Game Design Commons^™

Exploring Oculus Rift: A Historical Analysis Of The ‘Virtual Reality’ Paradigm, Chastin Gammage

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

This paper will first provide background information about Virtual Reality in order to better analyze its development throughout history and into the future. Next, this essay begins an in-depth historical analysis of how virtual reality has developed prior to 1970, a pivotal year in Virtual Reality history, followed by an exploration of how this development paradigm shifted between the 1970's and the turn of the century. The historical analysis of virtual reality is concluded by covering the modern period from 2000-present. Finally, this paper examines the layout of the virtual reality field in respect to he history and innovations presented.

The Birds Of A Feather Research Challenge, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Neller presented a set of research challenges for undergraduates that allow an excellent formative experience of research, writing, peer review, and potential presentation and publication through a top-tier conference. The focus problem is the analysis of a newly-designed solitaire card game, Birds of a Feather, so potentials for discovery abound. Open access talk slides, research code, solvability data sets, research tutorial videos, and more are also available at http://cs.gettysburg.edu/~tneller/puzzles/boaf .

Amazons, Penguins, And Amazon Penguins, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This talk discussed a family of games based on Amazons (1988), a distant relative of Go (area control) and Chess (queen-like movement), innovated with the introduction of move obstacles. Hey! That’s My Fish! (2003) restricted the addition of obstacles and added varying points for position visits. Introducing original related game designs (e.g. Amazon Penguins (2009) and Paper Pen-guins (2009)), we demonstrated how game mechanics are like genes that mutate, crossover, and invite evolution of new games.

Game Specific Approaches To Monte Carlo Tree Search For Dots And Boxes, Jared Prince

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this project, a Monte Carlo tree search player was designed and implemented for the child’s game dots and boxes, the computational burden of which has left traditional artificial intelligence approaches like minimax ineffective. Two potential improvements to this player were implemented using game-specific information about dots and boxes: the lack of information for decision-making provided by the net score and the inherent symmetry in many states. The results of these two approaches are presented, along with details about the design of the Monte Carlo tree search player. The first improvement, removing net score from the state information, was proven …

Mmorpgs And Their Effect On Players, Udit Manocha

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The purpose of this essay is to explore the popularity and effects of video games in the MMORPG genre. Games and play have been a part of human culture for an exceptionally long time, and in the recent decades video games have a become a large medium to continue this. Studying how video games, such as MMORPGs, can be used in order to advance life skills is important to understand the future of human development. By researching other studies done on various topics of related to MMORPG, I developed the idea that this genre of video games could be very …

Inside The Mind Of Mcmillen, Tina Duong

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The paper discusses how Edmund McMillen created “The Binding of Isaac”. It goes into his inspirations, influences, and his background leading up to the game. It then describes the game, going into its mechanics, design, art and story and how each of these elements were unique and risky to put into an Indie game. I discussed how “The Binding of Isaac” brought in fresh, new elements that most mainstream games wouldn’t dare touch, and despite that “Binding of Isaac” accomplished amazing success. Then, I talk about how the game was initially made by a group of two people, and was …

Glhf: A Brief Overview Of Gaming Cafes, John Sun

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

My paper is on the history of internet and gaming cafes, focusing on how they are seen today, the problems they face and some potential solutions. Although my focus is on gaming cafes in America, because they are so popular overseas in Asian countries (such as South Korea, China, and Japan), they inevitably come up more often in my paper and presentation.

Art/Cs 108, Introduction To Game Studies, Section 2, Spring 2017, James Morgan

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Course syllabus.

Art/Cs 108, Introduction To Game Studies, Section 1, Spring 2017, James Morgan

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Course syllabus.

Playful Ai Education, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this talk, Neller shared how games can serve as a fun means of teaching not only game-tree search in Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also such diverse topics as constraint satisfaction, logical reasoning, planning, uncertain reasoning, machine learning, and robotics. He observed that teachers teach best when they enjoy what they share and encouraged AI educators present to teach to their unique strengths and enthusiasms.

Designing An Intervention For Novice Programmers Based On Meaningful Gamification: An Expert Evaluation, Jenilyn L. Agapito, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Gamification is defined as the addition of game-like elements and mechanics to non-game contexts to encourage certain desired behaviors. It is becoming a popular classroom intervention used in computer science instruction, including CS1, the first course computer science students take. It is being operationalized to enhance students' learning experience and achievement. However, existing studies have mostly implemented reward-based game elements which have resulted to contrasting behaviors among the students. Meaningful gamification, characterized as the use of game design elements to encourage users build internal motivation to behave in a certain way, is contended to be a more effective approach. The …

A Sound Idea: An Investigation Into Accessible Video Game Design For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing, Luke James Brook

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A widely accepted, and incorrect, assumption towards hearing accessibility in video games is that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users are those who encounter the least barriers and are generally well catered for. Rapid advancement in video game technology has seen video game sound evolve from simple blips generated by internal circuitry to fully realised digital audio used to convey critical information. To accommodate the DHH, this information needs to be conveyed in an alternative manner. However, evidence suggests existing accessible design solutions for the DHH lack specificity and are insufficient. Thus, the inability to hear, or hear well, …

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Stamina Combat Overhaul, Richard Rattner

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

No abstract provided.

Gecka3d: A 3d Game Engine For Commonsense Knowledge Acquisition, Erik Cambria, Tam Nguyen, Brian Cheng, Kenneth Kwok, Jose Sepulveda

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Commonsense knowledge representation and reasoning is key for tasks such as artificial intelligence and natural language understanding. Since commonsense consists of information that humans take for granted, gathering it is an extremely difficult task. In this paper, we introduce a novel 3D game engine for commonsense knowledge acquisition (GECKA3D) which aims to collect commonsense from game designers through the development of serious games. GECKA3D integrates the potential of serious games and games with a purpose. This provides a platform for the acquisition of reusable and multi-purpose knowledge and also enables the development of games that can provide entertainment value and …

A Conceptual Model For Video Games And Interactive Media, Rachel I. Clarke, Jacob Jett, Simone Sacchi, Jin Ha Lee

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we describe a conceptual model for video games and interactive media. Existing conceptual models such as the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) are not adequate to represent the unique descriptive attributes, levels of variance, and relationships among video games. Previous video game-specific models tend to focus on the development of video games and their technical aspects. Our model instead attempts to reflect how users such as game players, collectors, and scholars understand video games and the relationships among them. We specifically consider use cases of gamers, with future intentions of using this conceptual model as a …

Ai Education: Birds Of A Feather, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Games are beautifully crafted microworlds that invite players to explore complex terrains that spring into existence from even simple rules. As AI educators, games can offer fun ways of teaching important concepts and techniques. Just as Martin Gardner employed games and puzzles to engage both amateurs and professionals in the pursuit of Mathematics, a well-chosen game or puzzle can provide a catalyst for AI learning and research. [excerpt]

A Look Into The Industry Of Video Games Past, Present, And Yet To Come, Chad Hadzinsky

CMC Senior Theses

Since its inception, the video game industry has been both a new medium for art and innovation as well as a major driving force in the advancements of many technologies. The often overlooked video game industry has turned from a hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry in its short, forty year life. People of all ages and genders across the world are playing video games at a higher clip than ever before. With so many new gamers and emerging technologies, it is an exciting time for the industry. The landscape is constantly changing and successful business models of the past …

Pox And The City, Elizabeth S. Goins

Journal of Interactive Humanities

Pox in the City is a prototype of a social history game that focuses on the medical profession circa 1800 in Edinburgh. The prototype was research, designed and developed on a small budget (about $17,000) and in a short time frame (20 weeks). The experimental design goal was to create a narrative driven educational game that was engaging and delivered some basic educational goals to be used in the high school and college level classrooms. To experiment with writing historic game narrative and to stay within budget, the design was built around a point and click adventure framework. Narrative was …

Embodied Tuning: Interfacing Danish Radio Heritage, Christian Hviid Mortensen, Vitus Vestergaard

Journal of Interactive Humanities

Most museum exhibitions favor vision, not hearing. When there is audio in exhibitions, it tends to take on a secondary role as a soundtrack or commentary. In some cases, however, audio should be the primary object of interest. Radio heritage is such a case. The traditional way of showcasing audio is through webaccessible archives or through listening kiosks in the exhibition. Neither one takes advantage of the unique affordances of the spatiality and physicality of an exhibition. We therefore propose an alternative way of exhibiting radio heritage in a listening exhibition where users move around and explore the physical gallery …

Modding The Humanities: Experiments In Historic Narratives, Elizabeth S. Goins, Christopher Egert, Andrew Phelps, Chandra Reedy, Joel Kincaid

Journal of Interactive Humanities

While the ludology versus narratology debate raged within game studies circles [1], game designers continued building games and developing methods to improve player experience. Today however, while designers may have their personal preferences, there is no longer any doubt that both mechanics and story can have an important role to play in a game [2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

You Have Died Of Dysentery: A First Attempt At Navigating A Course In Educational Games, Adrienne Decker, David Simkins

Journal of Interactive Humanities

This paper describes our experiences developing and piloting a course in educational games. We discuss the structure of the course, the topics we included in the course, as well as the final projects the students created for the course. Of particular interest to non-technical educators interested in exploring games in their courses is the fact that our course incorporated many critical thinking skills as part of the coursework. We felt that an important part of the student’s immersion in this material was not just the production of the game, but also a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding education and …

Mobile Games With Intelligence: A Killer Application?, Philip Hingston, Clare Bates Congdon, Graham Kendall

Research outputs 2013

Mobile gaming is an arena full of innovation, with developers exploring new kinds of games, with new kinds of interaction between the mobile device, players, and the connected world that they live in and move through. The mobile gaming world is a perfect playground for AI and CI, generating a maelstrom of data for games that use adaptation, learning and smart content creation. In this paper, we explore this potential killer application for mobile intelligence. We propose combining small, light-weight AI/CI libraries with AI/CI services in the cloud for the heavy lifting. To make our ideas more concrete, we describe …

Accurate Player Modeling And Cheat-Proof Gameplay In Peer-To-Peer Based Multiplayer Online Games, Daniel Everett Pittman Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We present the first detailed measurement study and models of the virtual populations in popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Our results show that, amongst several MMORPGs with very different play styles, the patterns of behaviors are consistent and can be described using a common set of models.

In addition, we break down actions common to Trading Card Games (TCGs) and explain how they can be executed between players without the need for a third party referee. In each action, the player is either prevented from cheating, or if they do cheat, the opponent will be able to prove …

A Location Aware P2p Voice Communication Protocol For Networked Virtual Environments, Gabor Papp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multiparty voice communication, where multiple people can communicate in a group, is an important component of networked virtual environments (NVEs), especially in many types of online games. While most research has been conducted on one-to-one communication, we focus on group communication. In this dissertation, we present the first measurement study on the characteristics of multiparty voice communications and develop a model of the talking and silence periods observed during multiparty communication. Over a total of 5 months, we measured over 11,000 sessions on an active multi-party voice communication server to quantify the characteristics of communication generated by game players, including …

Video Game Development With 3d Studio Max And The Xna Framework, Cole Mahoukau Koffi

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project on game design and development is to experiment with actual technology tools used in computer games and get experience in three deminsional game development using 3D Studio Max and Microsoft XNA.

Educational Maze Game, Dziaudin Evy Nadzelina

Student Works (2000-2009)

Tesis tahun akhir ini adalah alah satu daripada matapelajaran yang wajib diambil oleh penuntut tahun akhir pengajian Sains Komputer Dan Teknologi Maklumat. Ia membawa nilai sebanyak 9 kredit di mana nilai mata dikira dalarn pengijazahan. Tajuk tesis yang telah dipilih ialah Educational Maze Game iaitu satu permainan di dalam internet. Educational Maze Game ini adalah merupakan satu permainan yang mencari jalan keluar. Ia diselitkan dengan soalan-soalan khas untuk pelajar diperingkat sekolah menengah. Pengguna boleh memasuki ruang maze ini dimana ia merupakan satu dunia 3D dan berinteraksi di dalamnya. Objektif tesis ini ialah untuk memahirkan diri dalam penggunaan perkakasan 3D dan …