Game Design: Competitive Mobile Games, Kalen Wallin

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the design process for a competitive multiplayer game mode in “baldorf,” a ball-throwing mobile game developed by Mystic Rhoads Productions. The research aims to enhance the overall gaming experience by introducing a competitive mode that challenges players’ skills and facilitates interaction with others. The research methodology included reviewing the popular competitive mobile games: Marvel Snap, Clash Royale, and Clash of Clans, which boast high download numbers and chart rankings. This analysis helped identify key features and mechanics that contribute to an engaging multiplayer experience. As a result, several designs were proposed, covering the profile, matchmaking, match, and …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Monster Planet Bounty Hunter, Arthur Santoro

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

In this paper I will be discussing my personal interest in games and art as well as my experience and process working on my original board game: Monster Planet Bounty Hunter. I will also discuss my visual influences, how I approach making games and why I think games are an important form of art.

The Emotions Behind The Screen, Eli Gray Nations

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis revolves around the narrative form of Dungeons and Dragons, that the players have true free will, which allows for the highest level of storytelling. By reaching this level, the players are able to freely tackle issues in their life and surrounding them, like testing out negative parts of their personality and finding community during events like the COVID pandemic. This, combined with the recent scandal from DnD’s publisher Wizards of the Coast poses this question: what exactly is DnD, therapy, art, community, or just a game? This thesis hopes to lead the reader to answer this question in …

Viewer Interactions In Animation, Megan Smith

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

The art of animation can be viewed in a multitude of ways. Passive viewing, in which an audience is merely observing the acting and are unable to alter the animation in any way, such as watching a TV show or movie. Interactive camera viewings, such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, in which the viewer can manipulate the content visually in the same way you observe the world, by moving the camera around in a digital space. Interaction-dependent viewing describes animations such as video games, where the player has full control of the character’s actions and the timing of those …

Mfa Master Project, Owen Pierce

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

I am a storyteller.

I just happen to paint, draw and sculpt my stories more often than I write them. Thematically, I gravitate towards stories that speak about ecological and humanitarian concerns. Fantasy illustration is where I can create with the greatest freedom and indulge my love of crafting stories, and also as a form of escapism. As the author

Ursula K. Le Guin quotes, “If the direction of escape is towards freedom, what then is ‘escapism’ an accusation of?” Long running series of programs, films and books attest to this desire to be engaged at a deeper, more meaningful …

Designing And Creating A Prototype Board Game, Kurtis Woodward

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

The goal of this project was to create a fantasy style board game prototype that is playable and enjoyable for people new to fantasy tabletop gaming. I assembled a group of 4-5 regular tabletop board game players to play test the game as well as a second group of 4-5 family members and friends to play test who aren't regular board game players. We began with a general base game that evolved with each playtest from feedback given by the playtesters. After about 18-20 play tests, I settled on game mechanics and moved on to creating the assets of …

Visual Development For Wellspring, Jane Frances Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary focus of this thesis is the study of visual development for worldbuilding, starting with creative writing and documentation and translating the written content into visual concepts in both 2D and 3D. This project includes an original narrative, setting, and characters and explores aspects of the visual development pipeline. The content below contains work in visual research, 2D character design, 3D character sculpting, 3D printing and assembly, hard-surface modeling, matte-painting, illustration, compositing, and heavy creative writing.

The Process And Flow Of Animation: For The Record, Dylan Gordon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A comprehensive study in the processes of animation in various forms, from concept to simple layout animation to complex overlapping action and splining, and even lighting and texturing, I will be using a popular podcast musical as a basis to study the pipeline that’s used to create an industry animation.

Understanding The Persuasive Attributes Of Twitch Advertisements: A Study On The Effects Of Current Advertisements And Sponsorships, Colleen Sharkey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research in this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Twitch’s current advertising option, which includes mid-roll, pre-roll, and sponsored streams. It will focus on usefulness of content, brand credibility, purchase intent, and streamer credibility. Twitch has seen a surge in growth and attention in recent years, with an average of 31 million daily visitors and 1.3 trillion minutes watched globally in 2021 alone (Twitch Sales, 2022). However, despite Twitch’s growing popularity as an entertainment and entrepreneurship platform, little research has been conducted on the impact of its advertising options on brand perception. This study seeks to address this …

An “Other” Experience Of Videogames: Analyzing The Connections Between Videogames And The Lived Experience Of Chronic Pain, Gracie Straznickas

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue for the connections between the lived experience of chronic pain and videogames, exploring what interacts with and influences them. To answer this, I draw on cripistemology as I engage in autoethnography, close-reading and close-gameplay, restorying, mixed methods design, formal interviews, surveys, and inductive coding. I further argue for pushing back against the unhelpful binaries that define the “human” and a false idea of “universal” experience or ability, instead pointing to the intersectionality that better reflects the biopolitics of disability, including both debility and capacity. I engage with these methods in three specific projects that consider …

Hampton Roads' Building Resilient Communities Flood Game, Gul Ayaz, Katherine Smith, Rafael Diaz, Joshua G. Behr

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

As rising sea levels and subsequent recurrent flooding disproportionately affects coastal areas, it is crucial to develop a heightened awareness of the impacts of natural disasters on communities and the environments they live in. The Hampton Roads’ Building Resilient Communities (BRC) Flood Game is a simulation role-playing game designed to allow players to increase their understanding of the impact of various community response interventions to sea level rise and recurrent flooding. Players will examine and assess the tradeoffs of resiliency investments, the impact policies may have on the population, and the amount of time return on investment takes. The BRC …

Digital Game-Based Approach To Math Learning For Students, Gul Ayaz, Katherine Smith

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Mathematics is an important subject that is pervasive across many disciplines. It is also a subject that has proven to be challenging to both teach and learn. Students face many challenges with learning math such as a lack of motivation and anxiety. To address these challenges, game-based learning has become a popular approach to stimulate students and create a more positive classroom environment. It can serve as an alternative or supplement to traditional teaching and can better engage students while developing a positive attitude toward learning. The use of games in a classroom can create a more exciting and engaging …

Ideation And Iteration For Creatives, Sandee M. Chamberlain

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

This course addresses the development of visual literacy including concepting, initial approaches of creating an encompassing aesthetic, creating timelines for production, and exploring the refining aspects of creative production. Students will devise an advanced creative problem and provide a documented account of their creative journey to present as a process journal at the end of the course.

What You Don't See: The Impact Of Hidden Game Mechanics On Players, Jan Virsunen

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Since the rise of technology in the early nineteen sixties the art of gaming became an increasingly popular form of entertainment for many people throughout the years. As time progressed so did the advancements in technology which allowed for video games to become more immersive, captivating, and complex. Due to these advancements in tech, it generated a wide variety of ways for developers to increase game complexities. However, as the complexity of video games has increased, so too has the number of hidden game mechanics. These game mechanics are seen as the underlying systems and rules that govern how the …

Ithell Colquhuon Taro As Colour Tarot Deck And Book By Ithell Colquhoun, Emily E. Auger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

A brief note regarding Fulgur's release of Ithell Colquhoun's "Taro" deck (2022) with links to a full-length review of it and to other reviews of related publications about Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington's work with Tarot.

On Video Games And Freedom, Warren Sexson

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

In A Small Sea, Thomas Giebler

Master's Theses

A pool of water stands before you. It is nebulous and free flowing. As you peer in, you realize how vast and deep something initially so unassuming on the surface has become.

This is my small sea.

Within this sea that rests between my ears, I am a small ‘c’ creator. This body of water is filled with experiences, inspiration, and vision. In this place, I synthesize the world around me into my work, creating microcosms that are full of life, color, and story. The idea of microcosms is the cornerstone of my design.

Within each of my created worlds, …

Playing To Win: The Effects Of Implementing Gamification Strategies In Product Marketing, Sabrina Stone

CMC Senior Theses

Let’s play a game. What effect do you think video games have on twenty-first-century marketing? In this age defined by its nature of digitality, capturing the attention of consumers is an arduous competition. Through market segmentation, research, and the observable variables of consumer behavior, product marketing has turned to video games as a solution to appeal to younger demographics. Gamification is an increasingly applied product marketing strategy employed to increase favorable metrics. Of those key performance indicators (KPIs), boosted measures such as click-through rates, impressions, and engagement rates suggest that gamification is a strategic opportunity to persuade consumers to take …

Activist-Casual Game Design: Iterating Serious Games Through Research-Creation, Daniel J. King

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

How can activists and scholars design serious game projects that attract and engage people, that are inviting for many types of players, and that empower players to create positive change? My hypothesis was that the Activist-Casual Game Design Framework I published in 2021 could facilitate this work. I took a design-based research approach to answer my research question by way of demonstration and self-reflection through a creative case study of the production of an activist-casual game called Climate Somnia. Chapter 1 explains the literature review and synthesis behind the creation of the original framework, and Chapter 2 reviews the …

Capturing And Scaffolding The Complexities Of Self-Regulation During Game-Based Learning, Daryn Dever

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) can offer students with engaging interactive instructional materials while also providing a research platform to investigate the dynamics and intricacies of effective self-regulated learning (SRL). Past research has indicated learners are often unable to monitor and regulate their cognitive and metacognitive processes within GBLEs accurately and effectively on their own due mostly to the open-ended nature of these environments. The future design and development of GBLEs and embedded scaffolds, therefore, require a better understanding of the discrepancies between the affordances of GBLEs and the required use of SRL. Specifically, how to incorporate interdisciplinary theories and concepts …

Rabbit Hole, Olivia Wiebe

Scripps Senior Theses

Rabbit Hole explores an alternate reality which erupts within moments of insomnia, and posits it as a place of self-discovery. Though this Rabbit Hole is a personal one, the work implies that these worlds can be found within any person when they are alone. Digital spaces have become tools of absolute availability and distraction, capitalized on by companies who profit when our eyeballs are stuck to our screens. However, cyberspace was once dreamed of as a place of self-discovery and experimentation. Rabbit Hole is an attempt to reclaim digital space, and turn towards ourselves within technology. These individual “Rabbit Holes” …

Artistic Representation And Self Esteem, Brianna Davis

Honors College Theses

Dependent upon the constructs of the perception of self and the viewpoint of others, humans base the value of their self esteem on outer perspectives rather than internal ones. For this thesis in particular, the outer perspective to be examined is representation in the field of the arts. This thesis project explores the process of self esteem, artistic representation in the arts, how one affects the other, a history of the correlation between the two, and ways to inform and educate the masses with the tools necessary to advance representation in the arts thus raising the self esteem of its …

What An Interesting Video To Put On The Internet (An Amusing Economic Indicator), Dahlia S. Bloomstone

Theses and Dissertations

My exhibition reconciles representations of domesticity, labor, and morality through the lens of sex-work (SW). It consists of video work, a video game, and free-to-take objects, where donation, the strip club, and the fish tank converge. My work concludes that SW is a timeless construct that will always exist even after reimagining multiple worlds.

Sam's Story, Anna Michelle Reid, Jennifer Vazquez

Computer Science and Software Engineering

We are exploring presenting mental health topics in video games through the eyes of an axolotl named Sam. Sam goes about his day to day life facing many difficult challenges regarding their mental health. This is an educational game to inform about different mental health symptoms and what they may look like.

Virtual Reality And Video Game Gatekeeping, Autumn Franke

Theses

This thesis focuses on the effects of the video game industry being the only influence on the development of virtual reality technology and the hindrance caused by it. The aim of this thesis is to discuss this flaw and recommend a different route to develop the technology through the education and medical fields instead of the video game industry.

En’S Adventure: Exploring Modern Design Mechanics In Retro Adventure Games, Frank Fasola

Theses

This project focuses creating a small game prototype that can be used to build a full game around. The primary focus is to create a short experience to establish the mechanics and gameplay of the game. Games made in the style of retro games are released every year, but most of these games strive to provide the same experience from the late 1980s. The project is a top down 2D retro adventure game made using modern techniques and learning from game development in the 30 years since these games were released.

Transforming Character Faces Based On Perceived Personality Traits, Kara Porter

All Theses

The ability to read other human's faces is a crucial part of everyday life. Subconsciously, the human brain analyzes someone's face within the first few seconds of seeing it, making a variety of conclusions ~\cite{FacePerp} such as gathering information about emotional state and assuming character traits this person might possess. The purpose of this thesis is to create a tool that allows a user to alter features of a character's three dimensional (3D) face mesh to look increasingly or decreasingly like the character possesses certain personality traits. Using a sample set of randomly generated faces, a survey is conducted to …

The Death Of Malls: The Rise Of E-Commerce And Digitally Native Brands, Alexis Montgomery

Theses

Since the mid-2000s, malls and retail brick and mortar stores have been on the decline. Stores not making enough revenue in-person; the rise of online shopping and e-commerce, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of digitally native brands have contributed to this. This research aims to figure out how the current consumer atmosphere, as well as how the rise of e-commerce and digital marketing, will impact the mall of the future. This research aims to discover how local malls are faring, if stores are truly closing and if national retail brands are pulling out of malls. This research also aims …

The Foreboding Campaign System, Michael Fetters

Theses

This project creates a new campaign setting compatible with the Dungeons and Dragons system utilizing the SRD Open Game License content as a starting point. The campaign setting created establishes mechanics allowing for narrative interaction between the past and present timeline of events in the world of Lunaria. This new system, entitled The Foreboding, utilizes a shift mechanic to alter the player characters in several possible ways, ranging from changes in race or character history to interactions with past time periods and events that alter the present timeline of the narrative. New character options for race and class were also …