The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the Game Industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the Game Industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

In this thesis I will propose and test a pipeline for creating in-game animations using motion capture technology, with the aim to export to a 3D game engine, such as UDK or similar. Even though there are already established pipelines for creating in-game animations in the Game Industry, they are not of public knowledge and dissemination of information is hindered by the severe NDA (non-disclosure agreements) imposed on the studios and artists. I will therefore use my experience with game production and as a student, to research and propose an optimal pipeline for developing in-game animation that may be used by other students, researchers and independent game developers. The methodology used to test the pipeline will be a case study based on the student project Synergy, which I am developing with other third year students also attending the Game design Education at Gotland University..

In order to attract talented consultants, Sigma, a consultant company, wanted an online game for recruitment. In the game, potential employees? skills could be tested to determine whether they are qualified for the job. This paper presents a general technique for creating such a recruitment game. The report generalizes the recruitment game to a level-based game for the web, where a player should be able to progress from one level to the next by solving a given problem.

The aim of this report is to see whether the graphic design of a game influences children?s will to play games. I am especially looking at minimalist graphic design and how well it works for a game aimed at children age 7-9. Does the style of the game design have any impact at all concerning the children?s wish to play the game or is the game mechanic all that matters.

In the gaming industry, it has long been popular to combine genres with the aim ofcreating games that bring together the best of several worlds. However, there are stillmany unexplored combinations with good potential.This report addresses the planning and development of a game prototype that combinestwo game genres, turn-based and real-time strategy. In addition to presenting the results,the report also discusses the di culties that were encountered and how they were handled.The prototype contains a working combat system and a basic AI. The prototype ismodular, which means that it is easy for an end user to extend the game with extra content.Most elements that were considered important from the two genres were implemented, butthere is still room for improvement and further development.The result is evaluated by means of quality assurance, a process that is commonly usedin the gaming industry. The response has been generally positive, which indicates thatthe combination has potential and should be explored further..

In game development, performance is everything and the Playstation 3 provides a unique platform for utilizing parallelization of code to achieve extremely high performance. In this master?s thesis the issue of animation with smooth skinning is migrated from being a GPU process to becoming a parallelized and 358% faster process. This method is incorporated in an existing commercial game engine and integrated in a currently in development title for the Playstation 3. An in-depth study covers parallel processors, the CELL processor, used in the Playstation 3, and how contemporary industry leading game developers are utilizing the same unique architecture to increase their own games? performance..

Starting out as a minor form of amusement, the Game Industry has become one of the most lucrative andsuccessful in the entertainment business competing against giants such as television, movies and music.As the internal competition within the developer community grows companies work hard at discoveringnew ways to attract and keep customers. By having a playcentric approach focusing on user experiencethey hope to achieve that goal. This thesis describes the process of designing a game with focus on theplayer. We apply the concept of flow on game development and investigate through research throughdesign if we are able to create a game that keeps the player in flow.Play tests showed several elements such as control issues and too difficult challenges early in the game,affecting the possibility for players to experience flow while playing. These negative factors came to becalled flowleakers.

This study is about how videogamecompanies and Swedish newspapers represent masculinity and femininity in the covers of the games Assassins Creed 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, Bayonetta and Tomb Raider along with the reviews being done in conjunction with the game. The reviews has been published in the following newspapers: Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen and Göteborgsposten. The image that is formed in our society about how a man and a woman should be and behave will be the basics of this study. The covers of the games often represent what the game itself is about and what it contains and the reviews also conveys what the consumer who buys the game gets. The video Game Industry has grown in recent years to become one of the largest entertainmentindustries, but despite this, there has not been many studies on how this media represents masculinity and femininity.

Fantasy War Game är en spelmotor gjort i PHP med inslag av Java. Själva striden är uppbyggd med objektorienterad programmeringsmetodik. Spelet är ett textbaserat rollspel i high fantasy-miljö. Sidan är ett interaktivt konfliktspel där spelarna kan utveckla sitt gäng, slåss mot monster eller andra spelare..

This work aims to improve our knowledge about Swedish video game journalists, a new occupation in a quickly expanding business. Through a survey sent out to over 50 Swedish video game journalists, the result indicate some unexpected facts. Men largely dominate the profession; just 10 % of the work forces are females. This relation was notable in our survey, as well as in earlier studies. Video game journalists between 26 and 35 years old seems to be the largest age group, which we think is a bit surprising considering how new this form of journalism is, and the fact the internet provides opportunities for every enthusiastic video game writer.

To have motivated employees is important for companies so that they are able to keep valuable competence within the organization. This report treats a relatively new concept for increasing the motivation of employees. It is however, a concept that gets more and more attention. It is called gamification.Gamification is defined as ?using game design elements in non-gaming contexts?, i.e.

A game designer has to consider several aspects when he or she is designing a game. One of those aspects is the perceived freedom in the game by the player. There exist several methods to facilitate this perceived freedom in the design phase of the game. This thesis presents, in a qualitative methodology, a number of these methods a game designer might utilize to give the player a heightened sense of freedom for an improved gaming experience. Included herein are such elements as indirect control, linearity, storytelling and level design..

This thesis deals with the problems you face as a new game developer for the mobile platform Android when developing a 3D game and presents solutions to these problems. It also explores which optimizations should be made to increase performance and how well suited for game development the Android platform is. A simple 3D game for version 2.2 of Android was developed to examine this. The conclusion was that a good game structure for Android separates logic and rendering by running these separately in different threads. Solutions to rendering and updating of game logic were presented and optimizations were implemented for performance, although fewer optimizations were needed than was anticipated.

This paper presents a study of the computer game ?Minesweeper?. The aim of the game is to search through a rectangular area of mined squares without hitting any mines. By using a strategy based on making every operation as safe as possible, series of the game have been simulated. The size of the playground is four times four squares.

This report describes my degree project. For my degree project I made a demo for a game idea that I've developed, and implemented for use with Xbox 360. The idea was about converting the feeling and gameplay of old 2D side-scrolling platform games into 3D, viewed from a first-person perspective. The Xbox 360 version of the demo was also submitted for the game competition Swedish Game Awards. In the report, I explain this idea more extensive, what software I used to implement it, and how I implemented it. Finally, at the end I clarify the results and discuss fulfilled tasks and future improvements.