Game Design Commons^™

Spontaneity And The Supernatural: Simulating Improv On Twine, Angelica Zadak

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This thesis is an improv-based digital role-playing game (RPG) created on Twine titled Spontaneity and the Supernatural. The game synthesizes Dustin Edward’s scholarship on remix and digital rhetoric, Kathleen Blake Yancy and Stephen J. McElroy’s application of assemblage theory in composition, and Viola Spolin’s improv theory and practices to take improv from the stage to a digital space. This game uses Twine as a development tool to deliver improv concepts, such as Spolin’s ensemble, environment, and intuition, procedurally. To incorporate these elements into the game, the thesis engages potential players with a narrative that suggests all players can practice improv …

Indeterminate Sample Sequencing In Virtual Reality, Chase Mitchusson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The VR Sequencer is a tool for composing and performing music which takes advantage of spatial configuration of 3-D objects to generate looping sequences. This project combines dice-rolling with omnidirectional playheads and variable terrain to make a sequencer with indeterminate features in Virtual Reality (VR). A comparison of mapping systems for music games and digital instruments demonstrates a middle ground for interactive music making which the VR Sequencer applies. An inspection of current VR works exhibits a disconnect be- tween VR gamers and experimental musicians. In an attempt to give the gaming community access to experimental music making, the VR …

Minecrafting Bar Mitzvah: Two Rabbis Negotiating And Cultivating Learner-Driven Inclusion Through New Media., Owen Gottlieb

Articles

In 2013, a boy with special needs used the video game Minecraft to deliver the sermon at his bar mitzvah at a Reform synagogue, an apparently unique ritual phenomenon to this day. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this article examines two rabbis’ negotiations with new media, leading up to, during, and upon reflection after the event. The article explores acceptance, innovation, and validation of new media in religious practice, drawing on Campbell’s (2010) framework for negotiation of new media in religious communities. Clergy biography, philosophy, and institutional context all impact the negotiations with new media. By providing context of a …

Students Find More Than Gaming In Depaul Esports, University Marketing And Communications, Courtney James

DePaul Download

The Esports market, or competitive video gaming, is anticipated to surpass $1.5 billion by 2023. At DePaul, Esports is even a BIG EAST-sanctioned program. DePaul’s director of Student Involvement, Courtney James, talks about DePaul’s unique Esports community, which draws hundreds of student gamers. Through their participation, the students find connection, an inclusive environment and even inspiration for career paths. James also discusses some of DePaul’s upcoming Esports events and the pandemic’s impact on the industry.

The Verge: Networks Of Intersubjective Responding For Just Sustainability Arts Educational Research, Marna Hauk, Amanda Rachel Kippen

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Two sustainability arts scholars describe a method of data interpretation they developed for making sense of complex environmental and sustainability education research data. They “played” images and recorded a conversation in a form of arts-based intersubjective knowing. The card game process was named the Verge because of how the process promises to surface unheard voices and re-center nondominant insights and ways of knowing. It leverages Casey’s glance method with systems networks to complicate sense making in arts-based educational research. The arts scholars intermixed research data from two just sustainability education research case studies: collages from participants of a climate justice …

Designing Analog Learning Games: Genre Affordances, Limitations And Multi-Game Approaches, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Articles

This chapter explores what the authors discovered about analog games and game design during the many iterative processes that have led to the Lost & Found series, and how they found certain constraints and affordances (that which an artifact assists, promotes or allows) provided by the boardgame genre. Some findings were counter-intuitive. What choices would allow for the modeling of complex systems, such as legal and economic systems? What choices would allow for gameplay within the time of a class-period? What mechanics could promote discussions of tradeoff decisions? If players are expending too much cognition on arithmetic strategizing, could that …

The International Conference On Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication: Online Event (Cmsc'20) And Cmsc'21, Frances Rosamond

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

You are warmly invited to register now for the 5th International Conference on Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication (CMSC’21) which will be held at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, 2–6 July, 2021.

The International Conference on Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication (CMSC) is a unique gathering of computer scientists and mathematicians, teachers, musicians, dancers, dramatists, game designers, educators and communicators of all sorts.

Due to the pandemic, the in-person event scheduled for 2020 has been post- poned and a short CMSC Online Event was organized as a “teaser” or trailer in order to feel the spirit of the full 5th CMSC …

(Fun)Ction: Developing Games From A Narrative Standpoint, Julian Barocas

English and Creative Writing Summer Fellows

My goal with this project has been to deepen my understanding of why people play games, how to make games narratively compelling, and what technical methods are effective in play. This has allowed me to investigate both the technical, scholarly assessments of board game dynamics while also exploring their real-world applications, successes, and weaknesses. Building on my research, my project has culminated in a full prototype of an original board game that has both narrative structure and an engaging gameplay structure. I have also produced a reflection paper on the experience and an annotated bibliography of my research texts and …

(Fun)Ction: Developing Games From A Narrative Standpoint, Julian Barocas

English and Creative Writing Presentations

My goal with this project has been to deepen my understanding of why people play games, how to make games narratively compelling, and what technical methods are effective in play. This has allowed me to investigate both the technical, scholarly assessments of board game dynamics while also exploring their real-world applications, successes, and weaknesses. Building on my research, my project has culminated in a full prototype of an original board game that has both narrative structure and an engaging gameplay structure. I have also produced a reflection paper on the experience and an annotated bibliography of my research texts and …

Transeuntis Mundi: An Installation About Migration And Human Legacy, Cândida Borges, Gabriel Mario Vélez

Frameless

Transeuntis Mundi is a journey through transcultural and transnational humanity and geography. It is presented as an immersive installation, powered by virtual reality, projection mapping, sound sculptures and performative actions, the audience is able to transit through places and ethnicities.

Wind, Light And Seating Xperience (Xr), Shaun Foster

Frameless

Inspired by Plato’s Cave metaphor from "The Republic", this mixed reality experience talk and demonstration will ask the user to enter a virtual reality experience that is not completely virtual. Elements from the real world exist inside of the virtual; a flash light, a chair and wind. Research and demonstrations will be presented discussing what is XR (mixed reality) right now and what are some exciting technologies on the horizon that will take this field further...

Cross Disciplinary Virtual Reality For Lighting And Composition: Research Update, Shaun Foster, Ihab Mardini

Frameless

Advanced technology has made Virtual Reality a viable tool for widespread multidisciplinary use. We saw an opportunity to use VR to benefit multiple departments at RIT; 3D Digital Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design, and the School of Film and Animation. All departments wrestle with the problem of effectively allowing the students the speed to iteratively light, compose and compare work. The complexity and length of rendering time using previous generation (CPU rendering) 3D applications distracts learners from focusing on design. Light and Composition are two major elements of designs that are often buried under overwhelming technical obstacles.

Early Adolescents' Perceptions And Attitudes Towards Gender Representations In Video Games, Helen Liu

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study investigated adolescents’ perception and attitudes towards gender representation in video game covers, and the degree to which these depictions may influence their notions on gender and identification. Seventeen participants ranging from ages 12 and 13 participated in semi-structured interviews to explore this topic. This study’s conceptual framework encompassed social cognitive theory, gender schema theory, and cultivation theory. Findings suggest that gender representation in video games does influence the majority of participants’ notions of gender. However, there are differences between how males and females’ approach, interpret, and respond to this type of media. Findings also showcased that evidence of …

Falproject, Mohsen Hazrati

Electronic Literature Organization Conference 2020

"A fāl or Bibliomancy is good or bad, the profit or the loss whose occurrence is predicted by hearing a word or a voice, seeing the movement or the expression, opening or reading a book, or observing a specific motif or image." Mohammad Vojdani

FAL Project is a VR-AR Prediction Machine based on an Old Iranian Bibliomancy tradition.

This project is about generating a virtual environment of a prediction using unlimited online data based on the Persian Mysticism and tradition into a VR artwork. As there are so many people who get matched results based on their niyats(Intent of prediction) …

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.

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. …

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 …

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 …