This qualitative study examines how users of boardgamegeek.com chooses which analogue game to buy. The purpose of the study is to find out which factors constitutes the choice of games and how the information of these factors reach the consumer. The investigation is executed by users of boardgamegeek.com explaining their latest game purchase in a questionnaire survey online. The results show that many of the respondents research the games they are interrested in beforehand and based on this information make their choice. Despite of this we can see that many game developers and distributors does not make this information available for the consumers, but leaves this task to the public..

As the speed and complexity of computers have increased so have software and the expectations of users. Software development follows a straightforward evolution where complicated tasks are made easier by better tools; this repeats itself as those tasks in turn are automated.Software mechanics that were seen as revolutionary a decade ago are seen as obvious requirements that no multimedia application can be without.dotNet is the next step in line and makes it easier and faster to build software.This report focuses on the development of a multimedia platform developed in dotNet. It does this by developing the tools and framework from which a complete game can be built.A game is selected because it combines the most aspects of multimedia development, such as interaction, graphics, sound & music. The report goes further by describing why the game looks like it does as well as the mechanics of the game and the benefits of the dotNet platform..

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..

The aim of this essay is to investigate the function and development of non-player characters (NPC) in the TV/computer game Dragon Age: Origins. The NPCs are analysed in order to see if their development is affected by the player character?s (PC) background and interactions. The game?s ethics is also investigated by studying how the NPCs treat the PC and what significance they give to his background and actions.The results show that the NPCs are affected by the PC?s interactions, and furthermore, that they are round characters, which is unusual in TV/computer games.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how gender and sexuality are made in the videogames Prince of Persia and Fable II, and more specifically to look at possibilities and limitations for the construction of gender and sexuality in these games. I understand videogames as an interactive media form that differs from other types of media like film and literature. It is a media form that depends on a player to be played. At the same time it is constituted by rules of how it can be played. I have analyzed my material by a method called close-playing.

This thesis is about practising on a different level to get an insight to what techniques might work for me as a double bass player. It is about discovering how to use your brain into playing at your best level. I practised both talking and singing to myself and read a lot about thinking and hearing not only the music but every note before playing. The thesis idea came from not having a technique that worked for me while practising alone. I wondered why it is such a difference between what we do at the lessons and what I do when practising by myself..

In this study we examine how much latency is required in an RTS-game (Real-Time Strategy) before the player quits the game. In the study latency is simulated in the games Age of Mythology and Starcraft: Brood War with the program WANem, and then the testplayers are asked ?Do you want to quit because of latency??. This data is then gathered and compiled into graphs to show the results. These results show that the limit for when players want to quit differs between the two games and that there are two factors that play into this.

Purpose: To examine how video-game releases affect the share price, and if video-game reviews have any impact on the share price of gaming corporations. Method: A quantitative deductive research approach is applied with event study methodology used as basis. The investigated companies were the five largest gaming companies listed on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange. A total of 29 video-game launches and 85 reviews where examined.  Theory: The study is based on The Efficient Market Hypothesis, Agent Theory, Public Relations Theory, Nextopia and previous research.Results: The result contains 114 observations in five companies.

Detta arbete har utformats för att besvara frågeställningen: ?Kan Game Approachability Principles (GAP) upptäcka användbarhets-, spelbarhets- och åtkomlighetsproblem i tidiga stadier av utvecklingsprocessen av ett spel??. Teorier om användbarhet, åtkomlighet, spelbarhet, olika utvärderingsmetoder och användartestning samt Game Approachability Principles studerades för att skapa en teoribildning inom området. Två prototyper av ett spel skapades: en hi-fi prototyp och en lo-fi prototyp. Den första representerar det senare stadiet i utvecklingen av ett spel och den andra representerar det tidigare stadiet.

This study examines the in-game encyclopaedia Codex as it appears within the videogame Mass Effect. The purpose of this study is to analyse the Codex with emphasis on how the reading process is affected by the videogame medium. In this regard the study seeks to uncover what characterises the Codex as a fictional encyclopaedia, what it entails and how it interacts with the rest of the game. The theoretical basis of this study is derived from a combination of the writings of Wolfgang Iser concerning the process of reading, Jesper Juul's writings on the relationship between games and narratives, and the concept of intermediality as discussed by Hans Lund and Jørgen Bruhn.      This study is based on a close examination of the PC and Playstation 3 versions of the videogame Mass Effect, created by Bioware, with particular emphasis placed on the Codex. Mass Effect is a science fiction third-person shooter and RPG set in a future where mankind has begun interacting with aliens civilizations and colonising new planets.

Title: Playing techniques of the eight-keyed traverso in Irish and Breton traditional music. The dissertation examines basic aspects of playing techniques of the eight-keyed traverso, as it is used in Irish and Breton traditional music. The background material consists of four interviews with four professional flute players as well as literature that considers the subject from different perspectives. The results reveals a consensus between those of the informants that are mainly playing Irish music while the informant that is mainly playing Breton music has a different approach to several of the technical aspects examined.Examensarbetet behandlar grundläggande spelteknik på åttaklaffig traversflöjt inom bretonsk och irländsk folkmusik. Studiens underlag består av intervjuer med fyra professionella flöjtister samt av litteratur som belyser ämnet från olika perspektiv.

Denna rapport har undersökt om game metrics genom heat maps kan användas för att hitta en choke point i en bana gjord till spelet Team Fortress 2. Game metrics och kvantitativa  metoder  erbjuder  ett  objektivt  och  nästan  automatiserat  alternativ  till kvalitativa metoder när det kommer till balansering. En bana har konstruerats med en choke point och har speltestats för att generera en heat map. För att undersöka om det går att hitta en choke point med hjälp av en heat map så har en enkät gjorts där respondenter   bads   hitta   choke   pointen   med   hjälp   av   den   heat   mapen   som genererades från speltestningen av banan. Alla respondenter lyckades hitta mitten av choke  pointen  med  hjälp  av  heat  mapen.  I  framtiden  skulle  arbetet  kunna  utökas genom  att  undersöka  om  användandet  av  bottar  eventuellt  skulle  helt  kunna automatisera  balanseringsprocessen.  Det  skulle  också  gå  att  undersöka  hur  olika klasser rör sig i en bana..

This essay aims to examine how the synthetic non-human subjects, EDI and Legion, are constituted in terms of their bodies, gender, desire and emotion, in the gaming series Mass Effect. In a close-gaming method I also want to explore in which way the gamer can effect or even change the expressions of the body, gen­der, desire, and emotion made by the synthetic non-human subjects. In order to do this I use Judith Butlers and Sara Ahmeds queer theory, and Donna Haraways cyborg feminism. I concluded that EDI em­braces her embodiments and is given a highly sexualized female body, being more of a woman than a machine. While Legion is rather embracing disembodiment and is given a non sexualized, androgynous male body, be­ing more of a machine than a man.

The aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of how preschool-teachers respond to children in preschool, when they show that they want to have some influence. I have concentrated this study on how the preschool-teachers respond to the children in the gatherings and when the children are playing freely indoors, where the questions at issue are:How do the preschool-teachers respond to the children?s initiative for participation in the gathering and while playing freely?There have been four preschool-teachers and 14 children who have taken part in this study. The children who took part are in the ages of three to five. The study was done at a section in a preschool in middle Sweden.The method used in this study is unstructured observations.

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..