Search

Background: Serious games are risk-free environments training various medical competencies, such as clinical reasoning, without endangering patients' safety. Furthermore, serious games provide a context for training situations with unpredictable outcomes. Training these competencies is particularly important for healthcare professionals in emergency medicine. Methods: Based on these considerations, we designed, implemented, and evaluated a serious game in form of an emergency department, containing the features of a virtual patient generator, a chatbot for medical history taking with self-formulated questions, artificially generated faces based on an artificial intelligence algorithm, and feedback for students. The development process was based on an already existing framework resulting in an iterative procedure between development and evaluation. The serious game was evaluated using the System Usability Scale and the User Experience Questionnaire. Results: The System Usability Scale provided a substantial result for the usability. In terms of the user experience, four scales yielded positive results, whereas two scales yielded neutral results. Conclusion: The evaluation of both usability and user experience yielded overall positive results, while simultaneously identifying potential areas for improvement. Further studies will address the implementation of additional game design elements, and testing student learning outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Higher education (HE) has become a common pathway into game development careers. Previous research with students and educators has shown how game development HE exemplifies a "creative industries" approach that seemingly marries technical and creative skills, professionalism and passion, and individualistic entrepreneurism and interdisciplinary collaboration. However, little research has considered the varied institutional contexts such students and educators find themselves entrenched in. In this article, we argue that game development HE does not simply marry the technical and creative but is instead torn between different disciplinary cultures, ideologies, and aims. Drawing from data on 119 game development HE programs in Australia, we show that while game development HE is consistently positioned as a pathway toward student employability, just what skills and identities are emphasized as crucial for such employability varies pending on the program's institutional context—ultimately showing that combining creativity and technology is neither a straightforward nor neutral process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mevzu is the property of Ali Sever and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background Serious games are risk-free environments training various medical competencies, such as clinical reasoning, without endangering patients’ safety. Furthermore, serious games provide a context for training situations with unpredictable outcomes. Training these competencies is particularly important for healthcare professionals in emergency medicine. Methods Based on these considerations, we designed, implemented, and evaluated a serious game in form of an emergency department, containing the features of a virtual patient generator, a chatbot for medical history taking with self-formulated questions, artificially generated faces based on an artificial intelligence algorithm, and feedback for students. The development process was based on an already existing framework resulting in an iterative procedure between development and evaluation. The serious game was evaluated using the System Usability Scale and the User Experience Questionnaire. Results The System Usability Scale provided a substantial result for the usability. In terms of the user experience, four scales yielded positive results, whereas two scales yielded neutral results. Conclusion The evaluation of both usability and user experience yielded overall positive results, while simultaneously identifying potential areas for improvement. Further studies will address the implementation of additional game design elements, and testing student learning outcome.

This study investigates the design and development process of “Super Journey”, a 2D platformer mobile game aimed at enhancing user engagement and satisfaction through innovative game mechanics and design. Utilizing the Agile methodology, the development stages included conceptualization, design, implementation using the Unity game engine, and iterative testing and evaluation based on user feedback. This development process involved crafting a detailed game design document, creating initial sketches and prototypes, and integrating graphical elements, animations, and game mechanics. The game features 3 levels with simple controls, visually appealing pixel art, and progressively challenging levels. A survey conducted with 20 participants revealed high overall satisfaction (4.15 out of 5), with particular praise for level design (4.25) and game mechanics (4.2). Feedback indicated areas for improvement, such as balancing difficulty levels and incorporating more diverse obstacles and enemies. The findings underscore the importance of agile, user-centered design in game development and provide insights for future iterations to further enhance the gaming experience. “Super Journey” exemplifies the effective integration of classic platformer elements with modern innovations, highlighting its potential in the competitive mobile gaming market. The results of this research are expected to serve as a reference and inspiration for other game developers to create superior products by combining innovative technology and thoughtful design.

This study examines the development and effectiveness of four board games designed to promote cognitive learning activities and STEM education, focusing on kinematics and energy. We used the Engagement - Purpose - Deign - Prototype - Evaluation process to develop four board games. The study involved 53 senior high school students in Vietnam. We used a mixed methods approach to evaluate the impact of these board games on students' cognitive understanding and motivation in STEM education. Data collection included multiple-choice tests before and post-tests from the previous literature study to measure cognitive gains. We also surveyed students using 5-point Likert scales and open-ended questions to explore their motivation and engagement. Quantitative and qualitative analyses assessed whether board games significantly improved students' motivation and learning outcomes. These results suggest that integrating board games into STEM education can improve student engagement and understanding of STEM learning. In light of the results, we discussed the implications of the Engagement - Purpose - Deign - Prototype - Evaluation process and the effectiveness of four board games. [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]

The development of software aligned with Web3 innovations is essential to stimulate discussions on the application of these technologies in the scientific realm. This study presents the development of a 'cryptogame,' a game that integrates blockchain technology to incorporate Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) into its functionalities. The paper explores fundamental Web3 concepts, with references to relevant literature, and details the development process, including the methodologies and models adopted. As a result, a puzzle game was created that utilizes NFTs as playable characters, allowing for the transfer of these assets between digital wallets. Furthermore, the study investigates the application of these concepts in adapting a traditional mobile game for the use of NFTs, demonstrating the necessary changes in user interface and game mechanics to support the integration with digital assets.

Aim/purpose – The study delves into the creation and the experience of interactive children’s narratives based on poetry, examining the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) as a collaborative partner in storytelling for children. The research questions are: 1) What are the experiences of readers, specifically children’s guardians, with interactive narratives based on children’s poetry?; 2) How do children’s guardians experience inter-active stories co-generated in real-time through conversations with artificial intelligence?; 3) Is it feasible to create a satisfying narrative for children from a specific set of images through the use of AI technology?

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]

The games industry has seen a burst of new interest in the prospect of unionization. The efforts of organizations like Game Workers Unite have attracted much favorable coverage in the enthusiast and trade industry press, increasing awareness amongst videogame audiences of the difficult working conditions facing professional game developers. However, often missing from these discussions is an articulation of what unionization would look like for the significant number of game developers working in precarious conditions in small, often informal teams. The fragmented nature of contemporary gamework presents challenges in aggregating worker power similar to those found in other fields of creative or precarious work and entrepreneurial careers, where contingent work is typically organized around piecemeal, project–based funding arrangements. In this paper we draw from empirical research with Australian game developers to identify a number of barriers to unionization posed by small-scale game production. We also identify how within these same circumstances, novel and alternative forms of solidarity and collective action are beginning to emerge. The article ultimately argues that any successful attempt to unionize videogame workers will need to both account for, and take advantage of, the complex situation of small-scale videogame production in local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Computer Sciences Institute is the property of Lublin University of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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.

To develop technologies that facilitate the creation and customization of digital educational games, this research aimed to explore the use of a game authoring tool by elementary school teachers and to identify the challenges and skills of this public using the tool. Our findings indicate that most of them had difficulties using it due to a lack of digital literacy and many possible configuration settings. They struggled with the steps they needed to complete in the tutorial and understanding concepts such as events, conditions, and actions. On the other hand, they were able to easily arrange the objects in the scenes. As a result, we present a set of recommendations that can be useful to construct new tools for this audience.

Abstract 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.

This article proposes to explore the concept of videogames rules by Salen and Zimmerman through the work of Yoko Ono, specifically the event scores or performative instructions published in Grapefruit (2000 [1964]). To do so, the authors have created an interactive experience based on four event scores' rules where gameplay emerges from their direct application. The project is contextualized through those rules and the differences between Ono's work and Fluxus. The return on the creative act reveals an innovative approach outside of the imperatives of "fun," privileging an embracing of errors and incertitude.

It is necessary to discuss from various angles how to make the younger generation, who will be responsible for future society, aware of disasters and how to cope with them. Therefore, we designed a project-based learning class, "Media Design Project III · IV", in which students are asked to create a game to raise their awareness of disaster prevention. This class aims to improve disaster awareness, especially tsunami evacuation, and to improve abilities that students will need in the future, i.e., time management and problem-solving, especially after they begin work. It was found that the game can increase tsunami evaluation awareness. Therefore, the projects presented here might become a new method for education, especially disaster education and career education, with games focused on disasters potentially being a new tool for raising awareness about disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines level design processes and challenges at professional game studios. Thematic analysis of data, recorded through field studies and semi-structured interviews, identify four key themes: level design as an interdisciplinary effort; who is the level designer; the role of narrative in level design; and challenges of managing creativity in the level design process. Results indicate that while the role called level designer is often assigned to specific disciplines, the process of level design is usually highly interdisciplinary. Furthermore, this interdisciplinary collaboration requires management to maintain both creativity and efficient pipelines, by distributing ownership and facilitating communication and planning. The level design process seems particularly vulnerable to suboptimal interdisciplinary communication and planning, due to significant reliance on narrative design, game design, art, sound design, and tool development. While this article addresses level design specifically, most observations are comparable to previous findings on game development in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital game industry has embraced servitization – a strategic orientation toward customer centricity in production-based firms – to deeply monetize digital games. Though some note the resource-intensive nature of delivering services and suggest inherent risks in its adoption, extant literature is uncritical. This article draws on labour process theory to critique the impact of servitization on workers at the point of production. We conducted in-depth interviews at a large North American game development studio. The results show the human cost of servitization, generally overshadowed by financial considerations. Specifically, we theorize that servitization increases the indeterminacy of labour and this must be compensated for if servitization is to realize its cost-benefit potential. The result is an intensification of labour through additional control imperatives which make workers accountable to consumers through deterministic success metrics, impact the creative process and direct creative outputs in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a method for capturing photographs of users as input and converting them into 2D character animation sprites using a generative adversarial network-based artificial intelligence network. Traditionally, 2D character animations have been created by manually creating an entire sequence of sprite images, which incurs high development costs. To address this issue, this study proposes a technique that combines motion videos and sample 2D images. In the 2D sprite generation process that uses the proposed technique, a sequence of images is extracted from real-life images captured by the user, and these are combined with character images from within the game. Our research aims to leverage cutting-edge deep learning-based image manipulation techniques, such as the GAN-based motion transfer network (impersonator) and background noise removal (U2-Net), to generate a sequence of animation sprites from a single image. The proposed technique enables the creation of diverse animations and motions just one image. By utilizing these advancements, we focus on enhancing productivity in the game and animation industry through improved efficiency and streamlined production processes. By employing state-of-the-art techniques, our research enables the generation of 2D sprite images with various motions, offering significant potential for boosting productivity and creativity in the industry. [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]

After demonstrating the efficacy of adapting visual references (3D renders and photos) to concept art for high-budget game development and film production, this contribution suggests a specific approach for the digital artist to produce the uncanny valley when designing monsters. This article illustrates the importance of embedding visual references into the artwork for time efficiency, correct use of perspective and establishment of believable textures. In particular, the search for realism shows to be advantageous in design uncanny monsters. Visual references can be manipulated in software such as Photoshop to prepare not only the blueprints for the 3D modelling/sculpting stage but also to design the special effects makeup for live-action monsters. This contribution fills a gap between our current understanding of the uncanny valley and the process of designing characters; it suggests an efficient approach to monster-making for entertainment and sheds a light on contemporary concept art practices. This is important for a dual reason: (a) it moves knowledge forward in the field of the uncanny valley's applications to concept art since this has not been investigated in depth in other works; (b) it helps professional concept artists in shaping and controlling the uncanniness of antagonistic characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trunk control and postural instability remain critical markers of functional status in Parkinson's Disease (PD). As pharmacological and invasive neuro-stimulation interventions provide only limited benefits for trunk and postural control, exercise-based interventions may provide the only effective path to improving functional outcomes for balance in PD. We describe the framework for a virtual reality (VR) graded exercise-based intervention focused on improving trunk mobility and control, including preliminary outcomes on perceptions and motion capabilities of individuals with PD. The study collected whole-body motion capture from 11 PD participants (8M, 3F; H&Y Stage I–III) as they performed tasks within a custom-designed set of VR therapies. Therapies involved static interactions (e.g., matching a cube sequence set to anthropometrically relevant locations to elicit specific trunk motions—Matchality), and more dynamic tasks (e.g., intercepting virtual fish jumping from a lake—Fishality, or a virtual session of dodgeball—Dodgeality). Participants were able to safely complete all tasks while performing trunk excursions requiring functionally relevant ranges of motion, and which altered across VR environment (F(1,10) = 8.319, p = 0.016). Overall, satisfaction with the MoVR therapy suite was high with 96% of responses showing agreement to questions relating to 'immersion,' 'fun,' and elements of player engagement. These results provide early safety, usability, and feasibility outcomes for VR interventions that require specific trunk excursions. Future work should confirm the effectiveness of VR interventions longitudinally on PD-specific trunk outcomes (e.g., trunk rigidity) and global balance/mobility measures associated with improved functional status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Agnes Karolina Bakk and Alexey Izvalov is presented. Topics include talks about the earliest experience with computer games as the story is more something that is very general in terms of gender studies; and considered to study cybernetics as he used to work in the field for a short while.

The Computational Thinking (CT) teaching approach allows students to practice problem-solving in a way that they can use the Computer Science mindset. In this sense, Collaborative Learning has a lot to contribute to educational activities involving the CT. This article presents the design and evaluation of a Collaborative Learning framework for the development of CT skills in students. To design the proposed strategy, several fundamental features of the Collaborative Learning concept of the literature have been studied and sketched. The strategy was applied to middle school students through a digital games programming workshop. Data were collected by three means: (1) collecting artifacts produced during activities; (2) recording of game programming sessions; and (3) applying a structured interview to students. The data analysis showed evidence that the strategy was able to mobilize Computational Thinking skills in addition to mobilizing collaborative skills in learners.

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Game development is a collective process in which a variety of different professionals from different backgrounds collaborate together not only by means of conversational interaction but also collaborative participation, one of which is programming. While collaborative and pair programming solutions exist for text-based programming languages, visual programming has not enjoyed as much attention. These solutions would not only address advanced forms of business communication among team members but could find their use in distance learning, which would have been useful during the pandemic. In our work, we propose a solution for collaborative behavioral animation of NPCs using behavior trees through synchronous and asynchronous modes of collaboration. We conducted a user study with 12 moderately skilled game development university students who were placed in groups of two and engaged in joint fixed behavior tree development tasks using the synchronous and asynchronous modes and auxiliary features of live preview, access and restoration of previous states from behavior tree history, conflict resolution, and instant messaging. Participants also completed a control task where no collaboration was involved and auxiliary features were not available. Feedback form Creativity Support Index, a self-developed questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview were collected. Additionally, task completion times were logged. The results indicate that the two collaborative modes provide expected improvement over the control condition. No significant differences were found between the two collaborative modes. However, the semi-structed interview revealed that the synchronous mode could be useful for quick prototyping, while the asynchronous mode – for most other situations. [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 concept is to create a game based on augmented reality and use object tracking as the primary function for recognizing objects using a camera. The key goal is to design an atmosphere that not only satisfies a person's desire to play video games but also lowers their stress levels in a manner that is both cost-effective and makes less use of flashy devices and cutting-edge technology. The environment produced in this way will use a camera that can identify objects and carry out a series of activities that have been preset according to their function, [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]

Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Online harassment is a relatively commonplace occurrence in the video gaming industry and player communities. A lack of diversity has unquestionably contributed to the high levels of such incidences. Methods: In this paper, we take an exploratory approach, via a cross-sectional observational study, to evaluate the harassment of game industry professionals on social media. In this new sphere of growing concern, there is evidence of significant harm for game makers and their radius of impact. We will discuss the prevalence rates, nature of harassment, and the ways in which a lack of diversity has contributed to this phenomenon. Results: In total, 282 video game industry professionals completed the survey in its entirety. More than half of all participants reported experiencing harassment on social media (59.6%) and nearly all reported witnessing harassment happening to other members of the videogames industry via social media (92.2%). This harassment can have a significant impact on well-being, including increased anxiety (62.1%), feelings of isolation (37.6%) and increased depression (36.2%). Almost one quarter (23.8%) reported symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder. One out of 10 participants reported suicidal thoughts because of online harassment. A significant number of respondents (37.3%) reported that had to take steps to reduce their physical safety due to online harassment. Over half of all respondents saying they were targets of hate because of some aspect of their identity. Conclusions: The results indicate high rates of online harassment, both direct and indirect, among members of the gaming industry at all levels. Responses also pointed to substantial mental health and behavioral impacts of both experiencing and witnessing online harassment. Without large-scale action, this problem will continue to reinforce the lack of diversity inside game studios, pushing out marginalized employees due to a hostile work environment.

Background: Online harassment is a relatively commonplace occurrence in the video gaming industry and player communities. A lack of diversity has unquestionably contributed to the high levels of such incidences. Methods: In this paper, we take an exploratory approach, via a cross-sectional observational study, to evaluate the harassment of game industry professionals on social media. In this new sphere of growing concern, there is evidence of significant harm for game makers and their radius of impact. We will discuss the prevalence rates, nature of harassment, and the ways in which a lack of diversity has contributed to this phenomenon. Results: In total, 282 video game industry professionals completed the survey in its entirety. More than half of all participants reported experiencing harassment on social media (59.6%) and nearly all reported witnessing harassment happening to other members of the videogames industry via social media (92.2%). This harassment can have a significant impact on well-being, including increased anxiety (62.1%), feelings of isolation (37.6%) and increased depression (36.2%). Almost one quarter (23.8%) reported symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder. One out of 10 participants reported suicidal thoughts because of online harassment. A significant number of respondents (37.3%) reported that had to take steps to reduce their physical safety due to online harassment. Over half of all respondents saying they were targets of hate because of some aspect of their identity. Conclusions: The results indicate high rates of online harassment, both direct and indirect, among members of the gaming industry at all levels. Responses also pointed to substantial mental health and behavioral impacts of both experiencing and witnessing online harassment. Without large-scale action, this problem will continue to reinforce the lack of diversity inside game studios, pushing out marginalized employees due to a hostile work environment.

It is necessary to discuss from various angles how to make the younger generation, who will be responsible for future society, aware of disasters and how to cope with them. Therefore, we designed a project-based learning class, “Media Design Project III · IV”, in which students are asked to create a game to raise their awareness of disaster prevention. This class aims to improve disaster awareness, especially tsunami evacuation, and to improve abilities that students will need in the future, i.e., time management and problem-solving, especially after they begin work. It was found that the game can increase tsunami evaluation awareness. Therefore, the projects presented here might become a new method for education, especially disaster education and career education, with games focused on disasters potentially being a new tool for raising awareness about disasters.

Today, the development of a modern video game draws upon multiple areas of expertise. Moreover, its development cost could be as high as tens of millions of dollars. Consequently, we should carefully schedule its jobs so as not to increase the total cost. However, project leaders traditionally treat developers alike or even schedule all the jobs manually. In this study, we consider a versatile-developer scheduling problem. The objective is to minimize the makespan of a game project. We propose a branch-and-bound algorithm (B&B) to generate the optimal schedules for small problem instances. On the other hand, an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) is proposed to obtain approximate schedules for large problem instances. Lastly, computational experiments are conducted to show the performances of both algorithms. When the problem size is small (e.g., n ≤ 12), B&B can generate the optimal schedules within 5 s. For some large problem instances (e.g., n = 600), near-optimal schedules can be obtained by ICA within 10 min. The final results imply that both algorithms converge quickly and are of high solution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burgeoning research on innovation ecosystems offers a variety of conceptual approaches. Recent systematic literature reviews and syntheses provide a rich, diverse, but somehow abstract view of IEs. Our study advances the literature by taking the perspective of those involved in IEs. We aim to identify how various actors contribute to co-innovation in innovation ecosystems. In order to do so, our aim is to establish the various types of actors (who?), the distinct roles (what?), the different stages (when?), and the diverse engagement in co-innovation processes (how?). The study investigates the Polish Gaming Innovation Ecosystem as a globally successful example of a knowledge-intensive and highly creative innovation ecosystem. Data was collected over 3 years (between 2015 and 2017), in three waves of interviews (38) and non-participatory observations (5). We find that Gaming Innovation Ecosystem participants identify a total of 12 types of collective actors, 9 types of individual actors, and 1 community of individuals. Furthermore, we find four distinctive roles that actors may play in the co-creation processes, that is: direct value creation, supporting value creation, encouraging entrepreneurship, and leadership. Finally, we structure the co-innovation process into five stages: co-discovery, co-development, co-deployment, co-delivery and co-dissemination. We identify the diverse scope and varied intensity of actors' engagement, depending on the co-innovation phase, as perceived by our informants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an analysis of recent alternative video games through the particularities of industrial music’s aesthetics. Considering a massive increase in video game production by solo designers since 2015, the author identifies how singular practices of game creation can be inspired by underground art forms. To further this research, five game developers were invited to participate through interviews: Yames, Selfish Dream, Valerie Dusk, Stef Pinto and Andrea Pignataro. The article proposes an analysis of the common production strategies between industrial culture and these game creators, more precisely by studying the singular use of noise in their games (audio but also visual and spatial) and how their creations act as noise in the context of the dominant video game industry by weakening its core definitions of what games are and the technocentrist history of the medium.

Most Brazilian schools do not offer evacuation training from their buildings in the event of a fire. The lack of safety culture among students and teachers, coupled with a lack of knowledge and training on safety protocols to follow when facing fires, have led to unwanted outcomes, including unnecessary injuries and even death. This study describes the development of a prototype of a Serious Game to teach fire evacuation procedures in schools in the case of fire, aiming to help students to learn fire safety procedures, to know how to behave in case of fire, and to start discussions to create a positive fire safety culture. The prototype was used and evaluated by 35 public school students from 12 to 16 years old. The results indicated that students’ knowledge on how to behave in case of fire after they played the game was significantly improved, and the discussions triggered by the game contributed to the creation of a positive fire safety culture in school. The game developed proved useful to teach evacuation procedures and is available for use by all public schools in the city.

In recent years, the problems caused by garbage have become more and more serious, and many countries have begun to advocate the concept of environmental protection. China has also begun to implement the policy of waste classification, but the effect is not ideal. This is because the publicity of waste classification knowledge has not reached good expectations, and the traditional propaganda means such as static graphics and text can not give people a deep impression. Therefore, in order to better achieve the knowledge publicity of garbage classification, under the conditions of the continuous maturity of Internet technology and 5g technology, relying on virtual reality technology, combined with novel game mode and immersive game experience, through games, players' interest in learning garbage classification knowledge is increased, so as to improve the knowledge publicity efficiency of garbage classification. This paper discusses and studies a series of key technologies used in virtual simulation games, which use unity 3D as the development editor of the game engine, 3D Max as the model creation tool, shadow creator SDK as the VR technical support, and action one headset to display the game content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proliferation of technologies and digital platforms, contemporary game development firms' value propositions have become more complex. While on a global scale a considerable share of the game industry's revenue is captured by a few dozen firms, we are also witnessing the emergence of local and regional hotspots. In this context, legitimacy is of utmost importance if new competitive advantages are to become institutionalized as an industry. This paper extends studies which have offered temporal snapshots to the regional or local formation of game industry by focusing on the Finnish context. The concept of resilient values is introduced as legitimizing how the game industry is shaped and how the values are interpreted to develop the industry further. Our findings suggest legitimacy is intertwined with resilient values, thus resulting in the industry evolving over time through three different stages: (1) incubation period, (2) growth phase, and (3) institutionalized legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Computational Thinking (CT) teaching approach allows students to practice problem-solving in a way that they can use the Computer Science mindset. In this sense, Col laborative Learning has a lot to contribute to educational activities involving the CT. This article presents the design and evaluation of a Collaborative Learning framework for the development of CT skills in students. To design the proposed strategy, several fundamental features of the Collabo rative Learning concept of the literature have been studied and sketched. The strategy was applied to middle school students through a digital games programming workshop. Data were collected by three means: (1) collecting artifacts produced during activities; (2) recording of game programming sessions; and (3) applying a structured interview to students. The data analysis showed evidence that the strategy was able to mobilize Computational Thinking skills in addition to mobilizing collabo rative skills in learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a game prototype development project named “Code-E” for players learning and practicing their knowledge about coding while playing. Our research is based on design and development research (DDR) methodology. The main purpose of our project was actually to create a 3D action-adventure game with interesting gameplay for educational purposes that can be used by students (i.e., players) as part of their coding practice. Our chosen topic was C++ function codes. Rapid Application Development Model was used as the development method to allow us to focus on minimizing the planning stage and maximizing prototype development. First, the gameplay idea was designed. A quick prototype was developed to assist the potential users to understand the gameplay easily when we were asking for their feedback on requirements. To collect them from potential users, we used interviews. Very fortunately, our first gameplay idea was well accepted which required minimal improvement. Then, we designed and developed a full game prototype using Roblox. A questionnaire session was then conducted to get further feedback from our potential users. The 5-Likert scale questions were categorized into three categories: the game’s technical features, its gameplay concepts, and its usability as a learning tool. We used median values to interpret the Likert data. Our findings showed that the “Code-E” game prototype was well-functioned and well-accepted by our potential users. Some improvements were still required to enhance its ability in terms of difficulty level and motivation.

The Atari 2600 video game Entombed (1982) left open questions in the design and implementation of its efficient maze-generation algorithm that, through serendipity, we are able to address at last. We have analysed almost 500 artefacts that capture the development process leading up to Entombed, artefacts that have not been seen for decades, including a distinct, unreleased Atari 2600 game. This work is interdisciplinary between the fields of archaeology and computer science in the area of archaeogaming; computer science has allowed informed technical analysis of the artefacts, with processes from archaeology used to manage and organise the large number of artefacts, as well as view game development in a human, archaeological context. The deliberate inclusion of a co-author who was a first-hand participant in the game development additionally raises interesting questions about autoethnography, authorship, and objectivity.

Video games can be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported. Where games are concerned, self-determination involves the autonomy and right of Indigenous people to make key decisions regarding the process of how a game is developed as well as what that game entails. A game is sovereign when self-determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution. In what ways can games be sovereign and what challenges may be faced? Utilizing comparative case studies of the self-determined games Lost Memories, Terra Nova, and When Rivers Were Trails, this research identifies possible approaches and challenges for sovereign games looking at development as well as the resulting designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games are trouble. As faculty members in a Game Development program we are aware of the troubles. As inside–outsiders, given our status as queer women in the male-dominated Games field, both with interdisciplinary art-tech-humanities backgrounds as opposed to STEM, we are the ones commonly tasked with 'fixing' these troubles. This tasking comes to us in the form of both assumptions and requests about our providing particular types of education to others, both faculty and students, as fixes to Game-troubles: teaching the gender module; sitting on an LGBTQ+ committee; advising a particular student who is also outside the more comfortable purview of Games; and so forth. While our labor is often assumed, it is not fully valued, evidenced by the ways in which it is chronically under-resourced. And, given this lack of sustainability, our labor is not effective in the ways we intend. Often, our fixes only serve to a fix ourselves, further cementing us as outsiders. Our fixes are diluted until they become performative gestures, absolving others of the need to act, but changing little else. Acting 'in a fix' is something we no longer wish to do. Instead we untangle and re-tangle in a new way, drawing on the work of Feminist New Materialists (Ahmed, 2008; Alaimo, 2016; Alaimo and Hekman, 2008; Barad, 2011; Bennett, 2010; Braidotti, 2013; Coole and Frost, 2010; Dolphijn and Tuin, 2012; Grosz, 1994; Kirby, 1997) to develop imaginative new models for a more just and joyful future Games pedagogy. We share not only our research on this topic, but also invite you into our own intimate experiences of play-making, foregrounding this as knowledge-making too. We offer these crossings between text and context, history and future Ahmed, 2008, memory and fiction as a speculative fabulation for future Games pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now widely accepted that videogames are a cultural form, and that they generate cultural meaning through the possibilities and constraints through which they shape players' experiences and choices. However, the cultural processes through which videogames are themselves produced remain understudied and too-straightforwardly imagined. The videogame maker does not simply conceive of a videogame idea and then execute it. Instead, the videogame is produced through processes of negotiation and iteration between videogame maker, software and hardware environments and the broader expectations of the field. In this sense, videogame production can be fruitfully understood through the lens of craft. I argue that in order to politicise agency in digital play, as is this special issue's goal, videogame research must also consider the agency of the videogame maker, and the iterative, embodied, and social processes through which videogames are produced. This article draws from interviews with videogame makers and existing research on craft production to provide a preliminary consideration of how the agency of the videogame maker as a cultural producer can be accounted for. [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]