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Rapporten bygger på tre delstudier med olika datainsamlingstekniker: En bibliometristudie av svensk spelforskning baserad på data från Scopus respektive SwePub. En enkätstudie över svenska spelforskningsmiljöer. En intervjustudie om svenska spelforskarmiljöer. Bibliometristudiens ansats har varit bred. Materialet inkluderar därmed även poster som endast har en perifer koppling till spel, men returnerar i fallet SwePub färre än 3000 poster. Spelforskning bedrivs på många lärosäten i Sverige och publiceras inom många ämnesområden. Totalt 95 forskare har en publicering som omfattar 10 eller fler spelpublikationer1. Det finns starka lokala kluster av forskare som sampublicerar men sampubliceringen mellan svenska och nordiska lärosäten är inte så omfattande. Jämfört med Finland har Sverige färre publikationer med ett tydligt fokus på spelforskning. Enkätstudien visar att spelforskarmiljöerna oftast består av ett antal forskare med olika ämnesmässig bakgrund där de själva definierar sig som spelforskare snarare än att organisationen som sådan gör det. Miljöerna har sammantaget och högt räknat runt 30 aktiva doktorander men siffran är osäker. 94% av respondenterna anger att deras forskning ligger inom ”spel för andra områden än underhållning” och endast 6% anger ”spelteknikfokus”. 44% anger ”spelbranschen”. Det är tydligt att spel för just underhållning inte ligger fokus för svensk spelforskning. Detta är remarkabelt då den svenska datorspelsindustrin är en multimiljardindustri fokuserad på just spel som underhållning. Det finns alltså en mycket stor diskrepans mellan industri och svensk spelforskning. Intervjustudien ger en bild av att spelforskningen bedrivs inom splittrade miljöer, av forskare med olika ämnesmässig bakgrund. Det finns en tydlig upplevd brist på forskningsfinansiering inom adekvata områden och det finns brister i de finansieringsinstrument som finns idag. Detta påverkar såväl vilken typ av fo

Interactive sound design technology for dance performance often use instant auditive movement feedback which may create the illusion of the dancer causing the sound as well as being a limitation in space for the dancer. This report describes the iterative development of an interactive sound system which instead aims to produce reciprocity between movement input and sound. Using the framework of Model Based Sonification a data processing model is built in a game engine where input data is accumulated before modulating sound assets, creating an interactive electroacoustic composition. Sonification and it's common usages are presented, as well as it's relation to game audio and adaptive music. The role of sonification frameworks in challenges for present day game audio is also discussed.

This study seeks to bridge the gap between the past and the future, drawing inspiration from 18th century phantasmagoria performances and modern VR game design. Through a combination of quantitative analysis, measuring physiological responses and player feedback, as well as qualitative analysis of interviews and observations, this research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of a combination of phantasmagoria performance elements and VR on player immersion through a unique horror gaming experience. Ultimately, by incorporating this forgotten art form within today’s digital landscape, this study hopes to create opportunities for VR technology to redefine the boundaries of horror gaming, potentially creating new avenues for storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and player engagement. The findings of this study will contribute to the ongoing discourse in the field of VR gaming and pave the way for further advancements and innovations in this exciting domain.

Serious games are well known for their application outside the games, but how they are developed is seldom explored. This study looks at the development process for an advergame for an outside client and what challenges and opportunities presented themselves when creating it. By looking at the context of development the study finds an understanding for what affected the development and how it affected it. The results show that the development context can have varying effects on development. Part of this is the motivations and background behind the project and goals of the company. The developers’ work can become dependent on the project company and work can be halted if the connection is not maintained. Further the study proposes guidelines based on the results that developers can use when working with interdisciplinary collaboration.

Roleplay is used in many industries, including the video game industry, as a creative method to explore ideas. This could be applied to the creation of narratives in games and thus utilized as a collaborative narrative tool for developing creative ideas. This can especially occur in pre-production where many narrative ideas are generated. However, a formalized version of this concept is missing. This leads to the development and testing of the scenario-based roleplay methodology which has the purpose of gathering data from a series of roleplayed scenarios. Testing showcases the potential use cases and types of scenarios individuals could encounter, and the viability of the methodology is tested for usability during pre-production. This culminates in scenario-based roleplay being evaluated as a narrative methodology that helps specify narrative details, hinders scheduling, and dependent on the team, can either assist in narrowing scope, or overly expand it, thus becoming a liability., Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.There are other digital material (eg film, image or audio files) or models/artifacts that belongs to the thesis and need to be archived.

Scrum är ett arbetssätt som implementeras för att främja kommunikation och produktivitet för företaget. I många fall används Scrum inte korrekt hos dataspelsföretag och dessa företag väljer medvetet eller omedvetet att inte implementera några av de viktiga delarna. Scrum tappar då effektivitet och kan i värsta fall bli ett negativt påverkande verktyg. Denna studie menar att undersöka och kartlägga hur Scrum används i spelutvecklingen i Skövde och har därmed behandlat frågeställningen “Vilka är de framträdande utvecklingsriktningarna i användandet av Scrum inom Spelutveckling?”Scrumpraxis kartlades hos de intervjuade företagen. Resultatet för studien är att scrum inte används korrekt i spelindustrin i Skövde och att många av de viktiga delarna förkastas eller görs mer sällan än vad de borde. Ett exempel på detta är sprintåterblick och sprintgranskning som används av väldigt få företag och är en väsentlig del av Scrum. Studien har även identifierat en generell avsaknad av en scrummaster bland de intervjuade företagen.

Otome games are most simply described as Japanese games in which players play through a romance story as a female protagonist wooing a male love interest, the game equivalent of a romance novel. Indie otome games are otome games made in English, and the developers of these games have created a unique development community that is casually observed to be majority female, majority LGBTQ+, and is motivated to make games in part by the lack of romance games available and is only incidentally motivated by the possibility of earning money. After a background discussion on what otome games are, this unique community is examined through survey and interview answers to understand what they consider otome games to be and why they make otome games, while differences from the mainstream game development industry are highlighted. Survey results demonstrate that women make up the majority of developers in the space and that the majority of developers identify as LGBTQ+. The survey and subsequent follow-up interviews show that while a gap in the market of games is a motivating factor for these developers, for a large portion of developers it is not the primary factor, and they would still be making games regardless. The survey also provides insights into how the indie otome developer community defines itself and suggests that the community is still in the process of growing and defining itself.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of AI-generated content (AIGC) when it starts to be applied in game development. AIGC in games refers to the generation of game content through artificial intelligence, a concept that has recently recieved a high level of attention due to the latest rapid developments in artificial intelligence, and in traditional research, AIGC can be categorized as an advanced approach to Procedural Content Generation (PCG), i.e., Deep Learning Method. Procedural Content Generation is the creation of game content through algorithms with limited or indirect user input. Its traditional approach has been widely used in games. Recently, however, the AIGC method has also started to be used by a large number of game companies, and its impact has exceeded expectations. A questionnaire survey of 40 game developers revealed a general interest in AIGC but also concerns. Further interviews explored the use of AIGC in game development and some of the problems it has encountered and predicted future trends in its development. The result of this study provide guidance on whether and how AIGC needs to be used in future game development.

This article examines level design processes and challenges at professional game stu- dios. 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 owner- ship and facilitating communication and planning. The level design process seems par- ticularly 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., CC BY 4.0Corresponding author(s): Tobias Karlsson, School of Informatics, University of Skövde, PO Box 408, 541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Email: tobias.karlsson@his.seThe author(s) received nofinancial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication ofthis article.

This study examines the understanding of cybersecurity, with a distinct focus on the culture and awareness of cybersecurity within the Swedish game development industry. Utilising a qualitative research design, five semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals in the domain, and the results are discussed and compared with relevant prior studies. The findings reveal a variance in cybersecurity cultures between larger and smaller organisations, largely dictated by resource availability; security measures are frequently implemented in a reactive rather than proactive manner. Moreover, the study identifies ransomware as the most significant threat in the studio’s threat landscapes. Companies’ perceptions and responses to this threat differ; smaller enterprises often rely on informal security policies, while larger organisations implement regular backup procedures and more sophisticated security measures.

This study has examined what in virtual characters movement invokes negative sensations associated with the Uncanny Valley. This was done through a study involving semi-structured interviews, open-ended surveys and eye tracking during which the 10 participants observed gameplay and dialogue clips from three different games. A literature review was performed regarding the topics of Game User Experience, Immersion, Animation, Motion capture, Uncanny Valley and Body language studies. The results of the study indicate that it is possible for participants to identify what details in virtual characters’ movements induce these negative sensations to them, which strengthen previous research of the topic. The results of this study did not show a great deal of variation between the participants yet showed a unique set of motivations and examples about what influenced their perception. However, with such a small sample, the results can only be applied to this study and merely provide the groundwork for future studies of the topic. However, it does provide more detailed information about the uncanny valley that can help game developers to make informed decisions when choosing to work with realistic animation

Often writers have to work on topics where they might have limited or no personal experience. This paper seeks to explore one of the ways that this can be done. By seeking the assistance of experts in the relevant topic and having them give advice, guide, and assist in the writing process the writer may be able to write something that will work for the media that they are using. By utilizing workshops and interview the goal of this paper is to find out how a non-queer writer could work together with queer community members to be able to create not only a believable story or character but also one that will provide a good representation of queer individuals. The paper shows that with a modified card sorting method a workshop can supply the writer with a good startingpoint.

This thesis investigates the genre classification of Vampire Survivors-like games, focusing on "Vampire Survivors" by Poncle (2021, poncle). The objective is to define their genre and explore the possibility of a new genre creation. The research comprehensively examines genre origins, classification approaches, and significance from design, marketing, and consumer perspectives. Vampire Survivors and similar games have gained prominence, but their genre remains uncertain. Elements align with Action Roguelike and Bullet Hell, yet definitive classification proves elusive. This study analyzes gameplay mechanics, design elements, and experiences to compare with established genres.The research provides insights for game developers seeking design patterns and helps players find suitable games. It contributes to the understanding of emerging game genres, promoting innovation in the gaming industry. Using a systematic methodology, this thesis establishes a coherent genre framework. Finding scontribute to genre discussions and inspire future research in this evolving field.

Received 06 Dec 2022, Accepted 11 Dec 2022, Published online: 28 Dec 2022Special Issue on Gaming Eastern Europe: Production, Distribution and Consumption; Guest Editor: Lars KristensenContact: Lars Kristensen lars.kristensen@his.se Department of Game development, School of informatics, University of Skövde, Box 408, Skövde, 541 28, Sweden

During recent years a rise of small, independent game developers have become a large part of the global game industry. These indie developers are often distributing their games using digital distribution with a self-publishing business model. While the possibilities to reach a large global audience are expanding with digital distribution, there are also challenges for the developers, where the work tasks previously handled by a publisher now has to be handled by the developers themselves. One such work task directly related to the globalness of the game industry is localization, which is the process of altering a product in such ways it can be used by consumers in a specific target market. The main objective of the thesis project is to understand how indie game developers are working with game localization as a part of the development process. In this case, "indie" refers to developers with limited resources in terms of financing and manpower, using a self-publishing business model. The research has partly been carried out through participatory field studies in close connection to indie game developers and development clusters in Sweden, China, and India. In addition to this, the technical aspects of game localization have been scrutinized through studies of localization support in commonly used game engines and game development tools. The results of the thesis show that game localization is an important development task due to the global nature of the game industry, but that its complexity often is underestimated by the developers. To reach a large player base, localization is a must and should be planned for early in the process. Further, the results show that game localization is less resource demanding ifusing a localization friendly production pipeline, and that the tools to set up such production pipelines are available in all major game engines, Under de senaste åren har en ökning av små, oberoende spelutvecklare blivit en stor del av den globala spelindustrin. Dessa indieutvecklare distribuerar ofta sina spel med hjälp av digitala distributionskanaler och agerar ofta även utgivare för sina egna spel. Samtidigt som möjligheterna att nå en stor global publik ökat med digital distribution finns det även utmaningar. Ett exempel är de arbetsuppgifter som tidigare sköttes av en förläggare eller utgivare och som nu måste skötas av utvecklarna själva. En sådan arbetsuppgift är lokalisering, en arbetsuppgift som dessutom är av stor vikt för att kunna nå en global spelarbas. Huvudsyftet med denna avhandling är att förstå hur små, oberoende spelutvecklare, ofta kallade indiespelsutvecklare, arbetar med lokalisering som en del av spelutvecklingsprocessen. I det här fallet syftar "indie" på utvecklare med begränsade resurser vad gäller finansiering och arbetskraft och som använder en självpublicerande affärsmodell. Avhandlingsarbetet har delvis utförts genom deltagande fältstudier i nära anslutning till indiespelsutvecklare och spelutvecklingskluster i Sverige, Kina och Indien. Utöver detta har de tekniska aspekterna av spellokalisering granskats genom studier av lokaliseringsstöd i vanligt förekommande spelmotorer och spelutvecklingsverktyg. Resultaten från avhandlingen visar att spellokalisering är en viktig arbetsuppgift i spelutvecklingssammanhang. Detta på grund av att spelindustrin är global och att ett spel direkt har möjligheten att nå en stor internationell målgrupp. Däremot underskattas komplexiteten gällande lokaliseringsarbete vilket medför att lokaliseringsrelaterade frågor prioriteras ner i tidigt utvecklingsprocessen. Detta kan få stora konsekvenser i ett senare stadie, och resultaten från avhandlingen visar att lokalisering bör planeras tidigt i processen för att spara tid och resurser. Vidare pekar resultaten på att spellokalisering är mindre resurskrävande om man använder en lokaliseringsvänlig produ, Ett av sex delarbeten (övriga se rubriken Delarbeten/List of papers):Toftedahl, M. (2021). Towards a deeper understanding of localization as a game development process: Game studio studies in Sweden and China. Submitted to Entertainment Computing (in review).

This study has examined what design principles help make more understandable UI icons and what aspects are most important when understanding the functionality of UI elements. Prior to this study, 15 UI icons representing items and actions were drawn asstudy subjects together with a prototype game to provide game context to the testers.Through applying surveys, think-aloud, playtesting, and interviews, 10 participantswere included to see how their unique backgrounds impact their understanding ofvideo game icons. Their age; country of origin; gaming habits, genre, platform, andgame preferences; and game development experience were considered to see if therewas a connection between cultural backgrounds and icon understanding. The results showed that the group was fairly homogenous, yet still had a unique set of expectations, preferences, and understandings of the icons which indicates that background impacts how people understand UI icons in games. However, with a small sample, this was merely the beginning of a discussion on how interpretation and cultural differences can be used as a lens to study how people understand video game icons that are relevant to video games. Further, this could help UI/UX designers better understand universal and culture-specific references in order to understand how their users make assumptions about symbols which in turn could help improve the user experience.

The research topic of this thesis is the perceptions and expectations of the LGBTcommunity in China and Sweden regarding LGBT-related content in games. With the development of games, the frequency and ways of LGBT content appearing ingames have become more and more diverse, but whether these are what the LGBT groupitself expects, and whether Chinese LGBT groups and Swedish LGBT groups in differentenvironments and policies are having a different view is the focus of my research. In this study, I will mainly conduct sample interviews and questionnaires with LGBTgroups in China and Sweden to collect their thoughts and make statistics on them.Therefore, the content of this research involves sociology, ethics, etc. In addition, this thesis will conduct homogeneous and differentiated discussions basedon the data and will be no subjective interferences to praise or disparage any of thepoints made in it.

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., CC BY 4.0First Published February 22, 2022Corresponding Author: Rebecca Rouse, Department of Game Development, University of Skövde, Kanikegränd 3A, Skövde 541 28, Sweden. Email: rebecca.rouse@his.se

INTRODUCTION: Serious games is an effort to combine the engagement and motivation from games with some sort of utility beyond mere entertainment. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this paper is to revisit and analyse six projects to explore the design space for serious games and derive design guidelines for serious games. METHODS: We analysed our project portfolio to identify a set of projects which satisfied well-established guidelines for design science research. By analysing these projects as well as their outcomes we generated a set of design principles for serious games. RESULTS: The results from this study is a conceptualisation of the design space for serious games and seven design principles. CONCLUSION: By explicating the game design component in serious games and relating it to the utility dimension we add to the understanding of the serious games from a game perspective, which is relevant to any development effort intending to use the persuasive and motivational power of games., Online first; published on 27 May 2021.CC BY 4.0"Funding has been provided by: University of Skövde, Länsförsäkringar, Sten A Olssons stiftelse för forskning och kultur, Church of Sweden, World Childhood Foundation, Region Västra Götaland, Swedish Rescue Services Agency research fund."Corresponding author: Email: henrik.engstrom@his.se

The player experience (PX) of games can be inspected in various ways to help developers understand the essential ingredients for a successful and engaging game design. Users are even able to experience games on a variety of different gaming platforms, which presents more ways of interaction compared to games that are restricted to only a single gaming platform. The overall chain of interactions between games and platforms, becomes a central design target to understand the complex nature of digital games. However, there are a limited number of studies that investigate how the gaming platforms affects the general PX, and how to conduct an effective evaluation on a game that exists on several platforms. The purpose of this thesis is to research the general PX of these multi-platform games and to generate information about a topic of interest where there is not much prior knowledge. This was done through a single case study using participants and measure their overall PX when played on two different platforms. This process used playability heuristics based on literature focusing on PX and usability, along with semi-structured interviews and observations. The data from this case study would then be discussed to serve as a base for a future hypothesis to be studied, and to discuss how research around multi-platform gamescan be managed and assist game developers in their process of creating an enjoyable PX.Besides presenting how games developed for several platforms can affect the evaluation of the PX, the study also presents findings for how players personal preference for gaming platforms can impact both their performance, and their opinions of a games design.

This thesis explores the distribution of Hexad player types present within game development students currently studying at the University of Skövde. The study isgrounded in self-determination theory and previous player typology studies. Data was gathered through a survey distributed through email and posters to the students at the university. A total of 78 participants were recruited for the survey through that method. The data gathered was analyzed and some differences were made evident between different disciplines. Additionally, the participants' motivations for playing games were explored where trends pointing towards students analyzing games for personal interest was found. However, this would have to be further explored to conclude fully.

What’s Harriet Tubman got to do with video games? While this pairing may seem strange, as game design educators we found impact in bridging these two subjects in our own classroom. Centering Tubman in our course has helped in our ongoing project to develop feminist and anti-racist game design education., Publiceringsdatum: 2/22/2022Print ISSN: 0047-8318

This article examines how the unique characteristics of Marvinter, an inclusive transmedia Advent calendar, affected its production and the individual media workers involved in this. In the native transmedia Marvinter project, a radio series and a mobile game were created and released simultaneously. Using ‘partly shared’ resources, the project was developed by two collaborating, non-profit organisations. Each chapter of the digital game had to match the corresponding radio episode. The whole had to be designed to provide a shared cultural experience that included people with hearing or visual impairments. The authors of the present article were part of the game development team and thus directly experienced the complexity of developing a digital game as part of a transmedia project. This article presents the results of a case study with an insider perspective. It is supplemented by semi-structured interviews with key people in the project. The transmedia nature of Marvinter was justified by the need to include people with complementary disabilities. Although sometimes associated with negative connotations of ‘naked commercialisation’ in transmedia contexts, the marketing strategy was here an important element in promoting inclusivity. However, owing to the concurrent work processes, game production became overly complex., CC BY 4.0, Inkluderande julkalender

The discussion of LGBT, and specifically, trans identity and its place in games is oneflourishing with more and more research from scholars. Though a glaring issue stillseems to haunt the field, as the voice of LGBT creators and gamers seems to be missingfrom the video game industry and research alike, which is counterproductive to theultimate goal of bettering the environment of games for LGBT gamers and creators. Asa subset to this, a similarly lacking voice is that of the trans gamer. This thesis aims totherefore further explore the stories of a selection of trans gamers through a co-designdriven approach, in an attempt to explore what the trans audience desires from themedium of games, and to explore and to speculate approaches. The findings wouldshow that allowing the participants to themselves lead the study allows for a different,flourishing selection of ideas and hypotheses., Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.

This paper addresses localization from a game development perspective by studying the state of tool support for a localization work in general purpose game engines. Using a systematic mapping study, the most commonly used game engines and their official tool libraries are studied. The results indicate that even though localization tools exists for the game engines included in the study, the visibility, availability, and functionality differ. Localization tools that are user facing, i.e., used to create localization, are scarce while many are tool facing, i.e., used to import localization kits made outside the production pipeline., CC BY 4.0This research has been funded by the Game Hub Scandinavia 2.0 project under the Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak European Regional Development Fund (Project ID NYPS 20201849)., Game Hub Scandinavia 2.0

Developing children's games that concern sensitive subjects such as online sexual grooming obviously poses a number of challenges. Such challenges include, for instance, the sensitivity of the topic itself, the ethics surrounding the subject matter, and the need to bypass inappropriate language while also creating a game that children will want to play. This paper describes a computer game development project in which a game for 8-10-year-old children was created with the purpose to raise young peoples' risk awareness in online interactions such as multi-user gaming and social networking. The game's mechanics are based on our extensive studies of naturalistic online dialogues derived from closed-forum dialogues between children and later-convicted perpetrators. The perpetrators' tactics and strategies were transferred into game events but in a non-sexual and non-violent format. The game, Hidden in the Zoo, combines a classic board game, a computer game, and augmented reality technology. The traditional game board can be viewed on a tablet that transfers the basic picture on the board into an exciting 3D world. The game's setting is a zoo. To play, each player hides a treasure and is then given a set of clues to the location of the player's own hiding place. The players need to be mindful of the clues to the hiding place so that other players cannot find their treasure. Beyond this basic game premise, the game also contains messages, similar to online chats or text messages, through which players can choose whether or not to reveal a clue, bearing in mind that revealing a clue may or may not be a good idea in the long run. The game is now a fully playable prototype, and initial results show that the game serves as a tool for generating discussions about possible actions and consequences within the game but also in real life. Hence, the game provides a means to empower young children through raised risk awareness., ISBN 9789004439788 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004439788 (ebook)

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., © MCCSIS 2021. All right reserved.

Digital games have become a ubiquitous part of our society. In many countries, game development is a substantial and important industry. Academic institutions provide programmes aimed at preparing students for careers in game development. Over the past 20 years, there has been great interest in game research. However, very few studies address game development. Instead, most studies have focused on: serious applications of games; analysis of games and players; or, social aspects of playing. This book provides an overview of the scattered academic landscape of game development research. It highlights studies from a wide range of disciplines and raises arguments for game development to be understood as a complex activity that inherently includes elements of science, engineering, design and art. The consequences of this complexity need to be taken into account by research and/or academic programmes that have a disciplinary focus. There is otherwise the risk that the true nature of game development will not be understood., This book was created within the Game Hub Scandinavia 2.0 project. Project id: NYPS20201849, EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak., Game Hub Scandinavia 2.0

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., International Association for Development of the Information Society, Game Hub Scandinavia 2.0

While level design is a concept commonly used in western game companies, it is veiled in a lack of clear conceptualization. Many research papers on the subject describe the role of level designer as elusive, and there is a great variation in the descriptions used in job listings for the role. This paper aims to identify a set of characteristics for the field of level design, by reviewing literature and analyzing responsibilities and requirements in job listings. To obtain more inclusive and cross-cultural results, interviews were also conducted with Japanese game developers to explain the concept of level design in their industry. By combining the qualitative data from interviews and literature analysis, with the quantitative data from job listings (n=33), the research highlights common denominators for the role of level design, but also demonstrate cultural differences and discrepancies between academia and industry. Thus suggesting gaps in current research as well as culturally. The findings aim to elucidate directions for future research, and promote focus towards the needs of the industry.

This paper describes the use of the WOz method in the development of a prototype for a multi-player mixed reality game for children. It is an adventure game with hidden treasures, clues to hiding places, and information that should not be revealed. The game design, however, includes deceptive elements aimed at luring players to give up information. The game’s underlying intent is to raise children’s online risk awareness. The WOz was used in the early developmental stage to evaluate and explore the game concept, and to find a way to synchronise and integrate different in-game processes. We describe four central game mechanics for which the wizarding proved to be highly useful. We also discuss some ethical aspects related to the method a such as well as to the game design. In sum, we found the WOz method as such to be very useful for game design and development.

This paper reviews empirically grounded research on practices in game development with the intent to give a comprehensive overview of contemporary development practices used in the video game industry. While there are many intangible elements that inform game development processes, this review specifically covers the more immediate practical challenges. The review covers a total of 48 papers published between 2006 and 2016, which were all subjected to thematic analysis by three reviewers. The results of the review show that an almost universal characteristic of game development is that it is almost impossible to accurately plan a development project in detail, largely due to the soft requirements inherent in game production which emerge mid-process during development projects, during when testing is coupled with continuous ideation and refinement. Practicing game developers have created their own frameworks that accommodate for this lack of planning. They include flat hierarchies, democratic decision-making, creative autonomy, and informal communication, which are designed to create an environment that maintains creativity and openness to product changes long into the production process. These frameworks vary significantly between studios and often between individual projects. This review also shows that the term ‘Agile’, while often used by both researchers and developers to characterize the process of game development, is not an apt descriptor of how game developers actually work. Agile is used as shorthand for unstructured and flexible development, rather than serving as a descriptor of a definable or unified work method. Finally, as companies develop more complicated hierarchies of stakeholders and staff, the desired flexibility and autonomy of game development becomes increasingly complicated to maintain, and often necessitates more formalized management processes and company structures. In these cases, inherent tensions of game development become more pronounc, Game Hub Scandinavia

Gamification kan enklast beskrivas som tillämpningen av speldesignselement i en kontext orelaterad till spel. Gamification-mekaniker används inom nätkasinobranschen som ett medel för att engagera slutanvändarna och skapa interaktion mellan användaren och systemet. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur spelmekanikerna inom nätkasinobranschen kan användas utan att vara motstridig till svensk lagstiftning, samt vilka konsekvenser som appliceringen skulle kunna få på användarnas upplevelse. Metoderna för studien var litteraturgenomgång och en fallstudie. Resultatet tyder på att det finns spelmekaniker som inte bryter mot svensk lagstiftning, till exempelvis erfarenhets- och inlösningsbara poäng. Avslutningsvis presenteras förslag på hur de identifierade spelmekanikerna som går emot svensk lagstiftning kan användas och vilka åtgärder spelföretag kan ta för att minimera risker för att spelare, genom diverse spelmekaniker, utvecklar riskfaktorer för problemspelande.

This paper investigates the process of game localization from an indie development perspective. The global nature of the digitally distributed game industry gives opportunities for game studios of all sizes to develop and distribute games on a global market. This poses a challenge for small independent developers with limited resources in funding and personnel, seeking to get as wide spread of their game as possible. To reach the players in other regions of the world localization needs to be done, taking language and other regional differences in mind. In an AAA or big-budget game production, these questions are handled by separate entities focusing solely on the localization process – but how do small independent game developers handle this? Indie game developers in Sweden, China and India have been interviewed to investigate the research question of how do indie game developers handle localization in the development process. The results points to a widespread use of community- and fan translation, and that only basic localization is done i.e. culturalization aspects are not considered. The results also show that the reason for localizing can be both business decisions but also to spread a specific message using games.

Den här studien undersöker om en spelare skulle känna av en dissonans mellan en avatar med fredligt formspråk och en spelmiljö med aggressivt formspråk. En spelbar artefakt i form av ett 2D äventyrspel skapades med en runt utformad avatar ochspetsigt utformade fiender och miljöer där övriga faktorer försökte hållas neutrala. Fem testpersoner spelade igenom spelet och intervjuades för att ta reda på hur dekände och upplevde spelets olika delar. Resultatet antyder att spelarna inte kände av någon dissonans. Detta spekuleras bero på ett fokus på spelande och förutfattade meningar kring grafikens motiv. Framtida arbeten kan fokusera på fler element än bara formspråk för att överdriva uttrycken och undersöka om en starkare dissonans kan upptäckas av spelare.

Voice acting is common in computer games in many genres. The recording and processing of voice acting is a time-consuming process that involves, for instance, voice actors, directors, audio engineers, and game writers. Changes to the script of a game after the voice acting has been recorded are expensive. At the same time, playtests of games without voice acting may give different results than testing where it is present. This creates a situation where improvements identified from play testing are either ignored or leads to extensive re-recording of voice acting. This article presents a design science research project where text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis is used as a substitute for recorded voice acting in the early stages of game production. We propose a set of design principles that have been evaluated in a sharp game production. Our results indicate several benefits of using TTS as a prototyping tool: It can be a source of inspiration for game writers, it gives good estimations on timing and pacing of the game, and it allows for early tests of how the dialog will be perceived by players. The quality and characteristics of the voices provided by the TTS system play an important role in this process. The rapid development in the speech technology field opens many future possibilities., Inkluderande julkalender

The main goal of this PhD project is to study how small and independent game development studios are handling the global nature of the game industry of today from a game development and localization perspective. To understand this, the PhD work will integrate theories and views from three main areas; Indie game development, Game localization and Distribution models., Research proposal, PhD programme, University of Skövde, Game Hub Scandinavia

Detta arbete undersöker huruvida "think aloud"-tekniken som den används i användbarhetstestning är lämplig i samband med spelbarhetstestning samt hur uppmaningar att tänka högt påverkar en speltestares immersion i spelupplevelsen. Forskningsområdet valdes främst då tekniken think aloud rekommenderas till spelbarhetstestning från många håll utan vetenskaplig motivering. En frågeställning togs fram med denna bakgrund i åtanke. För att utvärdera frågeställningen genomfördes en kvantitativ undersökning där en serie respondenter fick spela en artefakt i form av en för ändamålet konstruerad nivå till spelet Rising Islands (Mindblown 2016) för att sedan fylla i en enkät som mätte deras upplevda nivå av "immersion". Hälften av respondenterna uppmanades att tänka högt under speltillfället, övriga respondenter genomförde spelsessionen utan störande moment. Gruppernas genomsnittliga enkätresultat ställdes mot varandra i ett T-test. Resultatet visade att uppmaningar att tänka högt inte hade någon märkbar inverkan på upplevd immersion, men vidare forskning är nödvändig då det finns osäkerheter i datamängden., Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.There are other digital material (eg film, image or audio files) or models/artifacts that belongs to the thesis and need to be archived.

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing., GameHub Scandinavia

This short guide to using and developing games for use in classrooms was written during the European Union Interreg IV A funded project Scandinavian Game Developers. Scandinavian Game Developers is a collaboration between researchers (the University of Skövde), educators (Århus Social- og Sundhedsskole), and developers (Arsenalet and The Ranch Game Incubator), and this guide is an abridged overview of some of the important conclusions our group has reached during our work in the project. Whether you’re a game developer, teacher, or principal interested in educational video games, we hope that this guide will serve as a good tool for you to improve your understanding of what educational games are. As an educator, you’ll get some insight into what a game might bring to a classroom environment as well as the different challenges you might face when trying to use games in your regular teaching environment. For developers, we’ve put together some guidelines that will hopefully make your first educational game projects flow smoother and properly prepare you for some of the more common challenges that many educational game projects encounter., Scandinavian Game Developers