Datorspelsbranschen är en enorm och ständigt växande bransch med väldigt många utvecklingsområden. För en programmerare kan det därför vara väldigt svårt att komma in och veta vilka delar som man behöver ha kunskap om. Den här rapporten tar upp problemet med att ta ett steg in i branschen för en programmerare genom att gå igenom viktiga delar för spelprogrammering och demonstrerar den med utveckling av ett spel med hjälp av ett ramverk. På så sätt kan man få en förståelse av de olika delarna och problemen som finns i utvecklingen av ett spel. Resultatet blev ett spel skrivet i Java med ramverket libGDX. Spelet går ut på att flera spelare ansluter till en server där man delas upp i lag. Sedan spelar man en match som består av ett antal ronder, för att vinna en rond så måste ett lag eliminera motståndarlaget med ett antal färdigheter som varje spelare kan välja innan matchen börjar. Laget som vinner flest ronder vinner matchen. / The computer game industry is a huge and constantly growing industry with a lot of different development areas. That is why it can be very hard for a pro-grammer to get in to and know what parts you should have knowledge about. This thesis addresses the problem of taking that first step into the industry for a programmer by going through important parts of game programming and dem-onstrating them by developing a game with the help of a framework. In this way you can get a better understanding of the different parts and problems that arise when developing a game. The result was a game written in Java with the framework libGDX. The game involves two or more players that connect to a server where they are split into teams. Then they play a game consisting of a set of rounds, to win a round one team has to eliminate the opposing team by using different abilities that every player can choose before the start of the game. The team with the most rounds won, wins the game.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse storytelling in Korean online games, mainly represented by MMORPG genre. The first chapter introduces five essential Korean MMORPGs that will be subjected to the analyses throughout the thesis. Next chapters research storytelling in MMORPGs and its instruments, which are used to anchor the story inside the game. Main practical part then analyses mentioned online games and searches for motives based on Asian mythology, history and culture. For better comprehension a technical vocabulary related to gaming industry is also included at the end of the thesis. Because of technical reasons, all mentioned games are analysed in their European versions. Key words Korean online games, MMORPG, storytelling, mythology, multiplayer, asian motives, Heterocosmica

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Recently, there has been significant research focus on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Massively Multi-user Virtual Environments (MMVEs). A number of architectures have been presented in the literature to implement the P2P approach. One aspect that has not received sufficient attention in these architectures is state management and state persistency in P2P MMVEs. This work presents and simulates a novel state management and persistency architecture, called Pithos. In order to design the architecture, an investigation is performed into state consistency architectures, into which the state management and persistency architecture should fit. A novel generic state consistency model is proposed that encapsulated all state consistency models reviewed. The requirements for state management and persistency architectures, identified during the review of state consistency models, are used to review state management and persistency architectures currently receiving research attention. Identifying some deficiencies present in current designs, such as lack of fairness, responsiveness and scalability, a novel state management and persistency architecture, called Pithos, is designed. Pithos is a reliable, responsive, secure, fair and scalable distributed storage system, ideally suited to P2P MMVEs. Pithos is implemented in Oversim, which runs on the Omnet++ network simulator. An evaluation of Pithos is performed to verify that it satisfies the identified requirements. It is found that the reliability of Pithos depends heavily on object lifetimes. If an object lives longer on average, retrieval requests are more reliable. An investigation is performed into the factors influencing object lifetime. A novel Markov chain model is proposed which allows for the prediction of objects lifetimes in any finite sized network, for a given amount of redundancy, node lifetime characteristics and object repair rate. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Onlangs is daar ’n beduidende navorsingsfokus op Eweknie Massiewe Multi-gebruiker Virtuele Omgewings (MMVOs). ’n Aantal argitekture is in die literatuur beskikbaar wat die eweknie benadering voorstel. Een aspek wat nie voldoende aandag ontvang in hierdie argitekture nie is toestandsbestuur en toestandsvolharding in eweknie MMVOs. Hierdie werk ontwerp en simuleer ’n nuwe toestandsbestuur- en toestandsvolhardingargitektuur genaamd Pithos. Ten einde die argitektuur te ontwerp is ’n ondersoek uitgevoer in toestandskonsekwentheidargitekture, waarin die toestandsbestuur- en toestandsvolhardingargitektuur moet pas. ’n Nuwe generiese toestandskonsekwentheidargitektuur word voorgestel wat alle hersiene toestandskonsekwentheid argitekture vervat. Die vereistes vir die toestandsbestuur- en toestandsvolhardingargitekture, geidentifiseer tydens die hersiening van die toestandskonsekwentheidargitekture, word gebruik om toestandsbestuuren toestandsvolhardingargitekture te hersien wat tans navorsingsaandag geniet. Identifisering van sekere leemtes teenwoordig in die huidige ontwerpe, soos ’n gebrek aan regverdigheid, responsiwiteit en skaleerbaarheid, lei tot die ontwerp van ’n nuwe toestandsbestuur- en toestandsvolhardingargitektuur wat Pithos genoem word. Pithos is ’n betroubare, responsiewe, veilige, regverdige en skaleerbare verspreide stoorstelsel, ideaal geskik is vir eweknie MMVOs. Pithos word geïmplementeer in Oversim, wat loop op die Omnet++ netwerk simulator. ’n Evaluering van Pithos word uitgevoer om te verifieer dat dit voldoen aan die geïdentifiseerde behoeftes. Daar is gevind dat die betroubaarheid van Pithos afhang van die objek leeftyd. As ’n objek gemiddeld langer leef, dan is herwinning versoeke meer betroubaar. ’n Ondersoek word uitgevoer na die faktore wat die objek leeftyd beïnvloed. ’n Nuwe Markov ketting model word voorgestel wat voorsiening maak vir die voorspelling van objek leeftye in eindige grootte netwerke, vir gegewe hoeveelhede van oortolligheid, nodus leeftyd eienskappe en objek herstelkoers.

Orientador: Carlos Alberto Kamienski. / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC. Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia da Informação.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται ένα παιχνίδι πολλών παικτών που παίζεται με συσκευές Android στην πόλη της Πάτρας. Το όνομα του παιχνιδιού είναι "Αόρατη Πόλη". / This thesis describes the development of a multiplayer game in android platform played in the city of Patras. The name of the game is "Invisible City".

Nos últimos anos Jogos Online Massivamente Multijogadores (MMOG) têm se expandido em popularidade e investimento, influenciado, especialmente, pela evolução da conexão residencial (conexões mais rápidas a preços mais baixos). Com o crescimento dessa demanda, surgem problemas na utilização da arquitetura cliente-servidor, normalmente utilizada em jogos comerciais. Entre as arquiteturas alternativas de suporte a MMOGs estão as arquiteturas peer-to-peer. Porém essas arquiteturas apresentam problemas relativos a segurança, problemas esses que possuem, muitas vezes, soluções de baixo desempenho, sendo impraticáveis em jogos reais. Entre os problemas de segurança mais significativos para MMOGs encontra-se o cheating, ou a ação que um ou mais jogador toma para burlar as regras em favor próprio. A preocupação com cheating agravase quando o efeito desse cheating pode causar danos irreversíveis à economia virtual e, potencialmente, afetar todos os jogadores. O presente trabalho faz uso de uma divisão celular do mundo virtual para restringir o impacto de um dado cheating a uma única célula, evitando que este se propague. Para tanto é realizada uma classificação do estado do jogador e utiliza-se uma técnica de detecção de cheating para cada uma das classificações. Foram realizados experimentos através de simulação para testes de aplicabilidade do modelo e análise de desempenho e acuracidade. Os testes indicam que o modelo proposto consegue, de forma eficaz, realizar a proteção da economia virtual, impedindo que a ocorrência de um cheating atinja todos os jogadores. / In the past few years, Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) grew in both popularity and investment. This growth has been influenced by the evolution of residential connection (faster and cheaper connections). With the demand, some limitations imposed by the client-server architecture becomes more significant. Peer-to-peer architectures aim to solve those problems by distributing the game among several computers. However, those solutions usually lack security, or presents low performance. Among the problems, cheating can be considered the most significant to MMOGs. Cheating can be defined as the action taken by a player when this action is against the rules. This may be aggravated when this action can cause irreversible damage to the virtual economy and, potentially, affect all players in the virtual world. This work’s goal is to restrict the cheating impact using a cellular world division. The proposal is to restrict the cheating in a limited virtual space, preventing the propagation. A state classification is presented, and different cheating detection techniques are presented to each element of this classification. Simulation is used to make the experiments aiming to test the performance and accuracy of the proposal. Results indicate that the proposed solution can efficiently protect the virtual economy, restraining the effects of a cheating occurrence to a small portion of the virtual world.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maigon Nacib Pontuschka.pdf: 10035402 bytes, checksum: 289133d86efa497672b82199ee16f061 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-27 / This dissertation studies metaverses and multiplayer digital games, a theme that is deeply associated with an increasingly participatory, collaborative and fundamentally massive digital world. It identifies the elements and core characteristics that allow the delimitation of metaverses and multiplayer digital games as a field of research, its applications and the aspects associated with pragmatic development techniques. It organizes and analyzes a thematic overview whose structure stems from the recent history of digital games, from statistical research and, particularly, from the developments that resulted in the multiplayer approaches. It proposes a classification based on constituent ontological pragmatical properties. It applies the resulting classification into organizing an approach that shows the relationship between academic research, research developed by independent game producers, as well as companies producing game engines and metaverses. With the resulting classification of the metaverses and digital games, it presents a description and an analysis of model examples, emphasizing their evolutionary history characteristics, their technical development scope and their practical applications. The dissertation brings together a body of information that shows an overview of current research and leads the way to a possible methodology for evaluating the use and development of metaverses and digital games. It culminates in the evaluation of the concept of academic game, with a view to drawing up specifications for the development of an academic metaverse entitled Pirarucu-Gente / A presente dissertação pesquisa os metaversos e jogos digitais multijogador, tema profundamente associado a um mundo digital cada vez mais participativo, colaborativo e, fundamentalmente, massivo. Ela identifica os elementos e as características nucleares que permitem a delimitação dos metaversos e jogos digitais enquanto área de pesquisa, as suas aplicações e os aspectos vinculados com a técnica de desenvolvimento pragmática. Organiza um panorama temático, analisando sua estrutura derivada da recente história dos jogos digitais, das pesquisas estatísticas e, particularmente, dos desenvolvimentos que resultaram nas abordagens multijogador. Propõe uma classificação com base em suas propriedades ontológico pragmáticas constituintes. Aplica a classificação resultante organizando-a em uma abordagem que mostra a relação entre as pesquisas acadêmicas, as desenvolvidas por produtores independentes, bem como as das empresas produtoras de motores de jogos e metaversos. Com os resultados da classificação dos metaversos e jogos digitais resultantes, apresenta uma descrição e análise de exemplos modelares, enfatizando suas características histórico evolutivas, seu escopo técnico de desenvolvimento e suas aplicações práticas. Reúne um corpus de informações que mostra um panorama da pesquisa atual e que indica caminhos para uma possível metodologia de avaliação de uso e desenvolvimento dos metaversos e jogos digitais. Culmina na avaliação do conceito de game acadêmico, na perspectiva da formulação das especificações para o desenvolvimento de um metaverso acadêmico intitulado Pirarucu-Gente

Dans les jeux multijoueurs, où plusieurs joueurs participent à une même partie et communiquent entre eux à travers un réseau, les joueurs peuvent avoir des visions différentes du jeu en raison des délais de communication. Ceci engendre des incohérences encore plus importantes sur les réseaux mobiles tels que les réseaux 3G où les délais de communication peuvent atteindre plusieurs secondes. Des algorithmes doivent donc être mis en place pour maintenir la cohérence entre les joueurs. Ces algorithmes sont assez complexes et difficiles à programmer et mettre au point. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer une architecture logicielle qui découple la conception du jeu, de ses besoins de communication en proposant une infrastructure de communication qui pourra être interchangeable en fonction des technologies ; cette infrastructure prend la forme originale d'un composant de synchronisation. Ainsi, les conséquences des propriétés physiques du transport des informations pourront être plus ou moins masquées en intégrant dans cette infrastructure les algorithmes adéquats. / Multiplayer games users' have increased since the widespread use of the internet. Withthe arrival of rich portable devices and faster cellular wireless networks, multiplayer games on mobile phones and PDAs are becoming a reality. For multiplayer games to be playable, they should be highly interactive, fair and should have a consistent state for all the players. Because of the high wireless network latency and jitters, the issue of providing interactive games with consistent state across the network is non-trivial. In this thesis, we propose different approaches for achieving consistency in mobile multiplayer games in the face of high latency and large and variable jitters. Although absolute consistency is impossible to achieve because information takes time to travel from one place to another, we exploit the fact that strong consistency is not always required in the virtual world and can be relaxed in many cases. Our proposed approach uses the underlying network latency and the position of different objects in the virtual world to decide when to relax consistency and when to apply strong consistency mechanisms. We evaluate our approach by implementing these algorithms in J2ME based games played on mobile phones. The algorithms for consistency mechanism are very complex and are often intermixed with the game core logic's code, which makes it hard to program a game and to change its code in the future. We propose to separate the consistency mechanisms from the game logic and put them in a distributed component responsible for both consistency maintenance and communication over the network. We call this reusable component a Synchronization Medium.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate if the Pervasive GameFlow Model is suitable for evaluating Player Experience in Augmented Reality games. The work has described a definition of Augmented Reality, how it generally operates and reviewed common challenges when developing Augmented Reality applications. A prototype game has been developed, based on a previous concept of merging board games with computer games using Augmented Reality. After development, the game has been tested with a method based on the Pervasive GameFlow Model. Results showed the model to be suitable for future tests and evaluations, but did not produce data for evolving the game design. Generating such data would require execution of additional testing methods. / Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka om Pervasive GameFlow Modellen är lämplig för att utvärdera spelarupplevelse i Augmented Reality-spel. Arbetet har beskrivit en definition av Augmented Reality, hur det generellt fungerar och granskat vanliga utmaningar vid utveckling av Augmented Reality-applikationer. Ett prototypspel har utvecklats, baserat på ett tidigare koncept för att slå samman brädspel med datorspel med hjälp av Augmented Reality. Efter utveckling har spelet testats med en metod baserad på Pervasive GameFlow Modellen. Resultat visade att modellen var lämplig för framtida tester och utvärderingar, men producerade inte data för att utveckla speldesignen. Generering av sådan data skulle kräva utförande av ytterligare testmetoder.

<p>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. </p><p>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.</p>