Search

Game reviews heavily influence public perception. User feedback is crucial for developers, offering valuable insights to enhance game quality. In this research, Metacritic game reviews for Elden Ring were analyzed for topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), and a hybrid model combining both to identify effective methods for extracting underlying themes in player feedback. We analyzed and interpreted these models' outputs to learn the game reviews. We aimed to identify the differences, similarities, and variations between the three to determine which provided more valuable and instructive information. Our findings indicate that each method successfully identified keywords with some similarities in identified words. The LDA model had the highest silhouette score, indicating the most distinct clustering. The LDA-BERT model had a 1% higher coherence score than LDA, indicating more meaningful topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article seeks to provide a set of heuristics for technical communication, addressing the newfound challenges to game developers as a result of the seemingly permanent shift to hybrid and remote work in this industry. In particular, this piece offers developers tangible ways in which they can facilitate productive and equitable means of technical communications that account for the unique needs of this kind of work that now takes place in almost exclusively remote and hybrid working situations. Method: This piece relies on both survey and interview data collected from nearly 300 members of the Independent Game Developers Association (IGDA) and at various games-based conferences (e.g., the Game Developers Conference) over a period of two years through a partnership grant between York University and the IGDA. Results: The results noted two key findings: First, the majority of game developers do not want to or intend to ever return to a fully physical office setting. Second, the results indicate that the shift to remote work more often negatively impacted female and non-binary developers, most likely due to the additional caregiving responsibilities traditionally emplaced on these groups. Conclusion: Technical communication is a central part of the game development process and has become even more pivotal as developers continue to operate under remote and hybrid working conditions. As such, the heuristics developed from this data focus on addressing the needs of these groups so that the remote and hybrid workplaces can operate as equitably as possible in this new industry model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores and highlights the differences between art styles in video games, and details how the use of them can allow for the expression of creative ideas and communicate messages through games as a medium. This article also investigates existing research and analyses various case studies of games with distinctive art styles. The term "art style" in the context of this article pertains to visual elements such as proportions and shading techniques, as opposed to encompassing sound design or animation. To effectively showcase the influence of art styles on creative expression, I have developed a practical prototype in the form of an art game titled The Maze of Nightmares, which contains features such as the ability to switch between multiple art styles as a creative tool to overcome obstacles. By doing so, the game addresses the topic of significant personal changes and how impactful they can be towards one's life, especially in the context of overcoming obstacles and solving problems. This way, players and audiences can observe differences between art styles in the context of an experience that reinforces the benefits of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utopian images in XR-games are often ambiguous. How can ambiguity be consciously designed in virtual worlds? What are the design principles for game designers? Ambiguity arises from discontinuity and decontextualization, from the deliberate omission of facts, and from the skillful superimposition of contradictory codes. An ontology of interactive media explains the elusive visual poetry and image perception. The five basic elements of media are presented. The model shows the key correlations of user, content, and technology in image perception. An overview of utopian representation as a cross-media phenomenon places game design in an interdisciplinary context. Six selected computer-generated illustrations show how the above design criteria can be successfully applied to the design of virtual worlds. The ambiguous utopia of an image exists only in a brief, irretrievable moment of our own perception. But this moment is valuable for designing real visions for a better future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: User involvement is widely accepted as key for designing effective applied games for health. This especially holds true for children and young people as target audiences, whose abilities, needs, and preferences can diverge substantially from those of adult designers and players. Nevertheless, there is little shared knowledge about how concretely children and young people have been involved in the design of applied games, let alone consensus guidance on how to do so effectively. Objective: The aim of this scoping review was to describe which user involvement methods have been used in the design of applied games with children and young people, how these methods were implemented, and in what roles children and young people were involved as well as what factors affected their involvement. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search and selection across the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using State of the Art through Systematic Review software for screening, selection, and data extraction. We then conducted a qualitative content analysis on the extracted data using NVivo. Results: We retrieved 1085 records, of which 47 (4.33%) met the eligibility criteria. The chief involvement methods were participatory design (20/47, 43%) and co-design (16/47, 37%), spanning a wide range of 45 concrete activities with paper prototyping, group discussions, and playtesting being the most frequent. In only half of the studies (24/47, 51%), children and young people participated as true design partners. Our qualitative content analysis suggested 5 factors that affect their successful involvement: comprehension, cohesion, confidence, accessibility, and time constraints. Conclusions: Co-design, participatory design, and similar high-level labels that are currently used in the field gloss over very uneven degrees of participation in design and a wide variety of implementations that greatly affect actual user involvement. This field would benefit from more careful consideration and documentation of the reason of user involvement. Future research should explore concrete activities and configurations that can address the common challenges of involving children and young people, such as comprehension, cohesion, confidence, and accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the children's games in the stories in the 100 best-selling children's picture books on online book sales sites during the pandemic period, in terms of the game theories of Piaget, Parten and Smilansky. While the universe of the study consists of picture children's books on all online book sales sites, the sample is the 100 best-selling children's picture books on these sites. The data in the examined books were evaluated with the "Book Review Form", which was created by evaluating the studies in the literature. This form is divided into two as general information and game theories. In the general information part of the form, there is information about the book such as the name of the book, its author, illustrator, publisher, while the game theories part of the game includes the game theories of Piaget, Parten and Smilansky and the subtitles of these theories. The study was analyzed using content analysis, one of the qualitative research methods. The MAXQDA program was used for content analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined that 56 of the 100 best-selling children's books on online book sales sites included children's games. The information obtained was discussed in the context of preschool children's literature and game theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists have long known that wages are not all that attract highly skilled workers to jobs. Identity rewards in organizations of work are opportunities for workers to affirm valued identities. Past research has found that workers who value these rewards will protect them when they are threatened. Other scholars have shown that managers can use identity rewards to control and elicit cooperation from workers. Another body of scholarship has explored how gendered assumptions and expectations are built into organizations of work. Based on 2 years of field research and 18 interviews with games industry professionals, my research unites these lines of inquiry, by examining how gendered identity rewards entice game developers for game developers to forgo higher wages and more stable conditions in other areas of software development, reinforcing both exploitive class relations and a culture hostile to marginalized workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase in market needs, game development teams are facing a high demand of creating new games every year. Although several methodologies and tools were introduced to support the game development life cycle, there is still a lack of evidence that these techniques improve game requirements understandability among development teams. The use of models in requirements engineering is considered a promising approach to support requirements elicitation, negotiation, validation, and management. In the context of game development, game designers argue that models are hard to learn and would restrict their creativity. In this paper, we introduce a novel use case-based game modeling approach that extends the standard UML use case diagram. The proposed technique allows for better representation of game-related requirements and promotes a common understanding of game requirements among game development teams. Our approach is implemented in a tool, called game use case modeling, and its applicability is demonstrated using four well-known games, Super Mario Bros, Tetris, Just Dance, and The Walking Dead. Moreover, in order to assess the perceived understandability, learnability, and usefulness of the proposed approach, we have conducted a survey involving 29 participants from the game development community. Results indicate a very satisfactory agreement regarding the added value of the proposed approach and a willingness of adoption by the game development community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital games are a powerful means for creating enticing, beautiful, educational, and often highly addictive interactive experiences that impact the lives of billions of players worldwide. We explore what informs the design and construction of good games to learn how to speed-up game development. In particular, we study to what extent languages, notations, patterns, and tools, can offer experts theoretical foundations, systematic techniques, and practical solutions they need to raise their productivity and improve the quality of games and play. Despite the growing number of publications on this topic there is currently no overview describing the state-of-the-art that relates research areas, goals, and applications. As a result, efforts and successes are often one-of, lessons learned go overlooked, language reuse remains minimal, and opportunities for collaboration and synergy are lost. We present a systematic map that identifies relevant publications and gives an overview of research areas and publication venues. In addition, we categorize research perspectives along common objectives, techniques, and approaches, illustrated by summaries of selected languages. Finally, we distill challenges and opportunities for future research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes user work during open game development and presents an alternative model for participatory design. During open development, developers publicly distribute incomplete games, discuss their design goals, and facilitate user feedback. This article examines user work on an open development forum using conventional content and discourse uptake analyses. It finds that users customize their participation, engage with multiple objects of design, and affect design through collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: On the basis of ethical and methodological arguments, numerous calls have been made to increase the involvement of end users in the development of serious games (SGs). Involving end users in the development process is considered a way to give them power and control over educational software that is designed for them. It can also help identify areas for improvement in the design of SGs and improve their efficacy in targeted learning outcomes. However, no recognized guidelines or frameworks exist to guide end users' involvement in SG development. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe how end users are involved in the development of SGs for health care professions education. Methods: We examined the literature presenting the development of 45 SGs that had reached the stage of efficacy evaluation in randomized trials. One author performed data extraction using an ad hoc form based on a design and development framework for SGs. Data were then coded and synthesized on the basis of similarities. The coding scheme was refined iteratively with the involvement of a second author. Results are presented using frequencies and percentages. Results: End users' involvement was mentioned in the development of 21 of 45 SGs. The number of end users involved ranged from 12 to 36. End users were often involved in answering specific concerns that arose during the SG design (n=6) or in testing a prototype (n=12). In many cases, researchers solicited input from end users regarding the goals to reach (n=10) or the functional esthetics of the SGs (n=7). Most researchers used self-reported questionnaires (n=7). Conclusions: Researchers mentioned end users' involvement in the development of less than half of the identified SGs, and this involvement was also poorly described. These findings represent significant limitations to evaluating the impact of the involvement of end users on the efficacy of SGs and in making recommendations regarding their involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: One of the most serious concerns of parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists is children's independent living, particularly of those with special educational needs (SEN). Purpose-built programs for the acquisition of independent living skills are considered a priority in special education settings. The main problem is the inefficacy of detached interventions to meet the needs of as many students as possible. OBJECTIVE: Our response is to create transmedia applications for inclusive learning environments. To this end, we have taken a participatory design approach to develop a project for Daily Living Skills Training by combining special education pedagogies, filmic methods, game design and innovative technologies. In this paper, we present the design and development of Waking up In the Morning (WUIM), and its improvement through user-based and expert-based evaluations by students, therapists and developers. The main research purpose is to confirm if: (1) the final products of the WUIM project could be educational resources for students with SEN and (2) the common gaming experience could promote collaborative learning, regardless of students' cognitive profile. METHODS: During the alpha phase, we developed and improved WUIM. In July 2020, we implemented and evaluated WUIM in special education settings (beta-phase). More specifically, a quantitative and qualitative formative evaluation was conducted with children who have developmental disabilities (N = 11), their therapists (N = 7) and developers (N = 2). Methods of data collection included questionnaires filled in by therapists and developers, participant observation by researchers and interviews with children. RESULTS: The results of the formative evaluation were generally positive regarding four-factor groups that shape the learning experience: Content, Technical characteristics, User state of mind, Characteristics that allow learning. After the design team reviewed the potential users and experts' comments that were mainly related to the user interface, the application was improved. CONCLUSIONS: The two hypotheses have been largely confirmed. Overall, we propose a simplified development process that showcases the importance of arts-based methods and aesthetics which deliver representational fidelity. The study reveals the necessity of developing transmedia learning materials to meet each individual's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on over 60 interviews and 120 surveys with indie game developers to illustrate relational labour and entrepreneurship practices in cultural industries and their relationship to 'good work'. We first outline the changing organization of games work, the shift towards so-called indie production, and the associated rejection of creatively constrained, hierarchically managed production models. In the move towards small-scale games making, indies jettisoned producers because producers represented industry modes of work, values and creative constraints. But indies are now struggling to manage production processes without producers. We use developer narratives to highlight how this 'missing producer' work is redistributed in the form of cultural entrepreneurship, cultural intermediation and relational labour. This relational labour simultaneously supports and undermines sustainable production practices, as developers take on impossible workloads associated with networking and connecting with others. We next illustrate how the inherent valorization of growth and expansion in cultural entrepreneurship discourses may force developers to mimic industry practices and organization in order to find funding, but these practices inherently conflict with their desire to focus on making games as small, sustainable and creatively autonomous teams. Ultimately, we want to demonstrate how interviews and time spent with indie developers help us account for otherwise invisible and ambiguous cultural labour practices and discourses, thus allowing us to make sense of the larger context of cultural production and its possible futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background.: Relatively little is known about the role of educators in serious game design and development and their experiences with serious game implementation. We investigate educators' perceived challenges deriving from their involvement as subject matter experts during the serious game development trajectory. Methods.: A secondary analysis of data collected through an exploratory survey about serious game design and development approaches was carried out. The sample included 41 educators from post-secondary education institutions across North America. An in-depth analysis of qualitative data revealed educators' roles in game development, the challenges they faced, and the strategies they deployed in serious game design, development, and implementation. Results.: Educators, as serious game designers, perceived challenges to be administrative, design-related, attitudinal, and communicative. Strategies deployed to overcome challenges during the concept development, pre-production, and production stages of game design include the creation of games that balance learning and fun, and enhanced team collaboration through cultural mediation. During the post-production stage, although challenges are acknowledged and some strategies, such as improving the usability of a game, are deployed, a clear pattern in challenges and mitigating strategies could not be observed. Conclusion.: Serious game design and development can be improved by nurturing diversity of ideas and adopting creative design and development methodologies. Serious game implementation can be improved by devising effective administrative and attitudinal strategies, and incorporating diversity of ideas into target curricula. Additionally, clear directives about usability should be devised, and academic objectivity towards serious games needs to be be created. Strategies to achieve these goals should focus on developing trust between target users, the technical development team, and educators as serious game implementers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Young children experience a significant amount of preoperative anxiety prior to surgical procedures and the induction of the general anaesthesia. Reducing preoperative anxiety is often performed by means of premedication. The use of medication has several side effects which could have a negative effect in children. The development and use of a non-pharmacological method for anxiety reduction prior to anaesthesia is subject of several recent studies. In this research paper the development of HospiAvontuur, a game for a smartphone or a mobile device, is described. The objective of the game is to inform young children (age group 4–7 years old) and their parents about an upcoming hospital admission for elective surgery. Materials and Methods: The game was developed and tested during different stages. In the first phase, stakeholders (i.e. children and their parents), were consulted about their views on preoperative preparation. In the second phase the essential game components were defined, followed by the game development. During the third phase the prototype version and the beta version of the game were tested with children of the age group. Results: Stakeholders showed a positive attitude towards a game for preoperative preparation for young children. Results from the testing of the game showed a positive result on the overall fun, characters appreciation and specific game elements appreciation. Children scored high on the knowledge questions. Conclusion: The final version of HospiAvontuur is a game to inform children and their parents for an upcoming admission at the hospital for elective surgery. The game was tested and optimised according to stakeholders feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-driven game development (MDGD) introduces model-driven methodology to the computer game domain, shifting the focus of game development from coding to modeling to make game development faster and easier. The research on MDGD is concerned with both the general model-driven software development methodology and the particular characteristics of game development. People in the MDGD community have proposed several approaches in the past decades, addressing both the technology and the development process in the context of MDGD. This article presents the state-of-art of MDGD research based on a literature review of 26 approaches in the field. The review is structured around five perspectives: target game domains, domain frameworks, modelling languages, tooling, and evaluation methods. The article also includes reflections and a discussion of the challenges within MDGD [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws from ethnographic work in the game industry to challenge claims that digital platforms "democratize" cultural production by supporting small teams. I show how game developers exemplify the New Spirit of Capitalism in their search for creative autonomy outside of the risk-averse blockbuster console industry. Their risk of cultural production is ostensibly reduced by tools that leverage big data. By following one studio making free-to-play mobile games, I test the celebratory claims of democratization against the reality of implementing these now-essential analytics tools. The studio's experiences demonstrate how mobile production for digital platforms intensifies game labor rather than facilitating its democratization in any straightforward way. It restricts creative autonomy, exacerbates the burden of risk on developers, and reinforces existing market and gender inequities. Rather than creatively liberating developers and expanding access to game development, data-driven design for digital platforms introduces new gatekeepers and literacies of exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital games have the tools and capacity to build interactive worlds that can both share knowledge and decolonize. Even though games have been accused of reinforcing white supremacist systems that tend to privilege profit over humanity, digital games by Indigenous and Indigenist artists and scholars provide evidence that games have the tools to facilitate decolonization. Along these lines, this paper is an exploration of how digital games can help to decolonize and reframe how Indigenous literature is read in the postsecondary classroom, specifically academic editions of Indigenous literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to advance a framework for understanding and teaching game design in higher education, in order to address complexities inherent in teaching game design courses. Everyday teaching and learning game design often deviate from the standard textbook model of game design. In reality everyday teaching and learning operate with handling game design curriculum, how to think games, and how to organise the development process. The presented framework merge curriculum, thinking, and process guided by the game design concept of juiciness. The framework will be presented by dismantling the standard textbook model of game design into three; game design (curriculum), game design thinking (thinking), and game development (organisation). In this perspective game design is concerned with game mechanics, game design thinking preoccupied with paper prototyping, metaphor, and framing, while game developments addresses player experience including play and game testing. This article will coin vertical design as juiciness as opposed to horizontal design understood as expanding system layout. Juiciness will be placed as a guiding principle in the relationship between designers and designed content as an aspect of designer intentions and motivations. Lastly, the content centric framework will be presented by merging game design, game design thinking, game development, vertical design with selected aspects of accepted software development strategies as an approach to teaching and learning game design in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how game developers successfully 'pull off' game development, collaborating in the absence of consensus and working with recalcitrant and wilful technologies, shedding light on the games we play and those that make them, but also how we can be forced to work together by the platforms we choose to use. The concept of 'boundary objects' is exported from Science and Technology Studies (STS) to highlight the vital coordinating role of game development software. Rather than a mutely obedient tool, game software such as Unity 3D is depicted by developers as exhibiting magical, even agential, properties. It becomes 'voodoo software'. This software acts as a boundary object, aligning game developers at points of technical breakdown. Voodoo software is tidied away in later accounts of game development, emphasizing how ethnographies of software development provide an anchor from which to investigate cultural production and co-creative practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Game development is commonly seen as a collaborative effort, with teams cooperating on the same project. Nowadays, a variety of cloud-based services have shown the benefits of performing tasks in real-time collaboration with others. In this article, we present a system for collaborative game level editing. We model this problem as a special instance of merging labeled directed acyclic graphs. We propose an algorithm that guarantees that the shared game level is always coherent between edits, both hierarchically and semantically. We establish real-time collaboration by initiating merges automatically and by augmenting the game editor interface to allow users to monitor all others edits in real time. We validate our algorithm by merging complex edits and large game levels. We further validate the collaborative workflow by running a user study with expert game developers, showing that our system works well and collaborative workflows are beneficial to game development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the history, practices and impact of the Indie Megabooth and its founders in terms of their role as a 'cultural intermediary' in promoting and supporting independent or 'indie' game development. The Megabooth is a crucial broker, gatekeeper and orchestrator of not only perceptions of and markets for indie games but also the socio-material possibility of indie game making itself. In its highly publicized outward-facing role, the Megabooth ascribes legitimacy and value to specific games and developers, but its behind-the-scenes logistical and brokerage activities are of equal if not greater importance. The Megabooth mediates between a diverse set of actors and stakeholders with multiple (often conflicting) needs and goals and in doing so helps constitute the field of production, distribution, reception and consumption for indie games. 'Indie-ness' and independence are actively performed in and through intermediaries such as the Megabooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, the advancement of modern digital technology has increasingly influenced playing and learning. This may cause serious problems in children because it possibly encourages them to obsess over something else easily. However, most parents want their children to be good in classes. Additionally, mathematics is one of the most basic skills that most parents expect their children to master. In order to encourage students to pay more attention to mathematics, the mathematical game referred as to 'Animo Math' has been developed for children aged 5-7 years. This game enables children to pick the cartoon animals representing themselves while playing the game. Colourful cartoon and music are utilised to attract the attention of children. More importantly, the game aims to serve children who have different ages and mathematical skills; therefore artificial intelligence (AI) is adopted. In order to develop the computer-based role-playing game, a usability testing is conducted to obtain better aspects of building this educational computer game for children. We anticipate that our research findings related to this game will encourage more educators and others to develop more software applications in order to enhance students' mathematics learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital games have the tools and capacity to build interactive worlds that can both share knowledge and decolonize. Even though games have been accused of reinforcing white supremacist systems that tend to privilege profit over humanity, digital games by Indigenous and Indigenist artists and scholars provide evidence that games have the tools to facilitate decolonization. Along these lines, this paper is an exploration of how digital games can help to decolonize and reframe how Indigenous literature is read in the postsecondary classroom, specifically academic editions of Indigenous literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, new generation information technologies are evolving rapidly. In colleges laboratory management faces on a great challenge of suiting the development. Furthermore, training mobile game developers requires an excellent experimental environment. However, there are a lot of problems in experiment course of mobile game development. In order to solve those problems, technologies such as private cloud computing, game engineer, teaching resources management and cloud testing are combined together to build a simulation framework of mobile game development, which is suitable to the demands of colleges. It has been proved that this framework can satisfy the requirements of mobile game teaching dur to its higher reliability, extendibility and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Videogames containing cultural-heritage have been constructed, consumed and critiqued in increasing quantities over the past 20 years. One of the key concerns expressed in both formal and informal literature surrounding these games has been the concept of accuracy in relation to the represented cultural-heritage. However, limited dialogue between videogame developers, gamers and cultural-heritage professionals has meant that there is surprisingly little primary data regarding how these groups are constructing, experiencing or analysing ideas of accuracy. This paper aims to provide a foundation for understanding how and why accuracy is conceptualised, implemented and assessed in videogames by the developers, gamers and cultural-heritage professionals who are involved in their creation, consumption and critique. To achieve this, the article critically analyses 156 interviews conducted with members of the videogame industry, gamers and cultural-heritage professionals. This analysis uses the concepts of reconstructionist, constructionist, and deconstructionist history to frame responses to the questions ‘what is accuracy in cultural-heritage videogames?’ and ‘does accuracy matter in cultural-heritage videogames – why or why not?’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The existing three-dimensional (3D) object layout methods are focused mainly on indoor scenes and they are limited for outdoor applications. In this study, we propose a data-driven method for outdoor scene modeling by using fast retrieval and automatic optimization layout techniques. Unlike the current methods, we first employ an improved manifold ranking algorithm in the sketch-based 3D model retrieval stage, which achieves higher accuracy. Next, according to the particular properties of outdoor architectures, specialized constraints are then proposed to define an energy function, which meets both the functional and aesthetic requirements. Finally, we cast the auto-arrangement as a combinatorial optimization problem, which we solve using an optimization algorithm. In contrast to the earlier version of this method, which was presented at Cyberworlds 2016, this extended version combines simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization algorithms, which have the advantages of rapid convergence and avoiding becoming trapped by local minima. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is more intuitive and effective for modeling 3D scenes, and can be employed in the actual development of game scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examine some of the ways in which girls are discursively set up as subordinate in relation to boys and men by and within the digital games industry and culture at large, and how they push back on these imposed subjects positions when engaging in media production (game development) under both regular and inverse conditions. Expanding on our previous research on gender and game play, this project explores how the hegemonic discourses of female participation in games culture are taken up by girls who want to make their own digital games. We employ a poststructural understanding of gender and power as fluid and produced through and within social relations to demonstrate how participants are not helpless victims of subjection. Rather, these girls are active in the construction of their own subjectivities, leveraging different aspects of their identity and/or exercising an institutionally sanctioned (albeit temporary) autonomy to resist discursive positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The flipped, or inverted, classroom model of instruction has been an effective pedagogical strategy for over a decade (Baker 2000; Lage et al. in Journal of Economic Education, 31(1), 30-43, 2000; Bergmann and Sams 2011; Wright 2011; Pearson in Education Canada, 52(5), 2012; Butt 2012; Bates and Galloway 2012). Arguably, to promote learning, attention should be given to the design of the online learning resources and in-class learning activities that form the foundation of a flipped classroom. While it is possible to completely rely on existing instructional content for a course, instructors typically develop all or part of the instructional resources and in-class activities. This study investigates an undergraduate course which utilized instructor created instructional materials when adopting a flipped classroom model. Student grades and post-survey data revealed the impact that elements of the course had on learning and motivation. Students found the structure of the class and the instructional materials helpful for learning, and had an overwhelmingly positive experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background BLOCKYLAND is a city building game based on the concept of cellular automata (CA), and urban cellular automata. The game has CA-like processes that invert the role of players from passive observers in other CA applications to active thinkers. The processes challenge players to apply logical thinking and decision making from the perspective of serious games. The players’ mission is to build a city by applying the provided CA rules. Two types of CA rules are provided: 1) The logical rule, whereby players apply to build the city according to the preset conditions, and 2) The optional rule, whereby they may apply to upgrade an existing building for an extra score. Aim This article aims to present the design and development of CA-based game, BLOCKYLAND and describe its effectiveness as an instructional tool to enhance logical thinking. Results Results from the mixed-method pilot study show that BLOCKYLAND enhanced players’ logical thinking after the gameplay. Additionally, from the extensive debriefing following the game, participants stated that the game aided them with transforming their game experiences into learning experiences and relating the logical thinking practice into real-life application. Results Conclusion. As a combination of logical thinking practices and a serious game, BLOCKYLAND has several implications for educational stakeholders; both theoretical and practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Serious games have demonstrated positive effects on adolescent eating and physical activity. The purpose of this paper is to describe how constructs from social cognitive theory (SCT) and self-determination theory (SDT) were operationalized in the development of the serious game CREATURE 101 (C-101) to engage players in acquiring motivation, knowledge, skills, and personal agency.Approach. C-101 was developed from an evaluated nutrition and science curriculum for middle school youth, Choice, Control & Change (C3). Its behavior change goals are three pairs of “increase/decrease” behaviors: increase water / decease sweetened beverages, increase fruit and vegetables / decrease processed snacks (chips, candy etc), and increase physical activity (light, medium, intense) / decrease recreational screen time (watching TV, playing video games for fun) through a “virtual companion care” motif where the players bring their adopted creatures back to health. Several procedures or strategies were used to develop the story line and activities in C-101 to address autonomy, competence and relatedness from SDT and outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and behavioral capability from SCT, constructs shown in previous studies as likely to enhance effectiveness of nutrition and physical activity interventions.Implications. This description of how the theory constructs and procedures were used to create an entertaining serious game based on an existing evaluated health-related curriculum can help game developers, curriculum developers, and educators who wish to expand existing curricula through the development and integration of games into their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay1 examines the ambiguous character of videogame console modification chips (MOD chips) in the space of videogame piracy. While it is possible for these chips to be used to “pirate” versions of games for these devices, they also expand the utility of the devices by adding capabilities. Perhaps more significantly, MOD chips also enable users to create software and videogames that run on these consoles outside the typical rules and regulations of the videogame industry. Ethnographic work amongst Nintendo DS (“dual screen”) MOD communities is examined to illuminate this understudied space of cultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Survivance (www.survivance.org) is an indigenous social impact game that honours storytelling and art as self- determined pathways to healing from historical trauma caused by colonization in Turtle Island (North America). Survivance is adapted from the multimedia health and wellness project Discovering Our Story, which was developed by the non- profit organization Wisdom of the Elders alongside indigenous storytellers. A playtesting study of the prototype was conducted with urban indigenous players living in Portland, Oregon, to determine the impact of Survivance. This paper describes the development process, design, playtesting, and outcomes of playtesting the game in the context of biskaabiiyang methodology, an Anishinaabe approach of "returning to ourselves". Playtesting shows that intergenerational exchanges of traditions, stories, and art practices are pathways to wellbeing that influence the player's self, various forms of community, and the greater world, while also fostering a reciprocal relationship with spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a peer assessment-based game development approach is proposed for improving students' learning achievements, motivations and problem-solving skills. An experiment has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in a science course at an elementary school. A total of 167 sixth graders participated in the experiment, 82 of whom were assigned to the experimental group and learned with the peer assessment-based game development approach, while 85 students were in the control group and learned with the conventional game development approach. From the empirical results, it was found that the proposed approach could effectively promote students' learning achievement, learning motivation, problem-solving skills, as well as their perceptions of the use of educational computer games. Moreover, it was found from the open-ended questions that most of the students perceived peer assessment-based game development as an effective learning strategy that helped them improve their deep learning status in terms of 'in-depth thinking,' 'creativity,' and 'motivation.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Didactic approaches to Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) have been shown to yield limited outcomes when compared to approaches that stimulate peer discussion and debate. Creating effective interventions, which stimulate peer involvement, remains a demanding task and finding a solution that is not only engaging but also pedagogically sound is vital. A case thus exists for exploring how game technology might facilitate more feasible solutions. This paper presents the development approach of a digital game: PR:EPARe (Positive Relationships: Eliminating Coercion and Pressure in Adolescent Relationships), designed by a cross-disciplinary team of UK researchers from Coventry University's Studies in Adolescent Sexual Health (SASH) research group and the Serious Games Institute (SGI). Psychological targets for game content were identified through Intervention Mapping (IM) and the game design process was based on the Four-Dimensional Framework of Learning (4DF) emphasizing the context of deployment, learner profiling and the pedagogical perspective that influence the mode of representation of the learning content. Early efficacy testing of the game solution was validated through a cluster-randomized controlled trial in local schools (n = 505) indicated some positive outcomes in favour of the game-based approach, based on self-reported measures of psycho-social preparedness for avoiding coercion (F [3, 501] = 15.306, p < .001, = 0.084). Analysis of observation data suggests that blending this interactive game-based approach with traditional classroom delivery encouraged the teachers and students to engage in communal discussions and debriefing during and after game play. Together, the results demonstrated real benefits for pedagogy-driven game-based approaches to support the delivery of RSE within a classroom setting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Computer game development has been shown to be an effective hook for motivating students to learn both introductory and advanced computer science topics. While games can be made from scratch, to simplify the programming required game development often uses game engines that handle complicated or frequently used components of the game. These game engines present the opportunity to strengthen programming skills and expose students to a range of fundamental computer science topics. While educational efforts have been effective in using game engines to improve computer science education, there have been no published papers describing and evaluating students building a game engine from scratch as part of their course work. This paper presents the Dragonfly-approach in which students build a fully functional game engine from scratch and make a game using their engine as part of a junior-level course. Details on the programming projects are presented, as well as an evaluation of the results from two offerings that used Dragonfly. Student performance on the projects as well as student assessments demonstrates the efficacy of having students build a game engine from scratch in strengthening their programming skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer and video games have much in common with the strategies used in special education. Free resources for game development are becoming more widely available, so lay computer users, such as teachers and other practitioners, now have the capacity to develop games using a low budget and a little self-teaching. This article provides a guideline for teacher-, clinician-, practitioner-, and parent-developers on the development of a game for the education and/or training of students with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current computer conflict simulation games, or wargames, are opaque in the sense that most of the game mechanisms are not directly visible to the players and are frequently not described in user accessible documentation, have a transient lifetime that is mainly shaped by the evolution of graphics hardware and processor speed, and do not, in contrast with, for example, the well-known abstract board games CHESS and GO, have the technical prerequisites for critical intellectual discussion that the thought-intensive and knowledge-rewarding character of these games seems to warrant. The main reason for this state of affairs is that many of the mechanisms of the games, and in particular the details of how the game state changes over time, are directly expressed in computer code. This is purely a technical problem, and it has a straightforward solution, namely, treating this information as data by creating a formalism for describing not just the game map and playing pieces but also all the game rules including the “sequence of play.” The article suggests such a formalism and shows a complete specification of a simple, but complicated enough for present purposes, “introductory” board wargame. This formalism, with tools that support it, can provide an unambiguous authoritative definition of the rules, accessible by both human and computer players; would allow existing board wargames to be played on a computer, without any simplifications or sacrifices of rule details; and may allow construction of more advanced computer players, since a complete formal specification of the game rules is available as input to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current computer conflict simulation games, or wargames, are opaque in the sense that most of the game mechanisms are not directly visible to the players and are frequently not described in user accessible documentation, have a transient lifetime that is mainly shaped by the evolution of graphics hardware and processor speed, and do not, in contrast with, for example, the well-known abstract board games CHESS and GO, have the technical prerequisites for critical intellectual discussion that the thought-intensive and knowledge-rewarding character of these games seems to warrant. The main reason for this state of affairs is that many of the mechanisms of the games, and in particular the details of how the game state changes over time, are directly expressed in computer code. This is purely a technical problem, and it has a straightforward solution, namely, treating this information as data by creating a formalism for describing not just the game map and playing pieces but also all the game rules including the "sequence of play." The article suggests such a formalism and shows a complete specification of a simple, but complicated enough for present purposes, "introductory" board wargame. This formalism, with tools that support it, can provide an unambiguous authoritative definition of the rules, accessible by both human and computer players; would allow existing board wargames to be played on a computer, without any simplifications or sacrifices of rule details; and may allow construction of more advanced computer players, since a complete formal specification of the game rules is available as input to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on an action research that was conducted to address difficulties with the development of multimedia applications. These difficulties were associated with the programming (scripting) parts of the development environment that were required to create the interactive elements within them. Initially, a learning environment based on adaptive hypermedia was constructed to provide for students with different backgrounds. Unfortunately a large amount of the content that was developed became redundant when the development software changed. Anecdotally, I was aware of these difficulties, but an analysis of questionnaire data that had been collected at the end of each course offerings, revealed a Difficulty factor that could be reduced to a value. When we looked at this figure for arts and then computing students, we found that arts students found these elements significantly more difficult than the computing. This in itself was expected but their respective values provided a metric to use in future evaluations. What followed was a longitudinal study that involved an action research to resolve the difference in this metric; the result hopefully being that students managed the development environment irrespective of their background. This involved presenting the framework for the development in a more abstract way so that global commands could be planned by the group and then used within individually created sections. A project based instructional methodology suited this course and authentic projects were used. Students were expected to engage in all aspects of the project, including the interactive elements. We avoided the situation where the arts group member became responsible for the graphic design alone. Peer review and peer assessment were embedded within the course to ensure that students maintained their engagement and got meaningful feedback that could be included in their projects. The instructional methods used resulted in there being an emphasis on all the parts of the project, and a subsequent valuing of all the components required for the project's completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Games together with manga and anime as represented by Japanese technological advances are highly evaluated in other countries. In recent years, games have been developing at a fast rate and a deep understanding of the game development procedures is needed in order to keep up with the advancements in technology. Yet, there has been no consistent education program designed specifically for game production in the Japanese higher education institutions. In contrast to this, game education is on the rise among American and European Universities. A curriculum framework has even been created by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) with positive progress shown by cooperating with the industry. As very few efforts have been made so far in Japan to develop an education program for game development, there was no common ground where production methodology could be designed and taught. Due to this the industry developed its own unique production styles, and production methods became a trade secret, complicating the relationship between the universities and the industry. Current game development education in Japan consists mostly of lectures conducted by part-time teaching staff hired by several colleges. In response to this, at the Tokyo University of Technology (TUT), we have designed a curriculum in collaboration with Premium Agency, Inc. that aims to offer training in the practical aptitudes that are demanded by the game development industry. We have added lessons to the traditional faculty curriculum, combining lectures and exercises in a game development context, leading to the number of students that are acquiring knowledge in game development skills such as programming, CG and planning to grow year by year. As a result, the development of this game oriented curriculum has been strongly welcomed by the game industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On one hand, web services have demonstrated their important roles in the field of computing. On the other, networked games need server support, which is usually based on socket programming. For example, in a two-player take-turn game using TCP protocol, a server communicates and coordinates the two game GUIs utilized by the two players. This gives rise to one important research question, "Can the server take the advantages of web services in order to replace the sockets while supporting networked games?" This article describes some technical aspects for accomplishing this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is to determine how the engineering practices common in online game development may be approached differently to promote more diverse online gaming scenarios. The technical difficulties in providing online gaming are not trivial, requiring substantially larger budgets compared with their non-online counterparts: Commercial failure of an online game could be costly. Therefore, when considering alternate engineering approaches, those that appear tried and tested in other domains, and hence may be lower-cost solutions, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Digital Future Lab enables University of Washington Bothell students to apply multiple interactive media skills in a wide range of endeavors--from creating a commercial transmedia game franchise to developing a simulation that raises awareness about bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After a literature review published by Nascimento et. al. (2017), the research team noticed the lack of studies focused on game controllers' accessibility during use by children with Down syndrome. In view of that, this research describes a mobile game development and its usability analyses, which were created to evaluate the accessibility of touchscreen gestural interfaces. The methodology was organized into three steps: bibliographic research and the definition of the project guidelines, the game development, and its evaluation. The guidelines used were based on a study made by Nascimento et. al. (2019) of the impairments that children can have, their game preferences found on Prena's article (2014), games accessibility guidelines for people with intellectual deficiency from the Includification Book (2012), a manual of touchscreen gestural interfaces from Android and iOS and a game development framework from Schuytema (2008). Then, for the usability analyses, the team decided to first submit the game to a group of experts in order to make some improvements before submitting it to the audience. In this way, two evaluations were done, a heuristic test with usability specialists and a cognitive walkthrough with health professionals. The list of heuristics used on the tests was created by a mash up of the Breyer evaluation (2008) and the recommendations of the Able Games Association (2012) and the cognitive one followed the Preece, Sharp and Rogers (2007) recommendations. The results found reveal some challenges in the field and adjustments, mainly in the narrative, game goals and interface feedback, that should be addressed as soon as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A game engine to create games as multi-agent systems. • The engine definition leans on a formal specification of a multi-agent system. • The behaviour specification system is based on first-order logic. • Game mechanics can be defined by just five conditions and four actions. • A set of use cases are presented along with their game mechanics. Video games are applications that present design patterns that resemble multi-agent systems. Game objects or actors are like autonomous agents that interact with each other to describe complex systems. The purpose of this work is to develop a game engine to build games as multi-agent systems. The actors or game engine agents have a set of properties and behaviour rules with the end to interact with the environment of the game. The behaviour definition is established through a formal semantic based on predicate logic. The proposed engine tries to fulfil the basic requirements of the multi-agent systems, by adjusting the characteristics of the system, without affecting its potential. Finally, a set of games are introduced to validate the operation and possibilities of the engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain Analysis (DA) plays an important role in Model Driven Development (MDD) and Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM). However, most formal DA methods are heavy weight and not practical sometimes. For instance, when computer games are developed, the problem domain (game design) is decided gradually within numerous iterations. It is not practical to fit a heavy-weight DA in such an agile process. In this research, we propose a light-weight DA which can be embedded in the original game development process. The DA process is based on a game ontology which serves for both game design and domain analysis. In this paper, we introduce the ontology and demonstrate how to use it in the domain analysis process. We discuss the quality and evaluate the ontology with a user acceptance survey. The test result shows that most potential users considered the ontology useful and easy to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]