Public transport organizations, such as Din Tur, require affordable modern solutions to improve their public image and passenger satisfaction. An easy way to create positive associations in people is to provide either useful services or, preferably, entertainment. This report covers the design, development and evaluation of an entertainment system – consisting of a smartphone game, a cloud-hosted backend, and a supporting on-bus hardware system – with the objective of making Din Tur's bus service seem more modern and appealing. The smartphone game, “Håll Platsen”, is developed in Unity game engine, focuses on providing brief entertainment during bus commutes, and incorporates gamification design elements. The Python-based back-end resides in Google's App Engine and Datastore platforms, and provides a unified virtual game environment enabling player cooperation and competition. The prototype on-bus hardware system uses the Raspberry Pi as a Light-Emitting Diode control system to supply real-world feedback of the game's virtual environment. The systems incorporate real-world busstop positioning, player location, online mapping services, team location-control mechanics, reflex-based minigames, player progression mechanics, and mobile-focused design. The resulting system can be useful in estimating public response to non-standard “smart” promotion methods, the use of games to improve everyday routines (i.e. commuting), and serve as a basis for further research in human & smart-technology interaction.

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The aim of this thesis was to increase understanding of King company success in the social mobile game industry by asking the question: How does a company manage to organize the innovation work in successful casual games within social mobile gaming industry? In order to answer it, we conducted a case study research with secondary data in which we examined the company to discover the elements that contribute to this success, despite a lack of research in how these kind of companies build their business model and strategies, highlighting the players' behaviour. Our findings conclude it is possible to success in social mobile game industry using incremental innovation in different aspects: games design, implementation of the games, and in the business model.  By applying this innovation, with a good viral strategy and giving the player the decision to play by free or purchasing virtual goods, King has been able to become the largest developer game company on Facebook.

As mobile devices still have limited battery life, processing power, memory, and display size, they cannot yet execute gaming applications with the same fidelity and quality as their PC counterparts. In response, researchers have recently performed research with the goal of the real-time delivery of game content specifically to fit within mobile devices’ limitations. In this thesis, we present a novel approach to tackling the streaming of objects to mobile devices. Our goal is to reduce the number of objects subject to streaming from the server to the target devices, while not violating the user-defined limitations through an efficient, context-aware 3D object selection and prioritization scheme. We take advantage of the game context to stream only the most relevant objects. Our evaluations have shown that this technique not only leads to better performance in general, but also increases the gameplay experience by helping the player to achieve a higher score.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:54:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo6551_1.pdf: 2254714 bytes, checksum: 89a6702d1c801f178299f95585aac5ab (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Linha de Produtos de Software (LPS) é uma aborgadem promissora para o desenvolvimento de um conjunto de produtos focados em um segmento de mercado e desenvolvidos a partir de um conjunto comum de artefatos. Possíveis benefícios incluem reuso em larga escala e significativa melhoria em produtividade. Um problema-chave associado, no entanto, é o tratamento de estratégias de implantação, em que uma organização decide iniciar uma LPS a partir do zero, fazer bootstrap de produtos existentes em uma LPS, ou evoluir uma LPS. Em particular, no nível de implementação e de modelo de features, métodos de desenvolvimento carecem de apoio adequado para extração e evolução de LPSs. Neste contexto, apresentamos um m´etodo original provendo diretrizes concretas para extração e evolução de LPSs no nível de implementação e de modelo de features, nos quais proporciona reuso e segurança. O método primeiro faz o bootstrap da LPS e então a evolui com uma abordagem reativa. O método se baseia em uma coleção de refatoramentos tanto na implementação (refatoramentos orientados a aspectos) como no modelo de features. O método foi avaliado no domínio altamente variável de jogos móveis

This thesis explores the problems and possibilities concerning the interaction between players physically located in different cars during temporary meetings in a gaming situation. The thesis is part of a study set out to investigate how traffic encounters can be used as a resource in a mobile, multiplayer game intended as entertainment for children travelling in the backseat of cars. The multiplayer capabilities are realised by using wireless networks in ad hoc peer- to-peer mode, GPS positioning and a digital compass. Designing the interaction for an ad hoc, mobile multiplayer experience introduces several design challenges, such as how to adapt to the temporality of traffic encounters and how to establish a connection between the digital game and the physical context. The nature of traffic encounters inspired us to take a newapproach to the interaction. The interaction is accomplished using a device, which enables direct interaction between players physically located in different cars. A prototype game was constructed within the frames of the project, which this thesis was part of, to test the functionality of the game concept. The prototype has been tested in its real setting, i.e. inside a car. The study and the work on this thesis was initialised and supervised by Liselott Brunnberg and the work was carried out at the Mobility Studio at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm during late spring and summer 2003.

隨著台灣消費者智慧型手機使用時間的拉長，手機遊戲產業也隨之快速成長，而本研究欲探討消費者對手機遊戲之忠誠度的影響因素，換言之，哪些因素會影響消費者持續使用手機遊戲的意願。 　　本研究參考過去的文獻資料，並引用邱志聖(2014)策略行銷分析理論，整理出十二項影響因子：「人機互動」、「社交互動」、「實用主義結果期望」、「享樂主義結果期望」、「信任」、「同儕影響」、「使用知識的專屬資產」、「心理層面的認同」、「感知結合型社會資本」、「感知橋接型社會資本」、「流暢經驗」與「態度」，探討各個因子是否對消費者忠誠度有所影響。而研究結果顯示，消費者在人機互動和社交互動皆對流暢經驗有顯著且正面的影響，而享樂主義結果期望、信任、使用知識的專屬資產和心理層面的認同皆對態度有顯著且正面的影響，然感知結合型社會資本對態度的結果顯著但呈現負向關係。而流暢經驗、實用主義結果期望、同儕影響和感知橋接型社會資本對態度的影響因結果不顯著，因此無法有效推論這五個構面的假設。而態度、同儕影響、使用知識的專屬資產和心理層面的認同皆對忠誠度有顯著且正面的影響。然流暢經驗、信任、感知結合型社會資本和感知橋接型社會資本對忠誠度的影響因結果不顯著，因此無法有效推論這四個構面的假設。 　　本研究亦進一步闡述研究結論背後的行銷意涵，廠商可根據此建議而調整自己未來的行銷策略，進而達到提高消費者忠誠度之目標。 / With the usage time extension of smartphones in Taiwan, mobile gaming industry will grow rapidly. This study wants to explore factors influencing consumer loyalty of mobile games. In other words, this study would reveal factors which affect consumers to continue to use mobile games. Referring to the past literatures and citing the 4C Exchange Cost Theory, this study sorts out 12 factors: Human-Computer Interaction, Social Interaction, Utilitarian Outcome Expectations, Hedonic Outcome Expectations, Trust, Peer Influence, Exclusive Asset of Use Knowledge, Psychological Identity, Perceived Bonding Social Capital, Perceived Bridging Social Capital, Flow Experience and Attitude. According to the research result, both Human-Computer Interaction and Social Interaction have a significant and positive impact on Flow Experience. Hedonic Outcome Expectations, Trust, Exclusive Asset of Use Knowledge and Psychological Identity have a significant and positive impact on Attitude. But Perceived Bonding Social Capital has a significant and negative impact on Attitude. Flow Experience, Utilitarian Outcome Expectations, Peer Influence and Perceived Bridging Social Capital have no significant impact on Attitude. Furthermore, Attitude, Peer Influence, Exclusive Asset of Use Knowledge and Psychological Identity have a significant and positive impact on Loyalty. However, Flow Experience, Trust, Perceived Bonding Social Capital and Perceived Bridging Social Capital have no significant impact on Loyalty. This study also proposes the marketing implications behind the research findings. Manufacturers of mobile games can adjust their marketing strategies to achieve the goal of enhancing consumer loyalty in the future.

Dark game design patterns are features used by game creators to manipulate the player to make certain choices. These patterns can lead to unintentional player actions causing negative experiences. In this descriptive user experience study, focused on the mobile game Candy Crush Saga, the dark patterns’ effect on desirability (whether something is fun and engaging) and the players’ decision to quit or continue to be a player due to the patterns were investigated. An online survey, where the participants were asked about their feelings towards five different dark patterns identified within Candy Crush Saga, was conducted and distributed by using Google Forms and Facebook. The survey received 60 responses from current and previous players of the game. The sample was not controlled and rather homogeneous, therefore it was not necessarily representative of the entire Candy Crush Saga audience. The analysis of the gathered data indicated correlation between the use of certain types of dark patterns and decreased desirability. Some variation could be detected between the effects of different dark patterns. Similarly, certain patterns had a stronger impact on the players’ decision to quit being a player and other patterns on the choice to continue. Four out of the five patterns studied were indicated as both a reason to quit for some and a reason to continue for others.  The results offer insight to game developers and businesses about the previously insufficiently studied connection between the dark game design patterns and their direct effects to the users’ perceived experience. It is apparent that a decrease in the use of certain dark patterns would contribute to  a more positive playing experience.

As the mobile games market keeps growing, game interfaces for mobile games also warrant further development. One area that especially has room for improvement is the touchscreen joystick. This dissertation focuses on the differences in usability for different touchscreen joysticks. A mobile fighting game prototype was developed for this purpose, and a user study was conducted in order to evaluate the difference in usability between two joysticks. Data was gathered and demonstrated, and an analysis of the logged data was conducted, showing no significant difference between the two joysticks. The authors hope that the comparison methodology and measurements demonstrated may be used as a benchmark and framework for future research in mobile joysticks.

As mobile devices still have limited battery life, processing power, memory, and display size, they cannot yet execute gaming applications with the same fidelity and quality as their PC counterparts. In response, researchers have recently performed research with the goal of the real-time delivery of game content specifically to fit within mobile devices’ limitations. In this thesis, we present a novel approach to tackling the streaming of objects to mobile devices. Our goal is to reduce the number of objects subject to streaming from the server to the target devices, while not violating the user-defined limitations through an efficient, context-aware 3D object selection and prioritization scheme. We take advantage of the game context to stream only the most relevant objects. Our evaluations have shown that this technique not only leads to better performance in general, but also increases the gameplay experience by helping the player to achieve a higher score.