Sedan de första mobila spelen släpptes har tekniken utvecklats och så kallade exergames, vilka ställer krav på fysisk förflyttning för att avancera blir allt vanligare. År 2016 släpptes mobilspelet Pokémon Go och har, mätt med avkastning och popularitet, dominerat den mobila spelmarknaden. Det har ur ett forskningsperspektiv tagits fram ett flertal modeller där framgångsfaktorer som kännetecknar ett populärt spel för att attrahera användare presenterats. Tidigare studier hävdar dessutom att AR-teknologin, som tillämpas i Pokémon GO, kan främja fysisk aktivitet, kreativitet och utbildning samt introducera nya sätt för social interaktion.Syftet med denna studie är att urskilja vilka framgångsfaktorer Pokémon GO har för att locka samt behålla sina användare. För att besvara studiens frågeställning har en enkätundersökning genomförts där 61 deltagare svarat på frågor rörande deras åsikter om spelet. Resultatet av användarens egna upplevelser och åsikter har analyserats för att sedan dras i parallell med erkända forskningsmodeller.Studiens resultat visar på ett flertal anledningar till att användare lockats till spelet och att de dynamiska egenskaper som implementerats i Pokémon Go återfinns i ett flertal av de forskningsteorier som presenterats i studien. Nyfikenheten för teknologin, nostalgin för spelkonceptet samt den sociala interaktionen med andra spelare är några av dessa för att exemplifiera. Vidare har studien visat att spelet brister i en del egenskaper som forskare, med sina modeller, menat vara väsentliga. Hinder där spelet inte lyckats motivera användaren till att fortsätta spela har exempelvis varit av den karaktär där spelare distraherats, tappat fokus och med detta intresset för att fortsätta spela. / Since the first mobile games were released, the technology has been developed and the so-called exergames that make demands on physical movement to advance are becoming more common. In 2016, the mobile game Pokémon Go was released and has, measured by yield and popularity, dominated the mobile gaming market. From a research perspective, several models have been developed in which success factors required by a popular game to attract users are presented. Previous studies also argue that the augmented reality (AR) technology applied in the Pokémon GO can promote physical activity, creativity and education, and introduce new ways of social interaction.The purpose of this study is to distinguish which success factors Pokémon GO has to attract and retain its users. To do this, a questionnaire survey was conducted in which 61 participants answered questions regarding their views on the game. The result of the user's own experiences and opinions has been analyzed and then drawn in parallel with recognized research models.The study's results show on several grounds that users were attracted to the game and that the dynamic features implemented in Pokémon Go are found in a number of the research theories presented in the study. The curiosity of the technology, the nostalgia for the game concept and the social interaction with other players are some of these to exemplify. Furthermore, the study has shown that the game lacks in some properties that researchers, with their models, mean to be essential. Obstacles where the game failed to motivate the user to continue playing have, for example, been of the character in which players are distracted, lost focus and with this the interest in continuing to play.

Den här studien undersöker möjligheten att använda sig utav Human Activity Recognition (HAR) i ett mobilspel, Bamblup, som använder sig utav fysiska rörelser för att upptäcka om en spelare fuskar eller om denne verkligen utför den verkliga aktiviteten. Sensordata från en accelerometer och ett gyroskop i en iPhone 7 användes för att samla data från olika människor som utförde ett antal aktiviteter utav intresse. Aktiviteterna som är utav intresse är hopp, knäböj, stampa och deras fuskmotsvarigheter, fuskhopp, fuskknäböj och fuskstampa. En sekventiell modell skapades med hjälp av det öppna programvarubiblioteket, TensorFlow. Feature Selection gjordes i programmet WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis), för att välja ut attributen som var mest relevanta för klassificeringen. Dessa attribut användes för att träna modellen i TensorFlow, vilken gav en klassificeringsprecision på 66%. Fuskaktiviteterna klassificerades relativt bra, och det gjorde även stampaktiviteten. Hopp och knäböj hade lägst klassificeringsprecision med 21.43% respektive 28.57%. Dessutom testades Random Forest klassificeraren i WEKA på vårt dataset med 10-delad korsvalidering, vilket gav en klassifieringsnoggranhet på 90.47%. Våra resultat tyder på att maskininlärning är en stark kandidat för att hjälpa till att identifiera fuskbeteenden inom fysisk aktivitetsbaserade mobilspel. / This study investigates the possibility to use machine learning for Human Activity Recognition (HAR) in Bamblup, a physical activity-based game for smartphones, in order to detect whether a player is cheating or is indeed performing the required activity. Sensor data from an accelerometer and a gyroscope from an iPhone 7 was used to gather data from various people performing a set of activities. The activities of interest are jumping, squatting, stomping, and their cheating counterparts, fake jumping, fake squatting, and fake stomping. A Sequential model was created using the free open-source library TensorFlow. Feature Selection was performed using the program WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis), to select the attributes which provided the most information gain. These attributes were subsequently used to train the model in TensorFlow, which gave a classification accuracy of 66%. The fake activities were classified relatively well, and so was the stomping activity. Jumping and squatting had the lowest accuracy of 21.43% and 28.57% respectively. Additionally, the Random Forest classifier in WEKA was tested on the dataset using 10-fold cross validation, providing a classification accuracy of 90.47%. Our findings imply that machine learning is a strong candidate for aiding in the detection of cheating behaviours in mobile physical activity-based games.

This dissertation encompasses two studies: one developing virtual field trips for mobile devices for an innovative approach to lower-division geoscience education, and the other examining the role of rock strength in river erosion and landscape evolution. The education study involves the development of three virtual field trip modules (Geologic Time, Geologic Structures, and Hydrologic Processes, all free on iTunes and Google Play) that lead students down a virtual Colorado River through Grand Canyon by physically moving around their campus quad, football field or other location, using their GPS-equipped smart phone or tablet. As students reach each location in the scaled down and geo-referenced virtual Grand Canyon, an informative video appears with a themed geological question and an interactive touchscreen activity. The effectiveness of these three modules in terms of student engagement and learning was tested at five U.S. Colleges with a range of missions and student demographics. Results show that the virtual field trip modules are effective at increasing student interest across races and genders in the geosciences, do not detract from student learning, and have the potential to increase content comprehension. The second study is the examination of the relation between rock strength and topography in the Colorado Plateau. This work contributes empirical data to the age-old debate over the mechanisms and patterns of stream erosion through statistical relations between rock strength and stream power, river steepness, and valley width along the Green-Colorado River system. Estimates of an “effective” tensile strength were calculated for units too incompetent to test directly, such as the shales prevalent in the region. Results indicate bedrock strength is a first-order control on river erosion in this landscape, as suggested by John Wesley Powell in 1896: “where the rocks are firm and stable, corrasion [sic] of the stream is slow; where the rocks are soft, corrasion [sic] is more rapid,” which is intuitive yet frequently overlooked.

Mobile learning has significant potential to be very influential in further and higher education. In this research a new definition for Mobile Educational Mixed Reality Games (MEMRG) is proposed based on a mobile learning environment. A questionnaire and a quantifying scale are utilised to assist the game developers in designing a MEMRG. A 'Conversational Framework' is proposed as an appropriate psycho-pedagogical approach to teaching and learning for MEMRG. This methodology is based on the theme of a 'conversation' between different actors of the learning community with the objective of building the architectural framework for MEMRG. Various elements responsible for instructing and motivating learners in educational games are utilised in an instructional-motivational model. User interface design for the games incorporates an efficient navigation system that uses contextual information, and allows the players to move seamlessly between real and virtual worlds. The implementation of MEMRG using the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platform iii is presented. The hardware and software specification for the MEMRG implementation and deployment are also discussed. MEMRG has produced improvements in the different cognitive processes of the learner, and also produced a deeper level of learning through enculturation, externalising ideas, and socialising. Learners' enjoyment, involvement, motivation, autonomy and metacognition skills have improved. This research will assist developers and teachers to gain an insight into learning paradigms which utilise mobile game environments that are formed by mixing real and virtual spaces, and provide them with a vision for effectively incorporating these games into formal and informal classroom sessions.

This paper investigates if the social aspects of playing with friends and participate in clans can increase long-term retention for mobile games. Specifically for the game Edge of Combat developed by the company Level Eight. To gain knowledge about how the players and industry perceive these features, a background study was conducted. The study reveals that playing with friends increases long-term retention in mobile games. It also indicates that participating in clans increases long-term retention but the evidence is not that strong. The next phase of the project indicates that playing with friends also increases long-term retention in Edge of Combat. Finally, participating in clans were investigated more thoroughly. The industry is very positive towards clans but that does not seem to reflect the player’s opinions about clans. Because of this the research question ”Can clan participation increase long-term retention in mobile games?” can not be confirmed. That clan participation could increase long-term retention in Edge of Combat could not be confirmed either. However, to be certain of this more research is needed on clans in mobile games taking into account the demographics of the participants in the project.

Appar är idag en stor marknad eftersom de flesta äger en smartphone och därför är potentiella appkonsumenter. Trots att endast en tredjedel av alla svenskar betalar för mobilspel spenderas hundratals miljoner kronor på köp av appar varje år. Spel är den mest populära appkategorin i svenska App Store och Google Play vilket gör att utvecklare som inte skapar spel har svårt att synas. En etablerad modell i marknadsföringsområdet är köpprocessen, som beskriver hela processen genom ett köp från behovsupptäckande till utvärdering av inköpt produkt. Förståelse för vad som påverkar konsumenter i de olika stegen är viktig för att kunna utforma sin marknadsföring effektivt.Eftersom mobilspel ofta är gratis kan köpprocessen vid nedladdning av spelappar skilja sig från den traditionella, då exempelvis impulsköp kan uppstå i betydande omfattning. Då appmarknaden fortfarande är ung är forskningen inom den begränsad. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur köpprocessen ser ut vid nedladdning av spelappar. För ökad förståelse studeras även områden som påverkar de olika faserna i köpprocessen.Då det inte finns tidigare forskning i det undersökta området genomfördes en kvalitativ studie för att kunna identifiera beteendemönster. Tolv personer i åldrarna 16-25 som spelar spel på smartphones deltog på semi-strukturerade intervjuer och berättade hur de går tillväga när de skall ladda ner ett nytt mobilspel. En litteraturstudie av områden relaterade till köpprocessen ligger till grund för utformningen av intervjuguiden.Resultaten visar att behov av att ladda ner ett nytt mobilspel uppstår genom tristess eller rekommendationer. Information om spelet hämtas från spelets butikssida, där bland annat bilder och videor är betydande. När man är intresserad av ett kostnadsfritt spel laddar man i regel ner utan att tänka på några konsekvenser eftersom man kan avinstallera spelet ifall man inte gillade det. Uppfattningen av utvecklaren påverkas inte beroende på om man är nöjd med det nedladdade spelet eller inte, då man sällan tittar på utvecklaren när man letar efter ett nytt spel. En positiv uppfattning om spelet kan leda till att man rekommenderar spelet till vänner. Är man missnöjd kan man avråda folk man känner, men man brukar inte tala illa om ett spel utan att ha blivit tillfrågad.Studien visar att köpprocessen för nedladdning av gratisspel har fyra steg istället för fem medan processen för betalspel är oförändrad. När det gäller gratisspel har jämförelsefasen tagits bort då det inte sker någon jämförelse innan nedladdning. Informationssökningsfasen har översatts till uppfattning då det är mer beskrivande av fasens innebörd. Faktorer som påverkar de olika stegen i köpprocessen så som attityd, minne och känsloläge sammanfattas i en tabell. / Apps are today a big market since most people own a smartphone and thus are potential app consumers. Even though just a third of all Swedes pay for mobile games, hundreds of millions Swedish Crowns are spent buying apps each year. Games is the most popular app category in the Swedish App Store and Google Play, causing developers who are not making games struggle to be seen. An established model in marketing is the buying decision process, describing the entire process from need identification to evaluation of bought product. The understanding of areas affecting the different stages is important in order to successfully design effective marketing strategies.Since mobile games tend to be free, the buying decision process while downloading gaming apps may differ from the traditional process, since e.g. impulse buying behavior may happen in greater extent. Because the app market is still young, the research is limited. The purpose of this study is to look into the structure of the buying decision process for downloading gaming apps. To extend the understandings, areas affecting the different stages of the buying decision process are examined.Because there is no prior research addressing the studied area, a qualitative approach was performed in order to identify behavior patterns. 12 persons in the ages of 16-25 who play games on their smartphones participated on semi structured interviews, explaining their process for downloading a new mobile game. A literature study of areas related to the buying decision process is the basis for the design of the interview guide.The results show that the need for a new mobile game arises in due to boredom or recommendations. Information about the game is collected from the game’s page at the app store, images and videos being of great importance. When interested in a free game one usually download without regards of any consequences, because you can easily uninstall the game if you did not like it. The opinion of the developer is not affected whether you like the game or not due to the fact one rarely observe the developer while searching for a new game. A positive judgment of the game may lead to the player recommending the game to friends. When dissatisfied one may advise against the game to people you know, but it is rare to speak ill of a game without being asked about it.The study shows that the buying decision process for downloading free mobile games consists of four stages instead of five, while the process for priced games remains the same. Regarding free games, the evaluation of alternatives is removed due to the process being nonexistent prior to a download. The information search stage is replaced with perception, since it better fits to describe the meaning of the stage. Areas affecting the different stages of the buying decision process such as attitude, memory and affect are summarized in a table. The study is in Swedish.

Η εξέλιξη της τεχνολογίας στον τομέα του κινητού και διάχυτου υπολογισμού έχει δημιουργήσει πολλές δυνατότητες για πρόσβαση μέσω φορητών συσκευών σε πληροφορίες που σχετίζονται με συγκεκριμένο χώρο και αντικείμενα. Οι τεχνολογίες αυτές είναι ιδιαίτερα ελκυστικές για χώρους πολιτισμού όπου μπορούν να αποτελέσουν το υπόβαθρο για μαθησιακές εμπειρίες με παιγνιώδη χαρακτηριστικά. Η διπλωματική αυτή εργασία, που εκπονήθηκε στο Εργαστήριο της Ερευνητικής Ομάδας Αλληλεπίδρασης Ανθρώπου Υπολογιστή, του Τμήματος Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Τεχνολογίας Υπολογιστών του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών, υπό την επίβλεψη του καθηγητή Νικόλαου Αβούρη, περιγράφει τη μελέτη, ανάπτυξη και αξιολόγηση μίας κινητής εφαρμογής σε χώρο πολιτισμού. Συγκεκριμένα, αφορά το Benaki MuseumScrabble (BMS), ένα χώρο-ευαίσθητο παιχνίδι για φορητές συσκευές, το οποίο απευθύνεται σε επισκέπτες του Μουσείου Μπενάκη. Στόχος του παιχνιδιού είναι να εμπλέξει τους παίχτες σε μια διαδικασία παιγνιώδους εξερεύνησης της έκθεσης του μουσείου και να αναδείξει τα εκθέματα αλλά και υλικό που ανήκει στο τμήμα της συλλογής που δεν εκτίθεται. / Location sensitive mobile games, are usually ludic multiplayer activities where engaging the physical space in the game is of particular importance. They are designed to be played in specific physical spaces, using mobile devices, leading to a strong interplay between physical and virtual spaces. These games have features such as motion and action in physical space, awareness of the surroundings of the player, interaction between players, as well as interaction with objects of the real world in different ways. These characteristics make them particularly attractive for learning activities in real space and have been used in recent years in cultural spaces where social, experiential and situated learning can take place [de Souza, 06]. The basic idea is that such games motivate players to associate information with physical activity, and are attractive as learning tools because they help the integration of the physical and social space with the digital dimension. In this context, it is interesting to explore the design process of an activity of this type, the rules of the game and the development of the corresponding technology (software, appliances, etc.), as well as the involvement of a museum's collection and the related digital information. The objective of this thesis is to describe the design and development of Benaki MuseumScrabble (BMS), a location sensitive game for mobile devices, aimed for young visitor and designed for part of the collection of the Benaki Historical Museum, in Athens.

Abstract Modern urban space, technological infrastructure, and sociability combine into a hybrid space that is the arena for urban pervasive games. Over the past two decades the changes in this game arena have been stealthy although substantial. Technological developments have helped to achieve true mobility of gaming devices, increased precision in localization, improved connectivity, and reduced orchestration required per player. Current pervasive location-based games can be played anytime anywhere. Subsequently, doors have been opened for a growing number of commercial games. These changes demand a new conceptualization of the urban game arena. This thesis focuses on playful appropriations of hybrid space. Hybrid space is urban space that entails ubiquitous technologies. Therefore, playful appropriations of hybrid space are always, to some extent, digital as well as urban. Prior research has identified two metaphors for urban pervasive games —true mobility and true sociability. This thesis proposes an additional metaphor, called synchronicity, for binding together different realities in pervasive games. They can be anything from mirror world like realistic virtual environments, such as 3D virtual representations of a city, to abstract realities, such as the backstory of the game, or the space identity of a certain location. While location awareness is an important binding factor between the virtual and physical worlds in pervasive gameplay, synchronizable elements can be anything from encouraged collocated gameplay to semantic similarities between the combined realities. This thesis is based on five game constructs that have been specifically designed and implemented as pervasive research games. Research data has been collected and analyzed with a mixed methods approach from field trials conducted in the wild. Constructive research is complemented with a literature review that maps the characteristics of current location-based mobile games and the game space. The main contribution of this thesis is the identification of the digital, abstract, and physical layers of reality in digital urban pervasive games. The second contribution is the identification and categorization of the synchronizable elements that bind these realities together. This thesis offers initial insights into translating this knowledge into the design of future pervasive games. / Tiivistelmä Urbaanitila on jatkuvassa muutoksessa, sillä se muotoutuu ja järjestyy uudelleen siellä kulkevien kaupunkilaisten kautta. Ubiikin teknologian, ihmisten kanssakäymisen ja modernin tilakäsityksen yhteisvaikutuksesta syntyy niin sanottu hybriditila, joka muodostaa peliareenan monille pervasiivisille peleille. Viime vuosikymmeninä tällä peliareenalla on tapahtunut vaivihkaisia mutta perustavaa laatua olevia muutoksia. Pelilaitteista on tullut aidosti mobiileja, ja ne kulkevat kaikkialla pelaajien mukana. Pelijärjestely vaatii vähemmän vaivaa pelaajaa kohden, paikannuksen tarkkuus on parantunut ja muutosten kautta myös kaupallisia pelejä on enemmän saatavilla. Nykyisiä pervasiivisia sijaintipohjaisia pelejä voi pelata milloin vain ja missä vain. Edellä mainittu kehitys edellyttää pervasiivisten pelien ja pelitilan uudelleen konseptualisointia. Väitöstyön aihe ei ole pelillisyys sellaisenaan, vaan “pelillisyys ja sen hyödyntäminen hybriditilassa”. Hybriditila on aina urbaani ja sisältää ubiikkia teknologiaa, minkä vuoksi pelit tässä tilassa ovat lähes poikkeuksetta myös digitaalisia. Aiempi tutkimus esittää, että saavutetut kehitysaskeleet voi niputtaa kahden metaforan alle. Nämä metaforat ovat: aito mobiilius sekä aito sosiaalisuus. Tämä väitöskirja esittää kolmannen, vielä määrittelemättömän tai saavuttamattoman metaforan näiden jatkoksi: synkronisuus. Synkronisoitavat piirteet tai elementit sitovat todellisuuksia yhteen pervasiivisessa pelitilassa. Tilassa olevat todellisuudet voivat olla realistisia pelimaailman kaltaisia virtuaalitiloja tai abstrakteja todellisuuksia, kuten pelitarinan muodostama todellisuus tai jonkin tietyn paikan tilaidentiteetti. Vaikka sijaintipohjaisuus on tärkeä todellisuuksia yhdistävä piirre, synkronisoitavat elementit voivat olla muutakin kuin sijaintikoordinaatteja. Pervasiiviset pelit nivoutuvat pelaajiensa päivittäiseen elämään, mikä tekee pelin kontekstista erottamattoman osan peliä. Tämä ominaisuus oikeuttaa ”in the wild” -menetelmien käytön tutkimuksessa, mikä tarkoittaa, että pelaamista ja pelejä tarkkaillaan luonnossa todellisessa ympäristössään. Tässä väitöstyössä käytetään konstruktioina varta vasten tätä tutkimusta ajatellen suunniteltuja ja toteutettuja pervasiivisia tutkimuspelejeä. Konstruktiivista tutkimusta tukee lisäksi teoreettinen tutkimusosio, joka koostuu kirjallisuuskatsaukseen pohjautuvasta nykyisten sijaintipohjaisten pelien ja pelitilan kategorisoinnista. Pervasiiviset pelit nivoutuvat pelaajiensa päivittäiseen elämään, mikä tekee pelin kontekstista erottamattoman osan peliä. Tämä ominaisuus oikeuttaa ”in the wild” -menetelmien käytön tutkimuksessa, mikä tarkoittaa, että pelaamista ja pelejä tarkkaillaan luonnossa todellisessa ympäristössään. Tässä väitöstyössä käytetään konstruktioina varta vasten tätä tutkimusta ajatellen suunniteltuja ja toteutettuja pervasiivisia tutkimuspelejeä. Konstruktiivista tutkimusta tukee lisäksi teoreettinen tutkimusosio, joka koostuu kirjallisuuskatsaukseen pohjautuvasta nykyisten sijaintipohjaisten pelien ja pelitilan kategorisoinnista.

The popularity that mobile games gained recently gives the opportunity to develop more mobile games. Limited by the scarce resources on mobile phones, developing good games becomes critical and requires special optimization while choosing the design approach.   Object-oriented Design (OOD) and Data-oriented Design (DOD) are two programming paradigms that have different ways of defining and structuring data. The purpose of this student thesis is to investigate the CPU and Memory performance differences between the two approaches.   To answer the research questions an experiment is conducted where two identical mobile games are built, one according to OOD and the other to DOD to collect empirical quantitative data and compare the results. The study limits the scope by  running the games on Android mobile phones.   The results of comparing the CPU Usage show significant differences especially when the amount of data is large. For instance, in the DOD version of the game, the CPU spends 20.9% of the time on updating data, while it spends 69.2% of the time on the same action in the OOD version of the game. No significant differences are observed regarding the total Memory allocated for the games in both versions. It can therefore be concluded that when the number of objects/data is big, a more optimized code should be written following the Data oriented Design approach with regard to better CPU and Memory Usage and    better game performance.

A new hybrid Video Game Difficulty Balancing method which stands in between the two traditional methods (Static and Dynamic) has been suggested in this project aiming to discreetly estimate the player’s difficulty preference and make the respective in-game adjustment. This method has been based on the hypothesis that the user’s difficulty preferences can be to some extent predicted by some of their in-game actions. A casual mobile game containing a User Testing part has been developed for this purpose and played by 56 participants. The extracted results offer some insights on various gamers’ demographic groups behaviors and some indications that the intended prediction is feasible.