmönster om vad det är som gör en bilbana fun. Dessa bygger på Csikszentmihalyi teorier om flow som säger att för att en uppgift ska anses uppfyllande måste den vara utmanande. Utöver designmönstren bygger fitnessfunktionen även på rhythm groups för att en bana ska variera i utmaning. Genom speltest jämförs de genererade banorna med banor som är skapta av en leveldesigner för att framställa hur fun de genererade banorna är. / Program: Systemarkitekturutbildningen

This thesis focuses on how location-based games can be used to experience places of cultural heritage in new ways. A prototype game was created in which players follow a day in the life of a sergeant while walking to different locations at Karlsborg fortress and unravel a plot about the plan to steal Sweden’s gold reserve. To analyze how well a location-based game worked in this setting gameflow theory was used to measure the player experience, focusing on how concentration and immersion was handled. Since players will switch their focus a lot between the game and their surroundings it is important that the game helps them know what to concentrate on and stay immersed during the game. A small testing session was conducted at Karlsborg fortress which showed an indication that players were able to stay immersed while playing the game and that the social interaction between players played an important role in their experience.

Detta projekt har gått ut på att förstå det psykologiska begreppet Flow teoretiskt för att sedan praktiskt implementera det i ett spel, vars utveckling med spelmotorn Unity också hör till detta projekt. Flow kallas det optimala tillstånd som en människa kan komma in i när den utför en aktivitet och blir helt försjunken i aktiviteten att den glömmer bort viktiga saker som till exempel att gå på toalett. Tanken är att låta en aktivitets utmaning vara balanserad med personens skicklighet. Genom att ta fram några förslag på förbättringar, av ett redan existerande bowlingspel har dessa sedan implementerats. Spelet har sedan testats av några deltagare och utvärderats med ett formulär och genom observation om huruvida deltagarna uppnådde en flowupplevelse eller inte. Resultatet visade sig vara något positivare än vad det borde vara, men ändå värdefullt och användbart. Syftet med projektet uppfylldes och frågeställningarna blev besvarade.

Movement-based games are becoming more frequent in everyday lives. With easier access to webcams built into laptops and web-based games, a game which utilises both concepts can become a good option for everyday gaming.This study evaluates a movement-based game written in JavaScript using phaser.io which uses a webcam for control and HTML5 technique for capture. The main questions in the study are what observations can be done and are there any problems when developing a game with webcam-based motion-detection in regards to factors like flow, feedback and positioning. This study tries to answer these questions by building upon an existing game and implementing new functions and feedback and then observing how these effect the game-play. The results of the study showed that it is important to consider good feedback and how to position oneself when playing such a game and that more testing should be done to gain further knowledge about these two. But also that many of the implementations done made the person achieve flow while playing. Further work should be beneficial also to make the game even better while keeping it easy to play.

Using a Research through Design approach, this research aims to utilize the criteria of Flow outlined by Csikszentmihályi in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (2014) and later adapted to videogames by Sweetser &amp; Wyeth in GameFlow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games (2005) to improve the Tower Defense game Daidala by increasing players’ time spent in a state of Flow. This serves to provide future game designers with an example of how this model and these concepts can be applied when designing and developing a game. The research was conducted by exposing players to the game as it came out of development, collecting data from semi-structured interviews and utilizing said data to construct another iteration of the game with the goal of improving players’ experience by increasing the time spent in a Flow mental state. Lastly, this iteration was tested and the results were compared to the previous iteration to determine if the changes succeeded in extending the time players spent in a state of Flow. Our findings show that the GameFlow model by Sweetser &amp; Wyeth (2005) is a powerful tool for game designers looking to improve the experience of the player base of their game through the informed use of Flow. The model provides a solid framework for collecting and evaluating data to guide the process of iteration towards increasing time spent by players in a state of Flow.

Enligt Gameflowmodellen av Sweetser, P. &amp; Wyeth, P. (2005) är spelarens kontroll av karaktärens rörelsefrihet en av flera förutsättningar för att uppnå flyt i spelet och därmed uppleva ett spel som underhållande. Spel är designade med olika typer av rörelsefrihet. I vissa spel har karaktären begränsad rörelsefrihet, det vill säga kan endast gå och hoppa medan i andra spel är rörelsefriheten mer avancerad. För att undersöka vilken typ av rörelsefrihet (om någon), avancerad eller begränsad, som ger spelare bäst flyt i spelet och därför uppskattas mest skapades två banor i Super Mario Maker 2. Dessa spelades sedan av 10 studiedeltagare med varierande spelerfarenhet. Data samlades in med hjälp av enkät och direktobservationer. Resultatet tydde på att de flesta föredrog banan med störst rörelsefrihet hos karaktären. Resultatet diskuteras med avseende på trovärdighet och eventuella felkällor. Arbetet avslutas med en diskussion om dess framtida potential.

In 2015, the Narrative model was created as a result of a study exploring how episodic games keep player’s interests through combining narrative and gameplay. In this thesis, the Narrative model is used as a framework for designing a language game for children to see whether that makes players more inclined to keep playing than a game not designed based on the model. Two games were created and evaluated in a within subject controlled experiment. Player enjoyment was measured by using GameFlow as a basis for interview questions and Likert scales. The results indicated that the game based on the model more successfully achieved GameFlow than the game that was not. As such, it was concluded that the model can be used as a tool for game design to increase the desire to keep playing a game, but that it needs further study to be validated.