If you want procedurally generated content in your games, you often have to rely on your own ability to develop the desired tools. This can be limiting for newer game developers, leading to certain types of gameplay not being considered when designing games. One instance of this problem regards procedurally generated planets, a rather uncommon type of game world, with a lack of tools online to create your own. To improve upon the issue, this paper sets out to explore how a tool can be developed to supply game developers with worlds in the form of planets. This resulted in Planet Designer, a Unity tool for quickly generating diverse planets with the potential to be used in a variety of game concepts. The tool utilizes layers of manipulated noise to generate wide ranges of terrain, which can be populated with trees, bushes, stones, etc. using a brush. By playing around with the terrain and ocean shaders, the user can give each planet a unique aesthetic through different colors, textures, and thresholds. The paper features an extensive description of how the tool’s features were implemented, and how the tool was evaluated, as well as a discussion about why the tool is considered a valid solution to the problem.

Realistic rendering of 3D graphics scenes often requires large amounts of data and processing. High resolution texture data, complex BRDFs, surface modification, and global illumination effects are often necessary to realistically render a synthetic scene, but achieving such effects with a reasonable balance between performance and quality in real-time remains a challenge. Virtual texture techniques have been developed in order to manage extremely high resolution texture data. This thesis describes the implementation of a technique which allows writing of projected texture data to a virtual texture in real-time, allowing infinite numbers of permanent highly detailed surface modifications without the performance or accuracy limitations of decal techniques used in current games. It also describes an implementation of a real-time renderer which uses measured BRDF data, and discusses how applying virtual texturing to measured BRDF data may allow accurate, fast rendering with realistic materials. Finally, it discusses how the virtual decal system can be used to allow artists or game players to interactively alter the material composition of scenes with many distinct measured BRDFs.

The modern office environment requires employees to perform stationary work. This can cause them several health issues due to being sedentary for long periods of time. An exergame was developed with the aim to remedy these issues by encouraging short motion controlled game sessions during breaks. The game was a farming game developed using the Godot game engine and the ML based skeletal tracking software Mediapipe. The game was played for 86 two-minute sessions where data was collected to evaluate how to use farming game tropes within the design for more movement to yield better results. It was also used to evaluate how the game mechanics could be distributed throughout the game session to promote sustained exertion during an average session. It was concluded that for farming exergames, if the goal is to reward players who exert themselves more, the in-game rewards should not make the game easier to play effectively as they generally do in typical farming games. Furthermore, it was also concluded that interactions happening in a sporadic order help with keeping the average exertion consistent, in addition to the aspect that players always have something to do during the allotted game session time.

Often writers have to work on topics where they might have limited or no personal experience. This paper seeks to explore one of the ways that this can be done. By seeking the assistance of experts in the relevant topic and having them give advice, guide, and assist in the writing process the writer may be able to write something that will work for the media that they are using. By utilizing workshops and interview the goal of this paper is to find out how a non-queer writer could work together with queer community members to be able to create not only a believable story or character but also one that will provide a good representation of queer individuals. The paper shows that with a modified card sorting method a workshop can supply the writer with a good startingpoint.

This study examines the understanding of cybersecurity, with a distinct focus on the culture and awareness of cybersecurity within the Swedish game development industry. Utilising a qualitative research design, five semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals in the domain, and the results are discussed and compared with relevant prior studies. The findings reveal a variance in cybersecurity cultures between larger and smaller organisations, largely dictated by resource availability; security measures are frequently implemented in a reactive rather than proactive manner. Moreover, the study identifies ransomware as the most significant threat in the studio’s threat landscapes. Companies’ perceptions and responses to this threat differ; smaller enterprises often rely on informal security policies, while larger organisations implement regular backup procedures and more sophisticated security measures.

This thesis explores the distribution of Hexad player types present within game development students currently studying at the University of Skövde. The study isgrounded in self-determination theory and previous player typology studies. Data was gathered through a survey distributed through email and posters to the students at the university. A total of 78 participants were recruited for the survey through that method. The data gathered was analyzed and some differences were made evident between different disciplines. Additionally, the participants' motivations for playing games were explored where trends pointing towards students analyzing games for personal interest was found. However, this would have to be further explored to conclude fully.

На текущий момент в науке существуют различные решения отдельных прикладных задач, которые касаются построения архитектуры различных IT-компаний или анализа данной архитектуры, но решение такого вопроса как проектирование архитектуры IT-компании, которая занимается разработкой гиперказуальных игр отсутствует. Это влечет за собой трудность и мешает эффективному управлению компанией. В данной работе на основе существующей методики описания архитектуры предложен свой построения уникальной архитектуры компании по разработке гиперказуальных игр. / At the moment in science there are various solutions of separate applied problems, which concern the construction of the architecture of various IT companies or analysis of this architecture, but there is no solution to such a question as designing the architecture of an IT company that develops hypercasual games. This entails difficulty and hinders the effective management of the company. In this paper, based on the existing methodology for describing the architecture, we propose a unique architecture of a hypercasual game development company.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of AI-generated content (AIGC) when it starts to be applied in game development. AIGC in games refers to the generation of game content through artificial intelligence, a concept that has recently recieved a high level of attention due to the latest rapid developments in artificial intelligence, and in traditional research, AIGC can be categorized as an advanced approach to Procedural Content Generation (PCG), i.e., Deep Learning Method. Procedural Content Generation is the creation of game content through algorithms with limited or indirect user input. Its traditional approach has been widely used in games. Recently, however, the AIGC method has also started to be used by a large number of game companies, and its impact has exceeded expectations. A questionnaire survey of 40 game developers revealed a general interest in AIGC but also concerns. Further interviews explored the use of AIGC in game development and some of the problems it has encountered and predicted future trends in its development. The result of this study provide guidance on whether and how AIGC needs to be used in future game development.

The available literature presents a multitude of ways in which value creation can take place, and a near uncountable number of ways in which value creation can take place in digital contexts. However, little has been written in the way of value co-creation, or even value creation in general, in relation to the metaverse. This explorative study makes use of an abductive approach and will strive to identify how a game developer creates value for its customers in a metaverse context. Six qualitative interviews were conducted to collect data from a game developer within this new industry. The overarching process of collecting data is based on value co-creation theory and network theory. The study’s findings illustrate the involved and required factors when game developers co-create with customers, and shed light on the necessary amalgamation of different actors involved in the process. The conclusion can be summarised as follows: a game developer creates value for its customers through direct and indirect value adding activities. The first conclusion regarding direct value adding activities includes value co-creation, and is the basis of an improved conceptualised model based on previous theoretical literature, which can be used in future research.

This paper deals with the difficulties of applying user-centered design practices as an independent developer, based on the visualization of a game concept in the form of a prototype. The aim is to evaluate the usability of user-centered design practices, specifically in the field of games development. Throughout this paper, I will give an account of the methods used for testing, as well as a review of previous research done in this field of study. Finally, I will end with a discussion regarding the pros and cons of user-centered design, as well as some thoughts about its importance in similar projects.