The thesis presents an analytic work of the MDA-framework and the promotional art of Halo 4 and Mass Effect 2 and how the two areas correlate with each other. The aim for the thesis is to investigate how the art style of the promotional art uses the elements of art to communicate the different gameplay of Halo 4 and Mass Effect 2, both set in a science fiction world, to their respective audiences in order to find how the elements of art can help to emphasize communication of gameplay information to the audience. This is reached by analyzing the gameplay of both games with the help of the MDA-framework by Hunicke, LeBlanc and Zubek enabling the analyses to reach a more comprehensive breakdown of the games. The analyses of the promotional artwork for both games are weighed against categories in the elements of art, the reason to find a more comprehensive breakdown of the promotional art. The data from both analyses are later compared with each other to find how the elements of art communicate information of the gameplay to the audience. In addition, it presents what categories of the elements of art in this analysis seems to be the most common for communicating gameplay information of the chosen promotional artworks. The conclusion is that the use of elements of art in promotional art in Halo 4 and Mass Effect 2 seems to carry more information that communicates to the audience than what might be the first to meet the eye. This leads to an understanding that the analysis of a broader sample size of promotional art from the games can open an opportunity of a better understanding how the use of elements of art in promotional art can communicate gameplay to the audience. Additionally this could also be applied to a larger range of games in order to find how different genres use the elements of art to communicate to their respective audience.

This paper is about save systems and will analyze save functions in various games. Save systems in games are usually blamed for harming the suspension of disbelief as it is an act taking place outside the game and should only be used for its intended purpose: letting the players store their game data, and progress whenever they need. The game save function developed as rapid leaps of technology were made, with the beginning era of home consoles and home computers allowing players to spend more time playing, creating a demand for longer play sessions in games which lead to a need of methods for storing game data. The analysis of save systems is carried out in this paper by using MDA Framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics), a tool used for documenting game design. This framework can be used to analyze a game from a designer‟s or player‟s perspective. By reversing the framework ADM (Aesthetics, Dynamics and Mechanics) one can analyze the user experience, which is how the player perceives the game‟s aesthetics to be, depending on the dynamics and mechanics. This analysis aims to provide knowledge of how consistency in game design and the save system can be used to create a cohesive game world that facillitates the player's experience and immersion.

This paper is aimed to analyze how the Motivators in Herzberg's Two-Factor theory can be applied to a game design framework, namely the MDA-framework. This is done by evaluating a feature called Detailed Feedback System which is a gamification layer aimed towards evaluating photos from predetermined categories. The evaluation is done by letting participants use the Detailed Feedback System, and later letting them participate in an online survey on how it felt to use the feature. In this paper Self-Determination Theory and the Likert-scale is used in order to find a variance in their answers. This is later explored in a comparison matrix exploring which aspects of each theoretical framework may be the most prominent. The results are also analyzed to find variance in the final result, in order to find how significant the variance is in motivation and enjoyment, and why I conclude these findings to be positive.

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Gamification har börjat integreras mer och mer i våra liv varje år inom diverse områden såsom shopping, sport och undervisning. Gamification används per definition för att öka motivation hos användare genom att introducera spelmoment i en icke-spel kontext. Denna studie syftar till att utvärdera hur bra de designprinciper och designriktlinjer, som är formade utifrån ett ramverk som kallas för MDA-ramverket (ett ramverk inom gamification), kan tillämpas vid utformningen av en gamificationapplikation inom kontexten av ett biobesök eller om det krävs en modifiering av dessa. Studien syftar även till att ta reda på huruvida den här typen av applikation skulle kunna öka det generella intresset för att bli medlem hos en bioverksamhet likt Filmstaden. För att ta reda på detta gjordes en intervju som en del av förstudien för att kontrollera den generella attityden och intresset för en applikation som denna. MDA-ramverket användes sedan till att utveckla en Lo-Fi prototyp utifrån principerna och riktlinjerna inom MDA-ramverket. Denna prototyp testades genom att observera totalt tio användare som fick interagera fritt med prototypens olika funktioner. Observationen följdes upp av en intervju med samma användare som fick uttrycka sina känslor gentemot applikationen och de potentiella problem som uppkom med den. Analysen av observationen samt svaren från respondenterna jämfördes sedan med principerna och riktlinjerna som användes under designfasen för att se hur väl dessa kunde tillämpas i kontexten av ett biobesök eller om de kunde ses som felaktiga. Resultatet av studien visade på att de flesta riktlinjer var essentiella för kvalitén av prototypen men att några av dem borde ses över vid utvecklingen av en gamificationapplikation i kontexten av ett biobesök. Slutligen visade också studien, baserat på intervjusvaren som samlades in, att en applikation som denna skulle kunna öka motivation bland biobesökare att bli medlem i Filmstadens bioklubb. / Gamification has been increasingly integrated into our lives every year within different areas such as shopping, sports and education. It focuses by definition on increasing the motivation in users by introducing gaming elements into a non-gaming context. This paper aims to investigate how well current design principles and design guidelines, that have been shaped from the so-called MDA-framework (a framework within gamification), can be used for designing a gamification application within the context of a cinematic experience or if modification is required. It also investigates whether this sort of application would be able to increase the general interest of becoming a member at a cinema enterprise such as Filmstaden, Sweden. First of all, an interview was constructed as part of the pre-study to check the general attitude and interest toward an application like this. An existing framework for gamification called the MDA-framework was then used to create a Lo-Fi prototype that practices the principles and guidelines of MDA for an optimal design. This prototype was then tested by observing a total of 10 users who got to interact freely with the different functions. This observation was followed by an interview with the same users where they got to express their feelings toward the application and the potential issues that were presented with it. This result was then compared to the principles and guidelines used during the design to see whether any of the guidelines could be seen as faulty or if any potential guidelines were missing. The analysis of the research showed that most principles and guidelines were very helpful and brought the quality of the prototype to a satisfactory level on most accounts. The attitude towards some of the guidelines was proven to have changed since their emergence though. Finally, the paper also discovered, based on the applicant’s answers, that an application like this could increase the motivation of becoming a member in the “Cinema Club”.

Gamification innebär att man använder element och tekniker från spel i annars icke-lekfulla miljöer för att öka användarnas engagemang. Arbetssättet har de senaste åren blivit allt mer förekommande i profesionella sammanhang som skolan och i arbetslivet. Vetenskapen är fortfarande relativt ung och det finns fortfarande mycket att utforska. Denna studie har undersökt effekten av videoklipp som en belöning i redan etablerad gamification-miljö. Studien har genomförts hos ett B2B säljkonsult-bolag och gjordes som ett 3 veckors experiment där korta videoklipp implementerades som belöningar vid utförda uppgifter för att se hur de kunde påverka antalet minuter som användarna aktivt lade på att ringa samt hur många möten de lyckades boka. Dessutom hölls intervjuer för att undersöka hur användarnas motivation och attityd på arbetet kunde påverkas. Resultaten pekar på ökad tid lagt på att ringa samt ökat antal möten bokade. Intervjuerna pekar på en positiv attityd i samband med filmklippen. / Gamification is the use of game elements and techniques in non-game environments in order to increase the users’ engagement with a product, brand or task. It is becoming more and more common in professional environments such as education and the workplace. It is still a pretty young field of science and there is much to explore. This research has studied the effects of implementing video clips as rewards in an already gamified CRM software. The study was conducted at a B2B sales consultant agency during a 3 week period where short video clips were implemented as rewards for completing actions in order to measure what effects they might have in the users time spent calling and successfully booked meetings. Data was gathered from the gamified software in order to measure the changes in productivity. Interviews were also conducted to study what effects the video clips had on the users’ motivation and attitude at work. The results point to an increased time spent calling and an increased number of meetings booked. The interview responses also point to a positive change in attitude.