Game Design Commons^™

Why Are We Like This?: Exploring Writing Mechanics For An Ai-Augmented Storytelling Game, Max Kreminski, Melanie Dickinson, Michael Mateas, Noah Wardrip-Fruin

Electronic Literature Organization Conference 2020

Why Are We Like This? (WAWLT) is a playful, co-creative, AI-augmented, improvisational storytelling game in which one or more players explore and influence an ongoing simulation which they then glean for narrative material. It uses the recently developed simulation technology of story sifting (the recognition of microstories in a chronicle of simulation events), via the Felt library, to afford a new kind of playful, social, and creative writing experience. In this paper, we discuss our primary design goals: (1) using computation and interaction design to support casual player creativity, and (2) foregrounding character subjectivity as a driver for …

The Borders Between Linear Narrative And Interactive Forms, Eric S. Miller

Electronic Literature Organization Conference 2020

This paper traces the boundaries between linear narrative forms and interactive forms. The paper starts with a glossary of relevant terms and then attempts to untangle issues that tie these forms together and separate them. It attempts to answer questions such as:

1. Where are there major overlaps between these forms?

2. What are the specific affordances of interactive forms?

3. What are the specific affordances of linear forms?

The paper draws from multiple sources, such as Computers as Theatre by Brenda Laurel, Narrative as Virtual Reality by Marie-Laure Ryan and Half-Real by Jesper Juul. Agency is the core attribute of interaction, though …

Designing For Truth In Counterfactual Games, Mark Sample

Electronic Literature Organization Conference 2020

This paper brings together two distinct and seemingly irreconcilable threads: first, the place of interactive narratives and games within the broader context of documentary media; and second, the value of counterfactual narrative as a documentary form. I will weave these two threads using my own counterfactual documentary game as the guide. Currently under development in Twine, the game is rooted in archival research about the past yet is about a version of the past that didn’t happen. The game asks the following counterfactual question: what if gene editing technology like CRISPR had been invented in the 1920s and 1930s, the …

Dreaming Of Zion: The American West As Place Or Process In Fallout: New Vegas’S Honest Hearts Dlc, David Schwartz

Executive Vice President & Provost Faculty Research

As a Western set in a post-apocalyptic Mohave, Fallout: New Vegas demonstrates that the big questions that drive Western history are durable and malleable enough to survive even the (fictional) nuclear demise of the United States itself. The fourth iteration of the Fallout franchise is set approximately 200 years after a civilization-ending nuclear war but is valuable for teachers of American history because several major themes of real-life Western historiography are embedded in it. In fact, as I will demonstrate in this essay, the game, and particularly the Honest Hearts DLC, can be used to not just demonstrate, but to …

Board Game Under Construction: Putting The Design In Game Design, Cory S. Gurley

Masters Theses

The contemporary design landscape is informed by the need for interactive design, yet not all interactive media is digital. Technology has transformed the way many people receive information, and thus the way that they interact with graphic design, and the impact of user interfaces in creating a positive interactive experience is more important now than ever. However, while this phenomenon is usually identified with the digital environment of smartphone apps, websites and video games, user interface is equally important in analog design, and few media illustrate this better than board games. Board games have enjoyed a surge in popularity over …

Fair World 64: A Text-Based Game Of The 1964–1965 World's Fair, Christofer R. Gass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The project is a text-based game of a typical day during the first season of the 1964 World’s Fair in what is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The 1964-1965 World’s Fair, that Robert Moses presided over as president, was one of the largest and most expensive fairs ever created, but only days after the last fairgoer left through the turnstile most of the many pavilions that brought education, entertainment, and joy to so many people were destroyed to leave a vast open space that is relatively empty to this day. Although most of the pavilions were either relocated or demolished, there …

Analysis Of Gameplay Strategies In Hearthstone: A Data Science Approach, Connor W. Watson

Theses

In recent years, games have been a popular test bed for AI research, and the presence of Collectible Card Games (CCGs) in that space is still increasing. One such CCG for both competitive/casual play and AI research is Hearthstone, a two-player adversarial game where players seeks to implement one of several gameplay strategies to defeat their opponent and decrease all of their Health points to zero. Although some open source simulators exist, some of their methodologies for simulated agents create opponents with a relatively low skill level. Using evolutionary algorithms, this thesis seeks to evolve agents with a higher skill …

The Benefits Of Being The Player, Marc Velayo

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Gaming, specifically video games has affected everyone’s lives since its creation during the early 1970s. From being a form of entertainment to being an instructional material for class--the impact of gaming is highly visible in our society. The future of gaming is getting bigger--with the creation of various video games genres, consoles etc. Gaming is exponentially rising with the advancement of technology. With its exponential growth, video games or gaming should be used in our society not just as a form of entertainment, but as a tool for education and self-growth.

How Do Video Games Affect The Brain?, Kenneth Lee

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Video games are a wildly popular past time in not only America, but other countries as well. Its popularity has done nothing but increase in an exponential fashion, engulfing more and more members of society in its reach; however, its gaining traction in combination with behavioral observations and frequent violent events compelled many to question its effects on those who play them. Some attribute tragedies like recent school shootings to the vast array of First Person Shooter(FPS) games, blaming it for engraining in adolescents’ and adults’ brains a sense of increased aggression and violence. Others praise educational games for stimulating …

Usage And Effects Of Video Games In Education, Kevin Sagara

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

In modern society, the act of playing games entices certain prejudices towards those who decide to participate in such activities. Those prejudices normally revolve around negative stereotypes where games are meant for non-social adults and are seen as something akin to addiction if gone too far. But how much gaming is needed to be considered as an addiction and what actual effects does it have on mental growth, social capabilities and academics? As a community revolving around technology as much as we are, understanding how video games play a role in our social space is an important aspect to growth. …

Gaming Art History: A Study Of Game-Based Pedagogy And Its Applications In Art History, David Desouto

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Today, high school and college students are likely to be exposed to famous architecture through video games that feature historical settings before learning about it in an academic setting. Architecture plays a fundamental role in these games, and they often include sites that are relevant to art history. This paper investigates how video games can be used as pedagogical tools in art history. Accurately-replicated historical sites in video games are accessible to audiences who may not be interested otherwise, and scholars suggest that their use in the classroom can enhance students’ understanding and push more advanced material. Drawing from the …

Recreating The Virtual Bullets That Pierces Through The Soul Of Gaming: Video Games And Its Cultural Perception On America’S Violent Homefrontier, Brandon Palomino

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

For the past fifty years, video games have been around as a form of entertainment we consume on a daily basis. Unlike the books and movies seen in pop culture today, video games take us on virtual journeys where people participate in unique gameplay objectives based on player involvement. Because the idea of player engagement was rare at the time, it was inevitable that video games would revolutionize the way we view entertainment onwards. With video games becoming increasingly popular throughout the years, the debate of whether they are truly violent in nature has rubbed many people like myself the …

An Analysis Of The History And Ethics Of Video Games, Trenton Brock

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Explorations Of Liminality And Intersectionality In Tabletop Games, Alyna Kim

Honors Thesis

In fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), especially tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), participants are required to collaborate to create not only fantasy personas in the shape of characters, but also the world and space that makes up the game itself. Participants therefore create a sense of both time and space that exist outside of basic reality. The created space and time––referred to as a world or a story––exists as a liminal space that participants and characters use as a tool to both exist and explore. While the participants exist physically in the real world, the game space allows them to go beyond …

Educational Games: A Basic Understanding And Effective Uses, Kaitlin Kirkman

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Since the invention of video games, many people would perceive these digital games as just entertainment. Increasingly there has been a shift into taking video games and turning them into educational programs to help people learn. In this paper, I discuss the different forms of educational games which are serious games, it’s subcategory serious educational games, and educational simulations. I compare and contrast the differences as well as provide examples. I also discuss effective ways to use educational games so that they can be more understood as an effective method for teaching. The concepts I discuss about effective educational games …

How Do We Deal With Cheaters?, Colin Kyle

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Ever since computer games have existed, the people who have played them have found ways to modify the game in order to change the way it plays or break the rules in the hopes of appearing to be better at the game. The concept of changing took on a whole new idea when online multiplayer games were created, now people not only cheated to beat the game, they also were able to cheat in order to compete better against other real people. Cheating in multiplayer online games has become very commonplace and most competitive games now have some sort of …

Dynamic Difficulty: A Player Perspective, Maggie Hergenrather

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

Video games are a major source of entertainment and is starting to be studied in detail. However, video games very so widely throughout the industry that it is difficult to see what makes games more popular. One of the most important aspects of video games is difficulty and it can drastically change the response the game gets. Through reading previous studies conducted on difficulty in video games a research question was formed: What do video game players want in games in terms of difficulty? A survey was created and conducted to peer into the preferences of gamers and their reasons …

The Magic Circle: An Essential Experience Through Virtual Theatre, Brandon Roye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the similarities of video game design elements within the world of theatrical scenic design. Using my 2019 scenic design of Marc Camoletti’s bedroom farce Boeing Boeing as the backdrop, I discuss the core concepts of game design. I then describe the scenic process of the production and the journey from concept all the way through to a virtual reality recreation of the design. The study of game design in theatre has the potential to open a wide new world of opportunities in the scenic design industry. This paper examines how the theatre can benefit from game design …

Simulating Destruction Effects In Sidefx Houdini, Ethan B. Elkins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As movies, television shows, and other forms of media have progressed over the last century, the use of destruction sequences as a form of entertainment have seemingly grown exponentially. From ginormous explosions to cities collapsing, more destruction sequences have drawn people’s attention in ways that are quite captivating. However, as content producers continue to push the limit of what is possible, the reliance on practical effects starts to dwindle in comparison to the usage of computer generated scenes. This thesis acknowledges the trend and dissects the entire process of how a general destruction sequence is made, from the research and …

Developing A Serious Game To Explore Joint All Domain Command And Control, Nathaniel W. Flack

Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the geopolitical landscape and increasing technological complexity have prompted the U.S. Military to coin Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) and Joint All-Domain Command and Control as terms to describe an over-arching strategy that frames the complexity of warfare across both traditional and emerging warfighting domains. Teaching new and advanced concepts associated with these terms requires both innovation as well as distinct education and training tools in order to realize the cultural change advocated by senior military leaders. BSN, a Collectible Card Game, was developed to teach concepts integral to MDO and initiate discussion on military strategy.