I detta arbete utförs en undersökning av spelet Alien: Isolation för att se hur dess artificiella intelligens används för att bidra till inlevelse i spelet och spelkänsla. Alien: Isolation valdes till denna undersökning då det är ett spel vars antagonist styrs av ett avancerat AI-system som tycks lära sig efter spelarens beteende. Spelkänsla är en term inom spelutveckling som handlar om det påverkan som spel kan ha på spelare. För att testa detta kommer tre youtubers Let’s Plays av spelet analysers. Specifika ögonblick har valts från spelet baserat på dess mekaniker och deras vikt i spelkänsla. Dessa ögonblick kommer sedan att sammanställas i en tabell där nivån av skräck de kände under spelandet kommer graderas. Dessa graderingar kommer sedan diskuteras och jämföras med insamlade källor som pratar om hur akademisk forskning och spelindustrin går till väga för att uppnå verklighetstroligt beteende i AI.

Spel är något som ligger oss nära om hjärtat, och är en industri som fortsätter växa hejdlöst. Vi var nyfikna på hur man gör ett spel “roligt” att spela. Steven Swink har presenterat konceptet “game feel”, i sin bok med samma namn, och hur man kan använda det för att beskriva samarbeten som uppstår mellan de visuella och taktila komponenterna i ett spel för att skapa känslor hos spelaren. En liknande term är “immersion”, som behandlar själva spelarens påverkan av vad Swink kallar game feel. Utöver de här koncepten, tar vi i detta arbete upp hur game feel fungerar som en estetisk upplevelse, med hjälp av Graeme Kirkpatricks tankar kring ämnet. Vi går igenom hur negativa känslor kan bli en positiv spelupplevelse, med en artikel av Kristine Jørgensen, och hur ett spels tekniska begränsningar kan påverka dess visuella estetik, i en artikel av Andrew Hutchinson. Vår frågeställning är: “vad är de visuella komponenterna i game feel, och hur påverkar de en spelupplevelse?”, och vi har valt att gestalta detta genom att utveckla ett spel. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ undersökning har vi fått feedback på vad de visuella komponenterna i game feel är. Spelet inkluderade fem game feel-upplevelser som Swink diskuterar. Speltestarna fick gå igenom en 10-15 minuters speldemo, och ge svar på ett frågeformulär, baserade på sina spelupplevelser. Vi analyserade deras svar efter en “ad hoc” analysmetod. Vi kom fram till att de visuella komponenterna är svåra att separera från de taktila komponenterna, så det är svårt att prata om spel som enbart visuella. Inlevelsen i spel kommer från det kombinerade visuella med de fysiska knapptryckningarna. Vi anser att det går att undersöka vidare på detta ämne, då vi bara skrapat ytan på vad de visuella komponenterna i game feel egentligen är. / Games are close to our hearts, and belong to an industry that continues to grow without an end in sight. We were curious about how you make a game “fun” to play. Steve Swink has presented the concept of “game feel”, in his book with the same name, and how it can be used to describe the collaboration between the visual and the tactile components in a game to create feelings in the player. A similar term is “immersion”, which describes the influence a game has on the players themselves — what Swink calls game feel. We also discuss game feel as an aesthetic experience, with the help of Graeme Kirkpatricks thoughts on the subject. We cover how negative feelings can become a positive game experience, with the help of an article by Kristine Jørgensen, and how a game’s technical limits can affect its visual aesthetics, with an article by Andrew Hutchinson. Our research question is: “what are the visual components in game feel, and how do they affect a gaming experience?”, and we’ve chosen to showcase this by developing a game. With the help of a qualitative study, we got some feedback of what the visual components in game feel are. The game included five game feel experiences that Swink discusses. The play testers got to go through a game demo, and answer a questionnaire, based on their gaming experiences. We analysed their answers using an “ad hoc” method of analysis. We arrived at the conclusion that the visual components are hard to separate from the tactile ones, making it hard talk about games as only visual experiences. The feeling of involvement in playing a game comes from the combination of the visual aesthetics and the physical feeling of pressing buttons. We see the possibility of continuing the research on the topic of game feel, because we’ve only scraped the surface on what the visual components of game feel truly are.

This paper’s goal was to understand how the fighting game animations in the video game Guilty Gear -Strive- lent themselves to their characters appeal, by looking how the animations are built up to be a good quality for a more interesting character based on the character background. The paper aids to help designers find relevant information for the creation of animations for a greater player enjoyment of its characters in a fighting game. This was done by choosing three characters with different speed classes in terms of their design and official marketing for the video game, as well as three attacks that were analyzed by looking at its consisting frames divided into sixty frames per second. The paper finds relevant information and good practices to enhance the appeal of a fighting game character to better represent their characteristics. We find that bigger visual effects such as big explosions or shockwaves are good for stronger characters while the use of faster movements using methods of slow in and slow out and timing are good for making faster characters more appealing, anticipation of attacks are also important while the specific use of the anticipation frames can give different feelings even if they are equally long where acrobatic characters use it for building momentum and stronger characters use them to charge up by pulling their body back.

I detta arbete studerades hur olika tekniker för att förstärka game feel av realtidskontroll inom spel, delvis generellt men också specifikt kopplat till 2D-platformers, användes inom spel av den genren. Bakgrundskapitlet beskriver vad game feel är och hur det upplevs. Det nämns även aspekter kopplat till game feel och realtidskontroll som är viktiga att diskutera, exempelvis flow. Problemformuleringen tar upp processen för hur studien utfördes och presenterar även frågeställningen som lyder: Vilka tekniker används inom 2D platformers för att förbättra game feel inom realtidskontroll av spelar-karaktären och hur påverkar de spelupplevelsen? Analysen utfördes på åtta spel. Dessa spel var Super Mario Bros 3 (1988), Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (1992), Rayman (1995), New Super Mario Bros (2006), Rayman Legends (2013), Shovel Knight (2014), Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014) och Celeste (2018). Resultatet visade att de flesta tekniker som analyserades användes i majoriteten av spelen och på ett liknande sätt med några få undantag.

This thesis investigates whether a game world based solely on fluid dynamics could be an interesting alternative to one based on rigid bodies by presenting a prototype to players where they can control the movement of a fluid. The players evaluate the prototype’s responsiveness, intuitiveness, visual appeal, immersion, and how well they think the fluid could represent ghosts, flocks, magic, and a platformer avatar by rating them vocally while playing. The fluid physics engine prototype is a simple grid-based one that utilizes the ideal gas law and pressure gradient force to calculate the flow between its cells. It is unstable and thus cannot handle too large time-steps. Therefore, simulating many cells (more than 10000 for two fluids) at the same is a slow process, and the prototype can only present a pixelated result. If a highresolution game is in general preferred by players, a computationally efficient solution could consist of utilizing shaders for cell blending. In the experiments, all categories except the platform avatar received positive evaluations despite the prototype’s early stage, which according to theories presented within Swink’s Game Feel (Swink, 2009) and the MDA framework (Hunicke et al., 2004) may indicate that a game based on a fluid physics engine like this one could be entertaining. The simulation could possibly be run as a separate system to add game mechanics to a game based on rigid bodies as well.

This Bachelor's thesis explores the impact of a fast-forwarding mechanic on player experience within Liberty Land, an in-house developed casual farming game. The research question is: How do changes in the passage of time, facilitated by the time-altering mechanic in our developed game, Liberty Land, impact the player's experience? The authors researched the question through the creation of their game and then playtesting with two distinct groups. The authors used game-feel (Swink, 2009) and the MDA framework (Hunicke et al., 2004) to do the research.  Group A experienced the game with the time-accelerating mechanic, while Group B acted as the control group and did not have access to the mechanic. Players would then answer a survey that corresponded with which group they had. After the playtests, the authors reviewed the data and analyzed the results. Group A had the time-altering mechanic and did report finding it helpful in reducing waiting times. They believed it aided game progression, even though core balancing issues made some actively use the mechanic less than expected. The group found it enjoyable and easy to use, although some did express concerns about potential stress from optimizing time usage. The insights from Group B, who experienced the game without the time-altering mechanic, underscore the importance of game content and loop variations for immersion and engagement. The emotional responses from both groups analyzed through the MDA framework revealed notable themes of sensation, discovery, and submission. The study also identified challenges such as low survey participation rates, ongoing refinement in the game loop, and the state of the game. While there is evidence of a positive impact on the player’s experience, the heavy limitations and problems make the research largely inconclusive as a whole.