Early-stage investors increasingly impact the surging video game industry. Thus, understanding their thought processes provides vital insight for entrepreneurs. This thesis explores how early-stage investors assess investment opportunities in the Swedish game industry by presenting semistructured interviews with three prominent angel investors. Thematic analysis was performed on the interview data to extract significant themes regarding investors’ thought processes. Themes were then contrasted with previous research on investor decision-making to establish emergent patterns in the game industry. Results indicate that investors regard the composition and reliability of the team and pursue long-term involvement in companies. It is particularly important for teams to inspire trust. If investors can connect to teams personally, it facilitates successful long-term collaboration. Future research should focus on interviewing investors in other flourishing game markets, such as the U.S. or Chinese. Congruent results may lay the foundation for a framework to aid developers with acquiring funds in the broader game industry.

This study aims to explore the potential benefits and disadvantages of utilizing video game narratives in Swedish EFL teaching. The subject is approached through a qualitative literature review of previous research on the use of video games in the process of L2 acquisition. The results are then discussed from a sociocultural perspective, in relation to the frameworks introduced in the background and to the Swedish steering documents. The results indicate that video games are likely to be part of many students’ out-of-school experiences of the English language and that playing video games can be seen as an example of extramural language learning. The results also highlight how engaging in multiplayer video game narratives can aid L2 acquisition by for example increasing motivation, expanding learner vocabulary and by providing learners with strategies for discourse management such as politeness, humor and small talk. The collaborative and interactive nature of the video game narrative and of video game communities is also shown to align well with the Swedish steering documents that promote social interaction and the development of communicative competence. However, direct classroom implementation of video games is problematized by the fact that not all students have previous experience or tools for interacting with the video game format of storytelling and that gender discrepancies in video game consumption could lead to boys benefiting more than girls from language learning through video game narratives.

Studies of how users experience Virtual Reality (VR) have thus far failed to address the extent to which rendering resolution and rendering frame rate affect users’ sense of immersion in VR, including applications of VR involving simulators, treatments for psychological and mental disorders, explorations of new and nonexistent structures, and ways to better understand the human body in medical applications. This study investigated if rendering resolution affected users’ sense of immersion in VR. This was conducted by comparing the responses of two groups, relative to two measures of participant immersion: (a) participant’s sense of presence and (b) participant’s sense of embodiment. The treatment levels were (a) low 512 pixels per inch (ppi) and (b) high 2048 ppi rendering resolution. One potential moderating variable, game type, varied over three levels: narrative, objective, and situational. The participants were randomly assigned to a treatment level account for previous VR experience, neither participants nor the research observer knew the treatment level. Measurements were collected after each game via an Immersion tendency Questionnaire after each game. For each dependent measure, sample descriptive statistics—mean (M) and inter-quartile range (IQR) with a conventional significance level of 0.05—were evaluated to conclude the results. Data indicated that the rendering resolution did not affect user immersion, but the game type did affect immersion and the situational game type was determined to be significantly more immersive than the other game types.

Can you teach someone to be a video game designer? This was the principal question behind the experimental class "Game Design & Testing" taught summer 2009 and again in 2010 at East Tennessee State University. The class did not attempt to encompass the technical aspects of video game modeling or scripting. It was focused on the possibilities of teaching students how to recognize, create and critique distinct game elements, then design interesting games around the concepts they learned. What makes a game fun, what makes some games memorable, what does it take to create balance in a game, what goes into making a game that is easy to learn and difficult to master, these were some of the questions set to the students throughout the semester?

Understanding how tutorials affect games is vital for adequate tutorialization. This study investigates how tutorials affect learning and memory retention within videogames. Two versions of a custom game were designed to gather data from the participants (N = 32). The control group (n = 16) played the game with minimal assistance, while the experimental group (n = 16) had both progressive and adaptive tutorials accessible to them. The results revealed that the experimental group had both higher initial learning and higher memory retention. / Förståelse för hur instruktioner påverkar spel är nödvändigt för att kunna ge bra hjälp. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur instruktioner i datorspel påverkar inlärning och behållande av information. För studien skapades två separata spel med målsättningen att samla data från deltagarna (N = 32). Kontrollgruppen (n = 16) spelade en version med minimal assistans medan experimentgruppen (n = 16) hade flera typer av progressiva- och adaptiva instruktioner. Resultaten avslöjade att experimentgruppen hade både högre inlärning och bättre bibehållande av kunskap.

El siguiente proyecto consiste en implementar un negocio que sea rentable, exitoso y pueda sacar beneficios a cada uno de los integrantes o dueños de la compañía. Academia Gamer, es un negocio que brinda todas las herramientas para aprender las principales mecánicas de juego de los más famosos videojuegos de la actualidad. Va dirigido a todas las personas, niños y adultos, de 18 a 35 años de edad que disfruten de jugar juegos de computadora, además de tener un asesoramiento personalizado en grupos de hasta cinco personas. En la actualidad el sector de videojuegos, fue incrementado su participación en cada uno de los países, sobretodo en Perú, que gracias a la pandemia, miles de personas accedieron a jugar en diferentes plataformas, los diversos videojuegos que existen. Por ello, se vio una oportunidad de negocio, fácil y accesible para fomentar en las personas un mejoramiento en sus habilidades con los juegos. / The present project is to implement a business that is profitable, successful and can make a profit for each of the company's members or owners. Gamer Academy, is a business that provides all the tools to learn the main game mechanics of the most famous video games today. It is aimed at all people, children and adults, from 18 to 35 years of age who enjoy playing computer games, in addition to having personalized advice in groups of up to five people. Currently the video game sector, its participation in each of the countries was increased, especially in Peru, which thanks to the pandemic, thousands of people agreed to play on different platforms, the different video games that exist. Therefore, there was an easy and accessible business opportunity to encourage people to improve their gaming skills. / Trabajo de investigación

Studying the field of visual attention in the context of games can help level designers to make the players feel more immersed and increase the general enjoyment of a game. With the help of visual cues, the designers are able to lead the players through the levels without breaking the aesthetics of the game, thus preventing to break the immersion. This study is presenting a method for analyzing visual cues in a 3D adventure platform game. Gathering data with the help of today's eye-tracking technology. The results can ultimately be used as a guideline for future work in the field.

L’auteur de cette thèse a réalisé, en tant que compositeur, un ensemble d’installations sonores. Ce travail part d’une composition déterministe et linéaire et mène progressivement à une œuvre ouverte. Durant les dernières années, ce travail a été influencé par les méthodes d’écritures utilisées dans la conception de jeux vidéo, aboutissant à des œuvres sonores spatiales et interactives. Dans le processus de conception de ces dernières, le compositeur va être amené à penser la conception sonore dans un espace virtuel ou réel en fonction des déplacements d’un auditeur. Une façon de mener cette démarche est de laisser l'auditeur interagir avec le système au travers de personnages non joueurs (PNJ). Un tel choix témoigne de l'évolution du rôle du compositeur depuis la construction d’une œuvre linéaire et déterministe vers celle d’une œuvre ouverte et non déterminisme. Pour une pièce donnée, le créateur laisse à l’interacteur un certain degré de liberté et au système un certain degré d'autonomie.Nous débutons ce travail par un état de l'art couvrant divers domaines, de l'art interactif aux agents intelligents.Le troisième chapitre est consacré à l'analyse des pièces interactives conçues par des musiciens, plasticiens, designers de jeux. De cette analyse, nous dégageons un ensemble de critères de classification et nous plaçons ces œuvres d'art dans un triangle Concepteur/Interacteur/Système (C.I.S.). La position d’une œuvre dans ce triangle détermine la latitude que laisse le concepteur aux deux autres protagonistes.Le quatrième chapitre pose la problématique de cette thèse. Nous sommes partis du fait qu’une méthode et à fortiori des outils informatiques sont souvent liés à un style d’écriture. L’histoire des outils d’écriture informatique, jusqu’aux moteurs de jeux vidéo, reflète des visions différentes de ce qu’est la notion d’interactivité dans un domaine et à une époque donnée. Nous proposons ici que le concepteur puisse prendre le point de vue d’un des deux autres protagonistes: l’interacteur ou les PNJ. Ceci aboutit à deux styles que nous appelons le style scripté d’une part et le style émergent d’autre part. Nous comparons ces styles d’un point de vue de l’écriture dans les jeux, de la notion de narrateur, de l’ouverture de l’œuvre et du style de programmation. Cette première comparaison formelle ne permet pas de tirer des conclusions convaincantes. Le cinquième chapitre est consacré à la conception et au développement d’une même installation, Le promeneur écoutant, selon les deux styles cités au chapitre précédent. La version scriptée a été réalisée dans le cadre du projet Terra Dynamica. Nous en proposons une seconde écriture en style émergent et comparons le résultat des deux approches. Nous parcourons l’ensemble des étapes de conception et de réalisation, de la spécification informelle à la programmation. Nous analysons du point de vue du concepteur ces deux styles. Nous montrons que le style émergent, séduisant à priori, aboutit à une complexité de création et de mise en œuvre très importante. Dans les deux cas, les lacunes et besoins en matière de méthodes et d’outils sont mis en évidence.Dans la conclusion, ce travail d’expérimentation est complété par une enquête donnant le point de vue de plusieurs concepteurs d’œuvres interactives sur notre problématique. Nous concluons par une synthèse de ce travail et une analyse de ses développements possibles tant sur le plan conceptuel de l’écriture que sur le développement d’outils auteurs. / The author of this thesis has worked as music composer on numerous sound walk art installations. During the last decade, this work has been influenced by the design methods used in video games, leading to interactive sound walk pieces. In the design process of such pieces, as compared with interactive music works, the composer must write her/his sound design in a real or a virtual space according to the listener’s promenade. A way to drive this walk is to let the listener interact with the System through Non Player Characters (NPC). Such an installation shows the evolution of the composer’s role from that of a deterministic creation to a non-deterministic one. For a given piece, the creator leaves to the interactor a certain amount of freedom and to the system, according its level of self-sufficiency, a certain amount of autonomy. According to these two parameters, each art piece can be positioned somewhere within a triangle D.I.S. which vertices are the Designer, the Interactor and the System. The main goal of this thesis is to analyze the goals and the needs of the designer of such interactive pieces, in terms of methodology and tools. We begin this work by a state of the art covering various fields, from interactive art to intelligent agents. The third chapter is devoted to the analysis of interactive pieces designed by musicians, plastic artists, game designers. From this analysis we propose a set of classification criteria and we place these art works in the DIS triangle. The fourth chapter raises the problematic of our research. We assume that the choice of a position in this triangle is directly related to a choice between two writing styles, the “scripting style” and the “emergent style”. In the scripting style, the designer takes the point of view of the interactor who becomes the narrator. In the emergent style, the designer takes the point of view of the NPC. The two styles are first compared according to the criteria presented in the previous chapter.For a deeper analysis of the two styles, we have designed, with the help of a development team, two versions of the same interactive sound installation The Listening Walker. The installation was created in Paris during the “Futur en Seine” Festival in June 2013 and shown as an art installation for ICEC 2013 in Sao paulo.The goal of this sound walk is to discover a virtual district of Paris around the Pantheon. This installation is designed as a video game with different levels of exploration. The player’s reward is the discovery of the city mainly via sound. Success depends on his listening behavior: NPC are moving around him, interpreting his moves, the direction he takes and the time spent listening particular sounds. Depending upon the listener’s attitude, each NPC has his own reaction such as running away, getting closer to the listener, ignoring him or helping him to discover secret areas. In the fifth chapter, we present the whole creation and development process of the two versions of the installation. It starts with the constraints and artistic choices. The informal specifications of the two versions are presented and the methods and programming methodologies used described. In both cases, the lack of efficient tools for non programmers is pointed out. This experiment shows also the great complexity of the emergent style compared to the scripting style: it is much more difficult to specify a world than to write a story, even an interactive one.In the conclusion, we corroborate our analysis with the point of view of creators working in different fields from interactive music to game design. Some possible extensions of this work are then presented.

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is included in the DSM-5 as a condition warranting more clinical research. Problematic gaming may increase when substance use is present (e.g. cigarette smoking, alcohol use; Raiff et al., 2012; Wartberg & Kammerl, 2020). However, little is known about the relation between cannabis use (CU) and IGD. Thus, the current study hypothesized that individuals engaging in increased CU will exhibit higher rates of IGD. Participants (N=114) were recruited from a rural southeastern university (M age=20.27, SD=4.15). Frequency of CU was measured as past month days with use, IGD was measured by the Video Game Dependency Scale (VGDS; Rehbein et al., 2010). Eleven percent of the sample met criteria for probable IGD. The average frequency of past month CU was 7.26 days (SD=10.88). An independent samples t-test compared frequency of past-month CU among individuals with or without probable IGD. Individuals with probable IGD had decreased CU (M =2.25, SD=5.72). Those without probable IGD had increased CU (M=7.70, SD=2.25), t(107)=2.72, p=.012, d= 0.246. Our results are contrary to previous study findings on the co-occurrence of IGD and substance use. Frequent video gaming may act as a protective factor against increased frequency of CU. Future research should expand on this understudied area and further investigate whether IGD is in fact a protective factor or if the relation found here is accounted for by another unmeasurable variable.

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