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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Video game cloning is controversial within the industry, both because copyright laws do not protect game mechanics, and because people’s judgements about game cloning are unclear. Therefore, this study aims to examine the current literature related to game cloning and summarise the impact of cloning on the game industry, as well as the challenges faced by developers. A literature review approach was used in this study. The results suggest that game cloning has benefits for market competition and learning on the one hand and may be financially harmful to small studios on the other hand. A key point in determining whether game cloning is unacceptable is the motivation of the cloners. Furthermore, unofficial regulation, such as digital distribution platforms and communities, is an important means of combating game cloning.

Videogames são um prolífico negócio no dias de hoje, rivalizando diretamente em cifras com indústrias muito mais antigas, como Hollywood. Tamanha aceitação do público é um indicio de que videogames não podem mais ser julgados como meros joguinhos, mas sim um novo meio comunicativo, com sua própria estética e linguagem. Neste trabalho, será explorado brevemente como se caracteriza a linguagem dos videogames, sua evolução em relação a dos jogos e sua atual formatação. Parte essencial da linguagem contemporânea dos jogos digital diz respeito a sua dependência na interação do jogador e, assim sendo, partiremos para o principal estudo deste trabalho: a análise dos elementos de design que mediam esta interação. Observouse a existência de seis elementos mais recorrentes e explica-se, em mais detalhes, quais suas características e seu funcionamento. Estes elementos são: objetivos claros, feedback, nível de dificuldade, interação e sensação de controle, narrativa e estética, e socialização e imagem pessoal. / Videogames are a prolific business nowadays, catching up and even surpassing figures with much more traditional industries, as Hollywood. Such a public renown is a clear evidence that videogames are not to be judged anymore as silly games, but as a new communicative media, equipped with its own aesthetics and language. In this research, there is a brief exploration on videogames language, its evolution and its contemporary format. As an essential part of videogames language is intimately connected to player\'s interaction, the elements behind such interaction are outlined and studied as the main corpus of this research. Six elements marked themselves more recurring on the studied literature and, as so, were analyzed on more details both their composition and functionality. This elements are: clear goals, feedback, difficulty level, interaction and sensation of empowerment, narrative and aesthetics, and socialization and self image.

Denna rapport har undersökt om game metrics genom heat maps kan användas för att hitta en choke point i en bana gjord till spelet Team Fortress 2. Game metrics och kvantitativa  metoder  erbjuder  ett  objektivt  och  nästan  automatiserat  alternativ  till kvalitativa metoder när det kommer till balansering. En bana har konstruerats med en choke point och har speltestats för att generera en heat map. För att undersöka om det går att hitta en choke point med hjälp av en heat map så har en enkät gjorts där respondenter   bads   hitta   choke   pointen   med   hjälp   av   den   heat   mapen   som genererades från speltestningen av banan. Alla respondenter lyckades hitta mitten av choke  pointen  med  hjälp  av  heat  mapen.  I  framtiden  skulle  arbetet  kunna  utökas genom  att  undersöka  om  användandet  av  bottar  eventuellt  skulle  helt  kunna automatisera  balanseringsprocessen.  Det  skulle  också  gå  att  undersöka  hur  olika klasser rör sig i en bana.

This thesis discusses graph marking game and graph colouring game. Suppose G=(V, E) is a graph. A marking game on G is played by two players, Alice and Bob, with Alice playing first. At the start of the game all vertices are unmarked. A play by either player consists of marking an unmarked vertex. The game ends when all vertices are marked. For each vertex v of G, write t(v)=j if v is marked at the jth step. Let s(v) denote the number of neighbours u of v for which t(u) < t(v), i.e., u is marked before v. The score of the game is $$s = 1+ max_{v in V} s(v).$$ Alice's goal is to minimize the score, while Bob's goal is to maximize it. The game colouring number colg(G) of G is the least s such that Alice has a strategy that results in a score at most s. Suppose r geq 1, d geq 0 are integers. In an (r, d)-relaxed colouring game of G, two players, Alice and Bob, take turns colouring the vertices of G with colours from a set X of r colours, with Alice having the first move. A colour i is legal for an uncoloured vertex x (at a certain step) if after colouring x with colour i, the subgraph induced by vertices of colour i has maximum degree at most d. Each player can only colour an uncoloured vertex with a legal colour. Alice's goal is to have all the vertices coloured, and Bob's goal is the opposite: to have an uncoloured vertex without legal colour. The d-relaxed game chromatic number of a graph G, denoted by $chi_g^{(d)}(G)$ is the least number r so that when playing the (r, d)-relaxed colouring game on G, Alice has a winning strategy. If d=0, then the parameter is called the game chromatic number of G and is also denoted by $chi_g(G)$. This thesis obtains upper and lower bounds for the game colouring number and relaxed game chromatic number of various classes of graphs. Let colg(PT_k) and colg(P) denote the maximum game colouring number of partial k trees and the maximum game colouring number of planar graphs, respectively. In this thesis, we prove that colg(PT_k) = 3k+2 and colg(P) geq 11. We also prove that the game colouring number colg(G) of a graph is a monotone parameter, i.e., if H is a subgraph of G, then colg(H) leq colg(G). For relaxed game chromatic number of graphs, this thesis proves that if G is an outerplanar graph, then $chi_g^{(d)}(G) leq 7-t$ for $t= 2, 3, 4$, for $d geq t$, and $chi_g^{(d)}(G) leq 2$ for $d geq 6$. In particular, the maximum $4$-relaxed game chromatic number of outerplanar graphs is equal to $3$. If $G$ is a tree then $chi_ g^{(d)}(G) leq 2$ for $d geq 2$.

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