The emphasis on making game development more accessible to novice users is becoming increasingly more common. Gone are the days when game development was a pursuit only available for those with a broad programming background or extensive technical skills. Today, game development has become much more approachable, with a wide variety of tools and resources targeted at both novice and experienced users. Despite being a focus point for many game engine companies, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to fully democratise game development. How could a tool for the adjustment of complex colliders’ shape in the Unity3D game engine targeted at game developers with little to no programming proficiency be designed and implemented? In this research study we delve into the process of creating a tool that enables adjustment of complex mesh colliders in Unity 3D's game engine, with an aim of making it accessible to users regardless of their previous experiences. A prototype of such a tool is developed using a design science strategic approach, which is later evaluated through interviews and thematic analysis. This study presents an exemplary approach to address the aforementioned task by providing the reader with an understanding of the tools used, how they were presented, and how the resulting prototype was perceived by its test users. The findings of this research study provides a framework for developing a tool that enables the adjustment of mesh colliders, while highlighting the significance of a comprehensive design process required when developing tools for novice users, and serves as a practical example of such a tool and how it could operate. Future research on the topic should focus on refining the design and features of the developed tool to further enhance its user friendliness.

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京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第24115号 / エネ博第448号 / 新制||エネ||84(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 下田 宏, 教授 宇根﨑 博信, 教授 黒崎 健 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

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Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 3D virtual environments can be used as therapy tools in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs); however, the development of such tools is time-consuming. A 3D virtual environment development platform for such tools has been developed specifically for the South African context, because of the language and culture sensitivity of these therapy tools. The 3D virtual environment development platform has a Lua scripting interface for specifying logic in the virtual environments. Lua is a textual programming language, and presents a challenge to ASDs therapists’ ability to create therapy tools without engaging an expert programmer. The aim of this research was to investigate the design and implementation of a visual programming environment to support non-expert programmers in scripting within the 3D virtual environment development platform. Various visual program representation techniques, reported in the literature, were examined to determine their appropriateness for adoption in our design. A visual programming language based on the “building-block” approach was considered the most suitable. The research resulted in the development of a visual script editor (VSE), based on an open source framework called the OpenBlocks library. The VSE successfully alleviated the syntax burden that textual programming languages place on non-expert programmers. The fitness of purpose of our VSE was exemplified in a sample 3D virtual environment that was scripted using the VSE. Despite the success, we argue that the applicability of the “building-block” approach is limited to domain-specific programming languages due to the absence of visual expressions for defining user-defined types, and for specifying hierarchy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming

The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to present a solution for how a graphical programming language with a functional mindset can be constructed with the help of inspiration from functional programming. An artefact was created by using design science as a research methodology and has in several iterations gone through development and testing to reassure the outcome works as intended. The graphical programming language which has been developed is a language that allows the programmer to code in depth, functions are written as blocks inside blocks and the language is made compact. A code structure in a JSON-format was developed at the same time as G#, allowing it to be presented in a texted data format. The purpose of the JSON-format was to enable execution of G# and the transformation to a text-based programming language. Implications can be made from this study by learning about how a graphical programming language can be built from scratch and what difficulties needs to be tackled to get a result that works as intended. G# was developed to only support a few selected and commonly used functions in programming due to time limitations. The final version of G# in this study can do calculations, handle lists and perform less complex algorithms. Under the development of G#’s graphical functions, the free tool Draw.io was used. Unknowingly from the start, Draw’s limitations made it not perform as expected. Therefore, it is recommended to investigate which available tools are most suited for the construction of the graphical functions before development begins. / Syftet med examensarbetet var att med hjälp av inspiration från funktionell programmering, presentera en lösning på hur ett nytt grafiskt programmeringsspråk med ett funktionellt djup och tänk kan konstrueras. Med hjälp av designbaserad forskning har en artefakt tagits fram som genomgått iterationer av utveckling och testning för att uppnå ett resultat som fungerar som tänkt. Det grafiska språket som tagits fram kallas för G# och är ett språk som tillåter programmeraren att programmera på djupet, funktioner skrivs som block inuti block och språket blir kompakt. Tillhörande G# så konstruerades en struktur i ett JSON-format för hur funktioner i G# kan representeras i ett textat dataformat. Syftet med JSON-formatet var att möjliggöra exekvering av G# och transformering till ett textbaserat programmeringsspråk. Av denna studie kan det dras lärdomar kring hur ett programmeringsspråk kan byggas upp från grunden och vilka svårigheter som måste tacklas för att få ett resultat som fungerar. På grund av begränsning av tid så utvecklades endast vanligt förekommande funktioner inom programmering till G#, språkets slutversion kan göra beräkningar, sköta hantering av listor och utföra enklare algoritmer. Vid utvecklingen av G# användes verktyget Draw.io för att konstruera funktioner. Verktyget var begränsat i funktionalitet och presterade inte enligt förväntan. Därför borde en undersökning som svarar på vilket typ av verktyg som är mest lämpligt för utvecklingen av de grafiska funktionerna göras innan utvecklingen börjar.

<p>Tools development is a sometimes overlooked process that is crucial for developing high quality games. The experience of the users will vary which makes usability an important issue as well as having good guidelines for communications and development of user interfaces. This report presents the development process of two different tools used in production of high-quality projects at Avalanche Studios and describes both the added functionality as well as the methods used to provide them.</p> / <p>Programmering av verktyg är en process som ofta är förbisedd men som är mycket viktig för utvecklingen av hög-kvalitativa spel. Den varierande kunskapsnivån hos användare gör att det är viktigt att fokusera på användarbarheten samt även ha bra riktlinjer för kommunikationer och utvecklingen av användargränssnitt. Den här rapporten presenterar hela utvecklingsprocessen av två olika verktyg som används vid utveckling av högkvalitativa projekt vid Avalanche Studios, och går igenom både ny funktionalitet samt även använda metoder för att uppnå detta.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Architecture, 2002. / "June 2001." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 346-352).

Tools development is a sometimes overlooked process that is crucial for developing high quality games. The experience of the users will vary which makes usability an important issue as well as having good guidelines for communications and development of user interfaces. This report presents the development process of two different tools used in production of high-quality projects at Avalanche Studios and describes both the added functionality as well as the methods used to provide them. / Programmering av verktyg är en process som ofta är förbisedd men som är mycket viktig för utvecklingen av hög-kvalitativa spel. Den varierande kunskapsnivån hos användare gör att det är viktigt att fokusera på användarbarheten samt även ha bra riktlinjer för kommunikationer och utvecklingen av användargränssnitt. Den här rapporten presenterar hela utvecklingsprocessen av två olika verktyg som används vid utveckling av högkvalitativa projekt vid Avalanche Studios, och går igenom både ny funktionalitet samt även använda metoder för att uppnå detta.

Visual scripting languages are used as alternatives to text programming to make coding easier. Visual programming languages provide a structure and a guidance that does not exist in text programming, which should make them easier to code with. Some users do however find that the structure in visual scripting languages makes it cumbersome to code. To find a design of visual scripting that subvert this and has a better user experience than contemporary designs, a prototype of a visual scripting interface was developed using an iterative design and testing cycle. When a final prototype had been developed, it was tested to see how it compared to text programming. From the tests performed, a few teachings were discovered. If-statements that grow perpendicularly to the rest of the code fit more information on the screen at the same time and can feel more natural and easier to parse for some users. Having a help menu with syntax-help makes it so that users do not have to leave the program, which increases programming speed. The visual coding elements in a visual scripting language need to be coloured such that the most important parts are the most visible; otherwise users have a hard time parsing the code. Showing existing variables that are in scope gives the user a good overview of what variables they can use. Having help menus where elements can be clicked to insert them at the user's text cursor reduces the chance of misspelling variables and gives the user confidence in the correctness of the code. Having visual coding elements that can change depending on context or by using toggles can make coding more intuitive and faster. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>