This paper deals with the difficulties of applying user-centered design practices as an independent developer, based on the visualization of a game concept in the form of a prototype. The aim is to evaluate the usability of user-centered design practices, specifically in the field of Games development. Throughout this paper, I will give an account of the methods used for testing, as well as a review of previous research done in this field of study. Finally, I will end with a discussion regarding the pros and cons of user-centered design, as well as some thoughts about its importance in similar projects..

Visuella vägledande element kan höja eller sänka en spelupplevelse. Därför har vi gjort en studie kring hur man kan uppnå intuitiv visuell navigation med fyra beprövade visuella vägledande element, nämligen ljussättning, färgkulör, färgmättnad samt objektplacering. Dessa element har använts för att skapa ett visuellt språk i en bana som vi har låtit ett antal respondenter spela och simultant kommentera. Resultaten har varit som väntat, att ljussättning fungerar som det starkast vägledande elementet, samt att respondenterna reagerade på, samt vägleddes av, nämnda element..

Counter-Strike has established itself as one of the most popular computer gaming phenomenon the last decade with a major online community and loyal fan base. Within the world of e-sports it has also become one of the most lucrative Games to compete in. In order to keep up with the competition it has always been important to use the best hardware available for the task. This thesis is about these tools that gamers use to play - gaming gear - and how pro gamers train to increase their chances of winning. We investigate various factors that might be important in their choice of gaming gear when they play, and how they train to use these artifacts more efficiently to get maximum performance.

Testament är ett actionrollspel baserat på Bibelns Gamla Testament. Spelet utvecklas tillsammans med Svenska kyrkan i syfte att användas i konfirmandutbildningar.Denna uppsats är en reflekterande rapport som behandlar verket Manus till spelet Testament - Spelmoment, dialoger och mellansekvenser. Verket och denna uppsats är en produkt av ett examensarbete i medier och innehåller en beskrivning av arbetsprocessen att skriva manus till fyra av sex segment i spelet Testament. Rapporten innehåller även analyser och diskussioner om arbetsprocessen och det slutgiltiga resultatet. Verket innefattar detaljerade översikter över spelets interaktiva spelmoment såväl som de texter som representerar spelets dialoger och mellansekvenser.Genom detta arbete undersöks området speladaptation närmare för att ta reda på hur litteratur kan omvandlas till spel och hur interaktiva spelmoment identifieras och utvecklas från en text.Under arbetet har en metod skapats för att identifiera och utveckla interaktiva spelmoment ur Bibelns texter och för att skriva mellansekvenser och dialoger till spelet Testament.

This essay is a narrative analyze of the computer game Halo. The purpose of the essay is to see what function the narrative elements have in a computer game of the action genre. The analyze is done with a neo-formalistic approach according to the theory of David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. The choice of game was based on it's positive reviews mentioning the story. The essay tries to give a picture of research in the field and researchers views on narratives and computer Games.

This bachelor thesis aims to analyse archaeological finds related to mead during the Late Iron Age in southern Scandinavia. Five central places from the Iron Age are compared to five historical texts, that in some way connects to either the central places or to the use of mead. This will be done by using action theory. The action theory focuses on what kind of actions humans have done to create social and cultural purposes. Since the last part of the Late Iron Age, the Viking Age, is getting more popular due to movies, Games and tv-shows it is also relevant to study how modern-day mead represents the Viking Age through its marketing.

How does the computer influence teenagers' lives. I interviewed five young people, and gave a questionnaire to another 47, about this.What I found was that they were aware of and handled well the risks with the Internet and the computer, but had problems with the computer taking too much of their time. They wanted more time for their families and outdoor activities. It was mainly the Internet that seemed to have an influence on the teenagers, not the computer as a machine. They told me that there was a rough climate on the Internet, partly because of the possibility of being anonymous.

In this study, we investigate various lighting applications in a virtual environment, where we compare between light based in naturalism (natural light) and pictorialism (artistic light). The purpose of this study is to gain further knowledge in lighting, which is increasingly important for game graphics. Theory are examined to gather information and recommendations on how to use various light settings that convey different emotions. We then use this information to illuminate the environment that we have built. The environment is presented in Unreal 4 for respondents who are allowed to move around freely in the environment.

Society today is characterized by the transforming effect IT has had, the majority of the activities we perform on a daily basis involves one way or another digital technology. One area which has not yet seen the positive effects of IT is education. Despite the progress of technology, the school education has barely changed since it first saw the light of day. Our goal with this study is to investigate the possibility of implementing Gamification elements in educational environments and examine whether it could increase our young students learning motivation. We believe that this kind of implementation will have a positive effect for these young people since they have been interacting with Games since they were small and are familiar with the driving force of a reward system.With this study we want to examine the opportunities and challenges that Gamification implementation brings out in a learning environment and therefore encourage and motivate our young ones to study even harder..

Immersion is a construct that measures how deeply engrossed a user is with any mediated situation. In the field of game design, immersion is a significant aspect of what makes a game enticing, and as such it is of pivotal importance to create and maintain it to keep the player's mind off the real world while inside the confines of a game framework. According to the GameFlow theory, it is one of seven key tenets of evaluating and implementing a successful game design. Yet, certain multiplayer online Games are designed in a fashion that in some cases seem to break immersion, where the player is frequently put out of action, sometimes for minutes on end. In this study, using online questionnaires, we discover that players, despite claims otherwise, seem to be in several ways affected negatively by this breaking of immersion.

En problematik kring dataspelsberoende växer fram allt mer i media och i denna uppsats utforskas fenomenet MMORPG (massive-multiplayer-online-roleplaying-Games). Syftet är att undersöka MMORPG i förhållande till beroende. Den empiriska datan utgörs av intervjuer med fyra personer som själva anser sig vara beroende av MMORPG. Resultatet visade att MMORPG är utformade både i spelmekanik och i spelkultur till att bidra till en ökad konsumtion, dvs. ett ökat spelande.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to investigate if gender stereotypes are mediated to children between 0-3 years through books suitable for their age. This thesis concerns books that are available in public libraries. The content will be analysed by using a combination of methods, both content analysis of all the books in our study and a qualitative analysis of a smaller number of these books. With inspiration from both Robert Connell and Yvonne Hirdman and their theories of gender and gender stereotypes, this material was read and we wanted to examine if books for very young children might establish stereotypes. Our analysis showed that many known stereotypes are common in these books.

Denna underso?kande designstudie utforskar hur visuellt material till en simulator kan komma att se ut och hur va?gen fram till det fa?rdiga designen kan se ut. Simulatorn som sta?r i centrum fo?r just denna studie kallas fo?r Simulerade Provokationer (SimProv) och har la?rarstudenter som huvudsaklig ma?lgrupp. I SimProv kan la?rarstudenten som anva?ndare va?lja mellan fyra olika handlingar i en klassrumssituation.

The purpose of this study is to establish whether or not there is a connection between a highincidence of computer gaming and English proficiency in Swedish 9th-graders. The study also takescomputer game genres into account, attempting to see if there is a link between frequent playing ofcertain genres and high English grades.According to this study, there is a clear correlation between the gaming habits of Swedish 9thgradersand the grades they receive in English, with a higher frequency of gaming corresponding toa higher grade. The study also suggests that the Strategy, MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) andCRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) genres have a higher representation amongst students withgood grades in English..

Denna studie har undersökt hur en användares motivation att samla mynt i ett serious game påverkas av att dessa är sammankopplade med spelets gameplay. För att undersöka detta har två versioner av ett serious game skapats, ett där mynt endast kan användas för att köpa kosmetiska uppgraderingar och ett där uppgraderingarna som kan köpas, utöver kosmetiska förändringar, även påverkar spelets gameplay. 12 personer har deltagit i testet och värderat hur mycket motivation de känt då de spelat spelen. Resultatet tyder på att det inte existerar någon markant skillnad mellan hur mycket motivation testdeltagarna kände inför att samla mynt i de båda versionerna. Undersökningen skulle kunna utvecklas genom att fler tester utförs på flera olika typer av mjukvaror..