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Smart games, especially crossword puzzles can be an effective tool in aiding cognitive and physical exercise by stimulating the brain and strengthening brain connections, which can help prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer's and dementia. This research aimed to develop a crossword puzzle game into a digital version in Bahasa Indonesia with Artificial Intelligence (AI) features. The benefit of this game product can be used as a cognitive therapy for Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers. The research method used is game development using the Game Development Life Cycle (GDLC) model with stages of initiation, pre-production, implementation/development, testing, launch, and maintenance. Implementation of digital version using Unity 3D game engine with AI feature of hint generating. This research was carried out for 8 months. Game testing results were carried out by testing the functionality of game features and the results were that all features functioned well. The innovation and importance of this work was to implement the memory crossword puzzle game design into a digital version in Bahasa by implementing artificial intelligence methods for the hints feature. This work will inspire developers to do greater work on Bahasa and implement various features based on AI methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In project-based learning environments, students often face team frustration and conflicts, necessitating the development of conflict management skills. This study examines how integrating a game-based learning approach impacts students' perspectives on managing conflicts in game development project courses. Drawing on theoretical frameworks related to project-based learning, conflict management, and serious games in conflict resolution education, a case design is employed in higher education that incorporates the game "Cards of Conflict". Document analysis of student reflection notes is utilised to assess the outcomes. The results demonstrate heightened engagement among participants during the game session, leading to awareness and understanding of conflict managing principles. This encompasses the what, the why's, and the how's of conflict management, as well as the diverse perspectives of peer students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the process of analysis the procedural generation package Edgar for Unity game engine. This package focuses on generating dungeon layouts for top-down 2D games. The generation works with the developer creating room models and a non-directional graph for the dungeon, with the package generating a random layout from these inputs. The purpose of this article is to expand the variety of layouts that the package generates, creating a greater variety of results for the player without losing the randomness factor that comes from procedural generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming education at university level has often been identified as problematic learning. At the same time, prognosis for future labour market is increased need for professionals with programming and related skills. To meet demands of future society, K-12 schools around the world have integrated programming in the curriculum. However, research show challenges for integrating programming in K-12 education. Challenges include students' and teachers' struggle with learning and teaching programming, lack of time to properly incorporate programming in existing teaching and learning, and insufficient support for teachers. This study addresses these challenges by designing, developing, and evaluating an educational game on programming that combines the idea of game-based learning with digital escape rooms. In the game, the player develops knowledge about programming concepts to escape 10 rooms. The study's main research question was: What are K-12 students' perceptions of the game and what do they considered to be important design factors for a digital escape room game on computer programming? A design science approach was used for designing, developing, and evaluating a web-based escape room game on programming. This was conducted in a five-step process: 1) Explicating the problem, 2) Defining the requirements, 3) Designing and developing the artefact, 4) Demonstrating the artefact, and 5) Evaluating the artefact. The game was tested and evaluated by 32 K-12 students with a questionnaire during the autumn semester of 2021 and spring semester of 2022. Collected data were then analysed and grouped into categories to answer the study's aim and research question. Findings of the study show several suggestions for further development and important design factors to consider when developing a digital escape room game. The next steps of research are to combine these findings with evaluations from teachers, and to incorporate this in an updated version of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While playtesting is an established part of game development, empirical research on playtesting in general and volunteering as a playtester appears to be limited. In this case study, our aim is to explore who volunteers for playtesting and how their player motivation and experience affect the feedback they provide during the playtest sessions. The dataset (2019-2020) is a mixed methods approach, here we focus on three data types: 1) how the playtesters see themselves as gamers in the pre-test survey, 2) the think aloud method during game play and 3) the semi-structured interview after playing. Playtests were conducted for eight local game developers in Finland and Sweden and all games were tested by at least three volunteers. The playtesters were selected based upon a screening survey on gaming habits and preferred devices as the intended age group specified by the developers. Due to the limited research on the topic, we employed Bartle’s (1996) player typology as a starting point for the analysis. We focus on one game during two test iterations and four playtesters, each representing one player archetype. The results show that the playtesters provided feedback and suggestions for improvement in line with their respective player archetype, we see the need for more empirical research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming education has been classified as problematic learning in higher education, and in the current process of reaching a younger audience there are several challenges. Three of them that are highlighted in this paper are learner motivation, visualisation, and the need for engaging self-learning. To address these challenges this study builds upon a combination of the old idea of game-based learning, and the new trend with escape rooms for educational purposes. The overall aim of the study is to design, develop, and evaluate a game where players can learn about fundamental programming techniques such as variables, data collections, selection and iteration. In the first step a web-based game prototype has been created and tested on teachers in K-12 education, and on teachers in the Makerspace movement. The main research question to answer was: "What are the teacher perceptions about important design factors for an escape room game on computer programming?". This study was conducted with a design science approach involving the recommended steps of 1) Explicating the problem, 2) Defining the requirements, 3) Design and development of an artefact, 4) Demonstrating the artefact, and 5) Evaluation of the artefact. The requirement specification was built around the syllabus framework recommended from the Swedish National Agency for Education. Evaluation data were divided into categories in an inductive thematic analysis, and later compared with design factor found in other studies on educational games for programming education. Preliminary findings show a mixture of attitudes among the teachers in the test group, there are also several suggestions for further development. The two important next steps are to 1) Test the prototype on students, with help from the teachers in the test group, and 2) To refine the prototype and develop the game further to meet the standard of games that K-12 students and Makerspace kids play. To obtain a high-quality outcome of the second next step, there is probably a need for a shift to a more professional development environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a literature review of game research that focuses on the interdisciplinary, collaborative, practical and social aspects of game development. It investigates recurring research questions, topics and suggested purpose of current research in order to generate a coherent summary of the state of research and future possibilities. Due to the interdisciplinary, technical and creative nature of game development, it constitutes a broad and complex research field. However, as researchers often approach game development from a specific research field, the interdisciplinary aspects and complexities are set aside. This has created a substantial gap between academia and the game industry. Thus, it has been suggested that an overarching understanding of each element of game development, as well as their interconnectivity is essential to reduce the gap between academia and game industry, and generate research that is beneficial to both sides. The presented literature review focus on research that applies a more overarching approach, in an effort to explore and distinguish key factors and propose future research areas. Based on the gathered data, it is clear that the investigated field is still in an exploratory stage. However, comparison of recurring topics generated indications towards research areas that could potentially be of importance to both industry and academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DevOps methodology comes to facilitate the interaction between developers and operations, automating many of the steps necessary to generate the final version of a software application. It is a current trend in software development. However, today, many game projects are developed using procedures that cause delays and crunches. The games industry could benefit from incorporating these models, and their associated tools, into the complex process of developing a game. In this article, a study of the application of integration models in the game development process and a software-tools evaluation available in the market for this purpose is introduced. In addition, an initial DevOps methodology experience is presented, serving as a reference to other similar projects, thereby demonstrating the real possibilities of using DevOps in game development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature to investigate best practices for developing digital games for people with visual impairments. The execution of the search protocol that focused on papers published between 2004 and 2019, 17 papers were obtained from two online databases. The selected papers present information about the application of accessibility features that were tested in a minimum viable product applied to people with visual impairments. As a result, it was found that most papers focus on navigation systems, which is a feature used in most digital games, and all of them make use of sound effects. In most of the researched papers, audio is the main instrument to assist the visually impaired player. The development features presented in the systematic review can serve as a basis for developers in the field. Finally, there is still little content in the literature on accessible features available in the context of digital games, which makes it an indispensable research field to explore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games-based learning has its historical roots in the military context with examples such as chess and Kriegsspiel. Nowadays, digital games and simulations are widely used in military training with a focus on operation planning and mission command. However, the rapidly changing global situation calls for new types of leadership skills, both in the civilian world and in military service. To be efficient in the military context, a leader must be competent in three areas: technical, social, and conceptual. As the nature of military conflict evolves, army officers must be ready to act in ill-defined situations and interact with diverse populations. Currently, the games and simulations designed for leadership training generally address technical and managerial skills, whereas the social and conceptual skills are neglected. It is suggested that the social and conceptual skills of military leaders should be given particular attention during both pre- and in-service training. The development of conceptual understanding and personal awareness cannot depend on traditional learning methods, and the games-based approach offers potential for filling this gap. This paper introduces a basic model of the competencies needed in the military sector, which could be developed with the support of games-based methods. Many studies have described the core elements of an effective educational game, and researchers agree on the basic stages of game development. Because the terminology used is frequently ambiguous, a basic taxonomy of the stages of game development will be included in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focus on how localization is addressed in research on game development processes. The research aim is to get an understanding of how localization, game localization and its subsets of content and cultural issues, linguistic issues and technical issues are addressed and discussed in game development research. This has been done through a literature study, where 488 papers regarding game development processes have been scrutinized in order to identify game localization related research. The results shows that localization is rarely addressed in game development research, but regional aspects and relevant concepts related to game localization can be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer programming is one of the most important subjects for undergraduate computer science students, it is usually taught at universities during the first few semesters. There are many approaches to teach and learn computer programming. Some may prefer teaching/learning procedural programming first, others object-oriented programming first. In any case, to acquire good programming skills, students need to learn various data types, data structures, control structures, and the syntax of the chosen programming language. Furthermore, and most importantly, they need to acquire good logical and algorithmic thinking. This might cause big problems for new computer science students because acquiring such a thinking takes many years of practice. Students need to solve a huge number of various programming problems from easier to harder ones. But how can teachers motivate students to solve so many and so complex programming tasks? Because most of the undergraduate computer science students like playing computer games, we think creating their own games might be a big motivating factor. In this paper, first, we briefly summarize some possible approaches to teach object-oriented programming (OOP). Next, we describe our method of teaching computer programing at J. Selye University, focusing especially on teaching OOP by developing simple games. We think, to learn OOP, students need to have some basic knowledge of structural programming first. That’s why they learn standard C programming language during the first two semesters, and they start learning OOP using the C# programming language only from the third semester. The main part of this article deals with the teaching and learning OOP by creating computer games. By developing a simple tictac-toe game, students learn how to instantiate objects from the “Button” class, and how to use these objects. Later, by creating other puzzle games (fifteen puzzle, matching game, minesweeper), students learn how to create own classes by deriving them from the “Button” class, how to add fields and methods into them. Finally, students will be able to create more complicated games using OOP techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attracting and retaining amateur table tennis players requires a completely different approach than the one used in case of active professionals. The motivation for amateurs includes: - spending their leisure time with sport activities - health promotion - and of course, earning prestige in their micro-community by getting good results in tournaments There are several known on the benefits of table tennis, especially among elderly people. Our study shows the possible IT solutions for motivating a delicate, but essential group of the sports audience, which is beneficial for all. It is important for: - the individual for health promotion and sport experience, - the sport federations to reach and rouse a wider crowd, - the national healthcare by reducing healthcare costs. This study is based on data provided by the Csongrád County Table Tennis Federation consisting a 5-year period with participation of 385 people. The basic problem which we search practical answers for: the declining number of amateur players, and the trend of decreasing activity among them. Our goal was/is to reverse this tendency. The software, developed in association with the federation produced measurable results, which opens new horizons for improving the activity of amateur players, mainly by providing a social experience for the participants. We succeeded not only in stopping the above-mentioned decrease, but we were able to attract new groups for the sport. The IT capabilities are still far from being utilized; we see a lot of new possibilities in this development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how two groups of students, with different nationalities and academical backgrounds develop the same game. Through literature review, the author profiled the groups and identified five differences on how they work. Results point towards a structured process by bachelor's students, with master's taking more liberties in their design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy is the ability or attitude of putting yourself in someone else's shoes, using imagination to understand their actions and motivations. It is the art of understanding the other's feelings and thus, knowing their real needs and desires. Our empathic capacity allows us to identify the way or the learning path of the others, and enables the teacher -facilitator to guide their actions based on this understanding (KRZNARIC, 2015). It facilitates and promotes collaboration between people, leading them to build projects and realities together, as it assists in understanding behaviors, ideas, dreams, values and needs. As games are a medium or even a language that can serve as a powerful tool to promote meaningful experiences, the present work studies the conjugation of these with empathy, investigating the advent of a new genre or class of digital games: the empathetic games. The investigation of its possibilities is still expressed in the case study of a didactic practice guided by project based learning methodology (PBL), in a context of technical high school technical development of games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, Croatia has been the transit or receiving country for many refugees who come from the Middle East and Africa and who mostly speak Arabic as their mother tongue. Native speakers of Arabic are faced with many difficulties in the process of learning Croatian. Croatian is written from left to right, and Arabic from right to left. Phonological inventories of Croatian and Arabic are very different, vowels are generally not written in Arabic (or more precisely they are not written with graphemes), grammar is very different, etc. All this demotivates students at the initial stage of learning. Based on the experience of one of the authors with teaching Croatian to asylees and asylum seekers who mostly came to Croatia from the war-ridden Middle East and African countries in the last few years and who are mainly speakers of Arabic, the authors started developing educational games which could facilitate their initial steps in learning Croatian. Games focus on the acquisition of the Latin script and the Croatian phonological inventory (games in which the player writes the pronounced sound, hangman with or without the picture of the required word, etc.). As the difference between capital and small letters does not exist in Arabic, games that tackle certain orthographic issues are also developed. All games have explanations in Arabic that prevent ambiguity and show differences between Croatian and Arabic. The learning material also emphasizes the difference between the phonemes p and b and introduces as many vowel games as possible. The goal is to reduce the beginner's fear of language learning and motivate the learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish new and motivating learning environments, we have developed the "Purposive Game Production " concept. Our students at the Medialogy education have different interests within the Medialogy curriculum, but had a desire to know how they could use their knowledge, skills and competences from their study when graduating. In order to let them experience this first hand, and to improve employability, we wanted to enable learning activities where students could experience collaboration, communication and management of a cross-disciplinary project, with a goal to produce a purposeful game. These skills are included in the AAU Problem Based Learning curriculum, but are not stated as explicit learning goals and are not especially valued in students work. Thus, our basic idea is that students should be embedded in a larger, more complexly organized game production group, and that they would get motivated to develop and practice technical skills needed for game and interactive media productions. Over the last four years, the concept has developed to a production environment very close to a real game company, where students could practice technical-, communicative- and management skills. Currently, there is not much documentation about using game development as a learning environment, especially not at university level. In order to gain more knowledge and develop new learning environments aimed at enabling students to practice technical, communication and management skills, we have started 4 years ago to organize and document the game production semesters, changing the formats and experiments every year. In this paper, we will summarize this 4-year's long study, where a multitude of methods has been used, such as surveys, interviews, and observations, including recent interviews with the participants from the first interventions and analyses of the processes. Our investigation indicates that students are becoming more motivated and that they are acquiring a lot of experience in fields, which are not directly a part of the curriculum, such as communication in larger teams, management of complex productions and technical production skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the technology evolves rapidly and with it increases the need for qualified professionals in the field of ICT. Employment of IT professionals is projected to grow worldwide by 22% till 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations. The main reason for this rapid growth is a large increase in the market demand for computer software and mobile applications. In regard, nonprofit organizations and established businesses are looking for alternative ways to educate and grow the number of people, in particular students, involved in learning computer programming. On the other hand, most of the students regardless of their age have access to the Internet via laptops, tablets, smartphones which turns them into intuitive and everyday learners and gives them access to unlimited resources, content and information in the form of web-based platforms, mobile e-learning applications, social media, online games and others providing abundant and diverse learning experience. However, no matter how fast technology evolves and how many alternative teaching techniques are introduced constantly, the major challenge of the education still remains motivation. In this context, students are more driven to learn by playing online games, interacting via social media and expressing themselves via digital resources rather than struggling with the traditional educational methods. A relatively new, but gaining popularity, form of education is the use of interactive online e-learning platforms that merge the possibility of learning computer programming skills while building digital games. Most of the platforms are designed using gamification approach and provide vast and entertaining methods, based on rich user experience, interaction and simulation. The purpose of this paper is to present these innovative e-learning platforms for learning computer programming, to explore their features, advantages and drawbacks as well as to investigate the impact of the interactive learning experience they create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being prepared for crisis requires learning about crisis and training for handling crisis. Since the tragic event on July 22nd of 2011 where a man killed and injured men, woman and children in two separate terror strikes in Norway, the focus on learning about and training for handling crisis has contributed to a regulation ordering all municipalities to have a plan for handling crisis and crisis preparedness ((DSB), 2012). At Hedmark University College of Applied Sciences, Norway, it is possible to obtain a bachelor degree in crisis management. The degree offers courses that present theory and with practical examples that present different perspectives and that in total provide the students with a solid basis for handling crisis and being prepared for crisis. However, the need for expanding beyond theory and practical examples has been recognized. Simulations and realistic exercises are valuable, but may also represent huge costs resources to organize. With the emergence of video games other ways of simulating has been made possible. The digital games have also become more advanced and offer a user interface that is quite realistic. Games have been used for learning purposes for many years, and this has been subject for academic interest. This paper presents the work of testing a game “in the making”. The game is being developed by professional game developers and is based on a platform that games have been developed that have been used for educational purposes as well as having been sold as a commercial game. This is a part of a project at our campus called “Preparing for Future Crisis Management” (Skår, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large upfront investments required for game development pose a severe barrier for the wider uptake of serious games in education and training. Also, there is a lack of well-established methods and tools that support game developers at preserving and enhancing the games’ pedagogical effectiveness. The RAGE project, which is a Horizon 2020 funded research project on serious games, addresses these issues by making available reusable software components that aim to support the pedagogical qualities of serious games. In order to easily deploy and integrate these game components in a multitude of game engines, platforms and programming languages, RAGE has developed and validated a hybrid component-based software architecture that preserves component portability and interoperability. While a first set of software components is being developed, this paper presents selected examples to explain the overall system’s concept and its practical benefits. First, the Emotion Detection component uses the learners’ webcams for capturing their emotional states from facial expressions. Second, the Performance Statistics component is an add-on for learning analytics data processing, which allows instructors to track and inspect learners’ progress without bothering about the required statistics computations. Third, a set of language processing components accommodate the analysis of textual inputs of learners, facilitating comprehension assessment and prediction. Fourth, the Shared Data Storage component provides a technical solution for data storage - e.g. for player data or game world data - across multiple software components. The presented components are exemplary for the anticipated RAGE library, which will include up to forty reusable software components for serious gaming, addressing diverse pedagogical dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of new pedagogies and new technology, an opportunity existed to look at other mechanisms of engaging students in a medicine research and development environment in the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The aim of this paper is to describe the process of conceptualisation and development of a medicines research and development game for undergraduate pharmacy students, in a resource constraint setting, where access to pharmaceutical industry is limited to other parts of the country. A series of meetings were held with academics from different divisions (Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacy Practice) within the Discipline to map out the stages of a game for medicines research and development. A pharmaceutical industry partner was identified for interviews regarding the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists in this sector. A video game concept was developed and a collaboration was initiated with game specialists to develop a game on medicine research and development for South Africa, using a Balanced Design approach. The emphasis of this framework was to help game designers and academics to better align the learning goals with game mechanics to produce more deeply engaging and effective learning game experiences that included assessments. In terms of the current status of game development, an 8-stage outline for the eight stages of version one of the game has been approved. Development of the game is underway and the game is to be piloted in the second half of 2016. This nuanced experience has underscored the need for careful planning, engagement of the different stakeholders in the process as well as acceptance by the academics to try something new. In addition, understanding of the underlying pedagogy is critical in the construction of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will introduce the Game Enhanced learning Model (GEM), which describes a range of game-oriented learning activities. The model is intended to give an overview of the possibilities of game-based learning in general and all the way up to purposive game productions. In the paper, we will describe the levels of the model, which is based on our experience in teaching professional game development at university level. Furthermore, we have been using the model to inspire numerous educators to improve their students’ motivation and skills. The model presents various game-based learning activities, and depicts their required planning and expected outcome through eight levels. At its lower levels, the model contains the possibilities of using stand-alone analogue and digital games as teachers, utilizing games as a facilitator of learning activities, exploiting gamification and motivating students through role-play. The higher levels include modifying existing games, fundamental game development, creating games while enhance learning in a desired topic, and finally the development of purposive games. It is our experience that the four lower levels, which are concerned with using games in the classroom, gamification and roleplay, can be applied by almost any teacher in any topic - if assistance is available at the first sessions. It is however in the four higher levels, which are concerned with game development, that we experience the greatest impacts. Most so with digital game development since these levels also simultaneously improve students’ technical skills and motivation to learn programming. In order to illustrate the use of the model, we will describe an initiative to change the renowned Aalborg University Problem Based Learning model into a more production-oriented approach. The initiative was named “The Purposive Game Production” and focused on accommodating a range of wishes from students while making the education more tailored towards finding the students’ passion and securing a job after graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching students to create computer games has become a common practice in both K-12 and tertiary education to introducing programming concepts, increasing student engagement, and recruiting majors and minors in technology fields. This study describes a project where first-year college students in an introductory technology concepts course use a visual game creation tool to develop original games to play on their computers and mobile devices. The paper argues that the process of making an original computer game develops digital literacy skills and provides an authentic learning experience as students collaborate to create, publish, and deploy interactive games that they can play on their computers and mobile devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Game based learning has proven to have many possibilities for supporting better learning outcomes, when using educational or commercial games in the classroom. However, there is also a great potential in using game development as a motivator in several other kinds of learning scenarios. Using game development as an approach for including game based learning in various educations has become more accessible due to more user friendly game development tools and systems. This study will thus focus on an exploration on how game development motivates students and what they learn when creating games. We exemplify the potential of using game fabrication as a learning environment with the investigation of a game production, which involved over 25 students across semesters. In order to investigate students' experiences during this purposive game production, we set up an experiment where students were "hired" to work in a virtual game development company. Students then had to produce a game concerning global warming during their 2.5 months semester project. The main results indicated that students who worked on the purposive game production acquired several new technical and analytical skills, they increased their skills in production management, and they were more motivated to continue their studies after the production. The findings illustrate that there are great potentials in harnessing the power of game development in education. We conclude with a framework of best practice guidelines for other educators, who want to incorporate a purposive game production in their own activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games have become an integral part of the educational process. Born and raised in the digital era, Russian students of the 21st century are seduced by entertainment and in contrast they perceive STEM educational activities as boring and annoying. To spark an interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming we decided to implement a competitive contest in the educational process. By combining the developments of the eScience Research Institute and educational techniques, we have introduced elements of entertainment to a group project of 6 ECTS during the second semester of the Double Degree Master's Program in Computational Science. The main goal of this project is to teach students basics of AI programming by creating bots for a strategy video game. Typical tasks and multi-domain specificity stimulate students to discover and apply new information from available sources promoting the principles of self-education and lifelong learning. An exaggerated and concentrated example of diverse behavioral patterns in the game should help students to transfer the patterns acquired from the games to solve real-life problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, games have gained much attention in education and it is widely recognized that Game Based Learning can help engage students to learn. Educational gameplay with various levels of "forced participation" works well in the classroom where games are played for a limited time period under the supervision of a teacher. Participation in educational games played outside of the classroom, on the other hand, is less predictable or reliable. This is particularly a problem for pervasive games, where most of the gameplay takes place outside of the classroom in the player's leisure time. Pervasive games have shown potential within GBL, but experience has shown that active participation is a major challenge. Even if the players have a positive attitude towards the game and experience the game as a fun and exciting to play, it is still difficult to motivate students to participate sufficiently to reach the defined learning outcomes. For Game Based Learning to take the step out of the classroom and into the players' everyday life, making learning pervasive, it is important to understand the gaming elements and features that motivate the players to engage in the game play and consequently the learning process. This paper presents the results of the experimental pervasive game HiNTHunt2013 which extends a previous version of the same game with specific features intended to increase player participation. The extended features can easily be adapted and integrated into other types of games used in Game Based Learning. The aim of the experiments documented in this paper is to explore and evaluate different types of motivational features in game play and the effect these features have on player participation. The results presented in this paper show that the extensions introduced in order to increase player participation had a positive impact. These findings will contribute to the understanding of how to motivate player participation in pervasive games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study individual creativity, the sensemaking process or process of engagement in creative acts, in the game development. We conduct an inductive and exploratory single case study on creativity. We focus on the sensemaking process and cognitive style of an individual; a process which comprises elements of both conscious and unconscious thinking in an interplay. We look at individual creativity as being embedded in and influenced by a variety of different contexts: the team and the organization (the meso level context) and the broader institutional environment (the macro level context), comprised of the industry and the culture. By incorporating the meso and macro-level contexts on the examination of individual creativity, we bridge the literature on creativity, cultural and creative industries, and the institutional environment for creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to social, economic, and technological changes in our society creativity is nowadays seen as basic survival and success factor. Thus, innovation, creativity and production of media should be emphasized also in the school of the future. However, current schooling system tends to produce consumers of media instead of creative problem solvers, critical thinkers, and producers of media. At this point also educators and policy makers should be creative and introduce innovative learning solutions and practices that support the development of creativity and 21 century skills. This paper replies to this call by considering learning by developing games as one of future learning strategies. Learning by developing games is not totally new idea, but the research has only begun to explore the possibilities that this pedagogical strategy provides. In this article we introduce a new game authoring environment MAGOS that is developed according to the framework of creative pedagogy. The framework of creative pedagogy comprises of three interrelated elements of creative teaching, teaching for creativity, and creative learning. From these three elements we derived eight design principles that guided the development of MAGOS environment. MAGOS supports creative teaching practices by providing different tools for planning and for teacher participation. Teaching for creativity is supported by offering an imaginative and innovative learning environment and tools with which a teacher can support students' creative and constructive processes. MAGOS include multiple elements that promote students' collaborative game development that is supposed to enhance co-creation of knowledge. MAGOS requires a joint effort for game development and enables building on each others' ideas through sharing and remixing other students' existing work. MAGOS also provides a tool that helps students to generate novel ideas for their joint game development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the fast development of information technology throughout the 20th century, researchers started looking at the phenomenon of game industry development and accepted games as a part of modern cultural heritage. However, the research on culture as a game input and facilitator of creativity in game context is still scarce. This paper focuses on the interconnection between organizational culture and innovativeness, especially in the case of game development. We look at the different roles culture plays in the process of innovation and ideation for new product development in game industry. In our analysis we review the role of national culture as a source of inspiration and treat organizational culture as a facilitator for the final product to reach the market and to the culture as an attribute of the product itself. Our findings show that the national culture serves as a source of inspiration for entrepreneurship and game content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the issues with teaching artificial intelligence (AI) for games is that many AI algorithms work in theory, but have production consequences in terms of speed or memory when actually used in a game. We report on the benefits and drawbacks of modifying or “modding” the commercial game Minecraft for a course on Game AI. This was done to give students the experience of dealing with a commercial game environment where they would have to worry about production consequences with their algorithms. The course was run as an upper level undergraduate elective during the fall of 2011 and included assignments on dynamic terrain generation, character behavior, and world events. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Learning is a process that is associated with a lot of effort and perseverance. In learning theories, motivation can be observed as a key factor. In some cases learning can become playing if the learning experience is so intrinsically satisfying and rewarding that external pressures or rewards for learning are of secondary importance. Serious games are able to increase motivation for learning by realizing diverse approaches which can address cognitive as well as affective learning. By using a variety of elements such as visual environments, story-lines, challenges, and interactions with non-player characters, serious games can be optimal learning environments. Even though, they have such motivational power, several studies have shown that there are no known forms of education as effective as a professional human tutor. This paper explores the interaction of human tutors with learners in a serious games with the focus on ‘Social Development Theory’. It will present results that show how human tutors observe players in executing learning tasks, and interacting with the game environment in serious games. Based on the results of this studies we provide a definition of adaptivity for serious games. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For several years empirical studies have spanned the spectrum of research from software productivity, quality, reliability, performance to human computer interaction. Analyses have involved software systems ranging from desktop software to telecommunication switching systems. But surprising there has been little work done on the emerging digital game industry, one of the fastest growing domains today. To the best of our knowledge, our work is one of the first empirical analysis of a large commercially successful game system. In this paper, we introduce an analysis of the significant user data generated in the gaming industry by using a successful game: Project Gotham Racing 4. More specifically, due to the increasing ubiquity of constantly connected high-speed internet connections for game consoles, developers are able to collect extensive amounts of data about their games following release. The challenge now is to make sense of that data, and from it be able to make recommendations to developers. This paper presents an empirical case study analyzing the data collected from a released game over a three year period. The results of this analysis include a better understanding of the differences between long-term and short-term players, and the extent to which various options in the game are utilized. This led to recommendations for future development ways to reduce development costs and to keep new players engaged. A secondary goal for this paper is to introduce software game development as a topic of importance to the empirical software engineering community and discuss research results on a key difference area: data analytics on user data to customize user and development experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research presents a real-time multi-agent path finding system for XNA game development. In our system, each agent thinks independently, and continues to search and move to reach its destination, so a group behaviors with significant individual characteristic can be better simulated, The concept of soft obstacle is introduced to implement collision avoidance between agents and crowd movement simulation, The path finding algorithm is applied and bridged on the 3D games, which provides efficient multi NPC path finding function for real-time game. The paper expounds the system from overall structure, components detail, core algorithms and practical application, and then obtains the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The importance of capstone senior design project courses is widely recognized for undergraduate software engineering curricula. They provide students with an opportunity to integrate and apply theoretical knowledge (both from previous courses and newly acquired for the project) on a team, improving both their technical and soft-skills. Here, we report our experiences using an agile development method for a game project; this is a radical shift from our previous course offerings that were based on waterfall, model driven development. This report is unique and valuable, especially for software engineering education, which goes beyond the discipline-specific limits of computer science curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The software engineering community has had seminal papers on data analysis for software productivity, quality, reliability, performance etc. Analyses have involved software systems ranging from desktop software to telecommunication switching systems. Little work has been done on the emerging digital game industry. In this paper we explore how data can drive game design and production decisions in game development. We define a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data sources, broken down into three broad categories: internal testing, external testing, and subjective evaluations. We present preliminary results of a case study of how data collected from users of a released game can inform subsequent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer games can provide active and experiential learning environments, supporting problem-solving and collaboration, providing a forum for practice and learning through failure. Through scaffolding and immediate, contextual feedback, they can facilitate the transition from novice to expert. They can engage users, with mechanisms such as the use of compelling challenges and rewards, competition, satisfying curiosity and the human urge to complete sets. Above all, they can provide safe playful spaces for mistake-making and reflection, in which learners can experiment, build things, create mythologies, and have fun. However, obtaining or developing appropriate games for formal educational contexts is often problematic. Commercial games may not map closely to desired curricula, while bespoke games are typically time consuming to develop and require specialist skill sets and expertise. Digital games are often expensive to purchase or produce, and learners - particularly those in Higher Education, an increasingly expensive proposition in the UK - need to be convinced of their appropriateness and value for money. While the use of digital games for learning can be effective, it may not be practical given the increasing economic constraints, and this paper aims to present alternative ways in which the theory and practice of computer games could be used in education. Three alternative approaches to game-based learning without the expense will be presented. First, the option of developing lo-fidelity games, such as alternate reality games, or using virtual worlds or one of the growing number of accessible game-builder toolkits to create game-based learning experiences. Second, the notion of learning from games rather than with them is discussed, by examining what games are good at and how they achieve it, and looking for ways to embed those elements in traditional teaching practices. Third, the option of giving learners agency as creators of games rather than as consumers is presented, so that they become the developers and it becomes the process, not the product, that facilitates learning. The appropriateness of each of these approaches will be considered, and the advantages and drawbacks of each approach discussed, taking into account both practical and pedagogic issues. In this way, the paper aims to offer alternative ways of thinking about the potential of digital games for learning, and present possible solutions to the increasing financial constraints that face the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a complex game is a time consuming task that requires a significant amount of content generation, including terrains, objects, characters, etc that requires a lot of effort from the a designing team. The quality of such content impacts the project costs and budget. One of the biggest challenges concerning the content is how to improve its details and at the same time lower the creation costs. In this context procedural content generation techniques can help to reduce the costs associated with content creation. This paper presents a survey of classical and modern techniques focused on procedural content generation suitable for game development. They can be used to produce terrains, coastlines, rivers, roads and cities. All techniques are classified as assisted (require human intervention/guidance in order to produce results) or non-assisted (require few or no human intervention/guidance to produce the desired results). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The development of video games comprises engineering teams within various disciplines, e.g., software engineering, game production, and creative arts. Game jams are a promising approach for (software+) development projects to foster on new product development. This paper evaluates the concept of game jam, a community design/development activity, and its positive effects on new software product development with tight schedules in time-oriented, competitive environments. Game jams have received more public attention in recent times, but the concept itself has not been formally discussed so far. A game jam is a composition of design and development strategies: new product development, participatory design, lightweight construction, rapid experience prototyping, product-value focusing, aesthetics and technology, concurrent development and multidisciplinarity. Although game jams are normally used for rapid prototyping of small computer games, the constellation of the mentioned elements provides a powerful technique for rapidly prototyping new product ideas and disruptive innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of video games comprises engineering teams within various disciplines, e.g., software engineering, game production, and creative arts. Game jams are a promising approach for (software+) development projects to foster on new product development. This paper evaluates the concept of game jam, a community design/development activity, and its positive effects on new software product development with tight schedules in time-oriented, competitive environments. Game jams have received more public attention in recent times, but the concept itself has not been formally discussed so far. A game jam is a composition of design and development strategies: new product development, participatory design, lightweight construction, rapid experience prototyping, product-value focusing, aesthetics and technology, concurrent development and multidisciplinarity. Although game jams are normally used for rapid prototyping of small computer games, the constellation of the mentioned elements provides a powerful technique for rapidly prototyping new product ideas and disruptive innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing computer games is anymore essentially a personal effort. The game development process is an important issue. In fact, games are becoming more and more complex task, involving multi disciplinary teams composed by member with specialised knowledge and skills. In order to cope with the problem of game development process we analysed literature and study a specific case of a firm that is developing games for the Web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research explaining Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game usage is largely centered on empirically derived motivations that fail to build a theory of game play. The present research integrates these developments into a theory of media attendance within the framework of Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory. Respondents from MMO player discussion boards, or “guilds,” were recruited to complete an on-line questionnaire. Multiple regression techniques were used to test a new model of media attendance in which motivations examined in previous empirical studies, moderated by MMO self-efficacy, joins habitual behavior and deficient self-regulation as determinants of MMO consumption behavior. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games have been used to increase the accuracy and usege of clinical guidelines during routine clinical practice. This document presents the development of a serious game called SIM-GIC, a video game designed to simulate virtual patients and evaluate the decision making of players based on computer-interpretable clinical guidelines. The system is currently being developed with a content focus on antenatal care guidelines, where a number of obstetric guidelines were coded in XML files. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about A∗ search algorithm, which is a computer algorithm that is widely used in path-finding and graph traversal. The process of plotting an efficiently traversal path between points, called nodes. Noted for its performance and accuracy, it enjoys widespread use. In this paper, an analysis on the determination of the heuristic function and excute heuristic searching and realize the A∗ algorithm. At this point, we propose a more efficient method of heuristic function. Especially, A∗ algorithm is widely used in game development. Finally, we can prove that A∗ algorithm is effective and simple. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many recent studies have shown that educational games are effective tools for learning. Nevertheless, it is hard to find any practical guidelines for the creation of such games. The goal of this paper is to develop such guidelines for the creation of educational adventure games. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While research has investigated the application of computational methodologies in undergraduate biology education, those approaches require students certain backgrounds from multiple disciplines. Recently, game design and development for education has moved into different fields of science, including biology. Several multi-media interactive products have been developed to simulate biological mechanisms and can be used by undergraduate students. However these approaches focus on students as game users and, not as game developers. Here, we propose an innovative approach to involve game design and development into undergraduate biology classroom. The approach assumes no additional background, and aims to increase engagement in the complexities of the course material through the process of game design and development. We initialized a case study that systematically combines a game application-driven project into genetics teaching. In the pedagogical experiment, undergraduate biology and computer science students designed educational games to enhance the speed and depth of comprehension of both biological and software engineering concepts. The result of this study shows that the reinforcement effects of biological education games apply differently on students with or without biology backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The integration of technology in the development of handheld mobile applications towards educational instruction is an exciting field that merits devoted research and attention. This paper documents our foray into the creation and implementation of frameworks and modules and their use in the creation of educational mobile games. Qualitative evaluation focused on the content and basic functionality of the output. Our work over the past three years evidences the critical need for synergy between time management, game technology and efficient building of easily modified game prototypes in order to produce a viable iOS-based mobile educational game. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]