As cinemáticas e narrativas de jogos digitais: implicações para o design de jogos

Game cinematics integrating filming techniques, cutscenes, and animations are likely to have a pivotal role in the player experience, emotional attachment, and relatedness to the game narrative content. In recent years, the avoidance of cuts to generate a seamless and connected game experience has challenged older patterns on storytelling in games and find new ways of intertwining gameplay with the narrative. However, a one-size-fits-all strategy may not be applied when considering different storytelling purposes, structures, and language used in diversified game genres. The purpose of this research is to examine the contributions of cinematics to affect game story comprehension, especially in young adults. A multi-stage development research method is applied, encompassing the following activities: (1) identification of requirements to develop game cinematics based on the literature review and interviews with 16 scholars and industry professionals in Game UX, and cinematic development; (2) Development of a Game Cinematics experiment for the game Mutation Madness, using first- and third- perspectives; and a (3) Comparative evaluation of game cinematics in terms of experience and narrative comprehension. The cinematics developed are tested with 46 young adults to assess the effect of the Point Of View (POV) camera on visual attention and story comprehension in Mutation Madness, using an eye- tracking experiment. The results suggest that third- perspective in game cinematics constitute omniscient knowledge of the story, evoking the sense of time and focusing on the story agents, while first- perspective visually guides the player to the game events happening in the time of gameplay. This research contributes to the Communication Sciences and Technologies field by presenting a set of best practices developing game cinematics.As cinemáticas de jogos que integram técnicas de filmagem, cutscenes, e animações, tendem a ter um papel central na experiência do jogador, envolvimento emocional, e relação com a narrativa. Nos últimos anos, os padrões mais antigos inerentes ao processo de contar histórias nos jogos têm sido desafiados pela ausência de cortes e interrupções na experiência, de modo a garantir a interconexão e o entrelaçar da jogabilidade com a narrativa. No entanto, a adoção de uma estratégia de dimensão única pode não atender a diferentes propósitos da narrativa, estruturas e linguagem utilizadas em diferentes géneros de jogos. O objetivo desta investigação é compreender o modo como as cinemáticas podem afetar a compreensão de histórias de jogos, especialmente em jovens adultos. O método de investigação de desenvolvimento é aplicado, subdividido nas seguintes etapas: (1) Identificação de requisitos para desenvolver cinemáticas de jogos com base na revisão da literatura e entrevista a 16 académicos e profissionais da indústria em experiência de jogo, e desenvolvimento de cinemáticas; (2) Desenvolvimento de cinemáticas do jogo Mutation Madness, com recurso à primeira e terceira perspetiva; e (3) Avaliação comparativa das cinemáticas de jogo em termos de experiência e compreensão da narrativa. As cinemáticas desenvolvidas são testadas por 46 jovens adultos, recorrendo à metodologia eye-tracking, para avaliar o efeito da perspetiva da câmara [Point Of View (POV)] na atenção visual e na compreensão da narrativa do jogo Mutation Madness. Os resultados sugerem que a cinemática em que é adotada a terceira perspetiva no jogo proposto contribui para um conhecimento omnisciente da história, evocando o sentido do tempo e concentrando-se nos agentes da história, enquanto a primeira perspetiva orienta visualmente o jogador para os eventos do jogo que acontecem no tempo da jogabilidade. Esta investigação contribui para a área das Ciências da Tecnologia da Comunicação ao apresentar um conjunto de melhores práticas para desenvolver as cinemáticas nos jogos.Mestrado em Comunicação Multimédi

Engagement in independent video games through narrative and character development

Independent videogames (also known as “indie games”) have experienced an increasingly prominent role in the videogame industry. In the last decade, this particular genre has seen an exponential growth, filling its own niche in the market. Furthermore, the low level of investment required by this genre (both in terms of economical and human resources) makes it a favoured path for small companies to start producing videogames. This paradigm of low resources, allied with the technological limitations of mobile devices (this genre's most common platform) defines the “indie game's” playability and visual/narrative aesthetics; the result being a peculiar creative simplicity. We believe this simplicity to be the source of the independent videogames' appeal to the general playerbase. In other words, these videogames engage the player by presenting him/her with a simple yet rich storytelling experience, where complex elements such as long cinematics are eschewed in favor of a more primal and direct experience. Simply put, by investing on a solid narrative and fleshing out interesting, relatable characters, an independent videogame manages to achieve the engagement potential of its commercial counterparts, while doing so with a fraction of the cost. In this dissertation we aim to understand exactly how independent videogames achieve this phenomenon of player engagement through their narrative and characters. We will do so by allying theoretical research on these two creative resources with a the practical exercise of developing our own videogame concept (as a part of our Master's Degree project). Strictly speaking, we will study tools and techniques relating to achieving engagement through narrative and character development, subsequently testing them out in our own project and drawing conclusions on their effectiveness in the process

Meaning and emotion in Squaresoft\u27s Final Fantasy X: Re-theorising realism and identification in video games

This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of realism and identification misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan\u27s (1997) and Torben Grodal\u27s (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft\u27s adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video games; how perceptual qualities of the interface determine the reality status of gameplay; how narrative and game codes regulate or retard interest; FFX\u27s henneneutic coding of reality; the dual narrative and game coding of video game characters; the uses and limits of the psychoanalytic concept of identification when analysing video games; how gameplay promotes empathetic emotions towards characters; how players develop empathetic emotions towards themselves; and how the disjunctive quality of play may have un existential quality

Representations of the city in video games

This research strives to characterize the means by which video game players experience and understand the space of the game city during the course of play. Three-dimensional video game cities are neither static environments nor stationary views; rather, they are experienced through movement, action, and play. Our experiences of new places are not developed at a glance. Instead, they are cultivated through use over time. This work utilizes games that take place in constructed versions of New York City as a case study. By focusing on the ways players navigate spaces, we can understand how they construct spatial awareness and how this space is transformed into a meaningful place of play. In order to come to this understanding, this study asks a series of questions: How are these spaces arranged? How does the player move through the space and how does the game teach spatial navigation? What actions are performed in the space and how is gameplay adapted for the city environment? And how do of narrative environments contribute to a player's identification with the space? These questions are examined within a framework of urban, cultural, and game studies. I examine techniques that are employed by video game city designers to help players navigate space and make it meaningful. Additionally, this research poses areas for future expansion and experimentation with game cities.M.S.Committee Chair: Pearce, Celia; Committee Member: Do, Ellen Yi-Luen; Committee Member: Knoespel, Kenneth; Committee Member: Nitsche, Michae

Every sign of life

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.MIT Institute Archives copy: pages 151-[182] bound in reverse order.Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-150).Every Sign of Life introduces an approach to and motivational schema for personal health monitoring. It is an exploration of how to make information collected by personal health-monitoring devices fun and engaging, and consequently more useful to the non-specialist. In contrast to the common methodology of adding game elements to established biofeedback systems, the Every Sign of Life approach is to design and build games that use biosensor information to effect the game environment. This work tests the hypothesis that fun (the joy of learning, achieving, competing, etc.) is a way to achieve the goal of self-efficacy; to induce people to take care of their own health by altering their habits and lifestyles. One result is a basic architecture for personal health-monitoring systems that has led to an approach to the design of sensor peripherals and wearable computer components called "Extremity Computing." This approach is used to redefine biosensor monitoring from periodic to continuous (ultimately saving data over a lifetime). Another result is an approach to adding implicit biofeedback to computer games. This has led to a new genre of games called "Bio-Analytical Games" that straddles the boundary between sports and computer games. A series of studies of how to present health information to children and adults have demonstrated the ability of consumers to use bioinformatics without involving professionals.by Vadim Gerasimov.Ph.D

A handbook of teacher training in music education

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe purpose of this study is to prepare a handbook for the use of the regular classroom teacher in the elementary school, to assist her in becoming an adequate and efficient instructor of the music program. That this need is paramount is shown by the radical changes being made in curriculums or teacher-training institutions, so that it may be possible for the prospective teacher to prepare herself to achieve the goals of music for all children as hoped for in the modern music education program. With music becoming increasingly integrated, rather than an isolated subject, it 1s important that the classroom teacher be as properly prepared to successfully conduct this phase of the child's education, as she is reading, spelling, and arithmetic

Database of Video Games and Their Therapeutic Properties

There are reported to be 2.96 billion video game players in the world as of 2021 and this number is expected to grow to 3.32 billion by the year 2024. Of that total, 215.5 million video game players live in the United States with a reported average age of 33 years old. Thousands of commercial video games are released every year. There is evidence to support video game technology use as therapeutic media however it predominately utilizes outdated technology or technology designed for a specific purpose also called “serious games.” The problem is that OT practitioners are unaware of the potential therapeutic properties of video games they have not played, so are unable to integrate unfamiliar video games as therapeutic media in clinical practice. The purpose of this capstone project is to develop an online database of commercial video games, and their therapeutic properties, to facilitate their use as therapeutic media in OT practice. To address this problem a webpage was developed in partnership with the Family Gaming Database that cataloged 10 commercial video games from commercially available video game subscription services and the Nintendo Switch. The 10 games were subject to an activity analysis based on the AMPS to determine their therapeutic potential. The resulting webpage contains three main lists in which filters can be applied in order to display games that meet a specific desired criterion. Applicable filters include platform, age rating, difficulty, and specific accessibility features. Keywords: database, occupational therapy, video game, video game

Expanding the magic circle in pervasive casual play

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em InformáticaIn this document we present proposals for merging the fictional game world with the real world taking into account the profile of casual players. To merge games with reality we resorted to the creation of games that explore di-verse real world elements. We focused on sound, video, physiological data, ac-celerometer data, weather and location. We made the choice for these real world elements because data, about those elements, can be acquired making use of functionality already available, or foreseen in the near future, in devices like computers or mobile phones, thus fitting the profile of casual players who are usually not willing to invest in expensive or specialized hardware just for the sake of playing a game. By resorting to real world elements, the screen is no longer the only focus of the player’s attention because reality also influences the outcome of the game. Here, we describe how the insertion of real world elements affected the role of the screen as the primary focus of the player’s attention. Games happen inside a magic circle that spatially and temporally delimits the game from the ordinary world. J. Huizinga, the inventor of the magic circle concept, also leaves implicit a social demarcation, separating who is playing the game from who is not playing the game [1]. In this document, we show how the insertion of real world elements blurred the spatial, temporal and social limits, in our games. Through this fusion with the ordinary world, the fictional game world integrates with reality, instead of being isolated from it. We also present an analysis about integration with the real world and context data in casual en-tertainment.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - grant SFRH/BD/61085/200

Understanding computer game culture: the cultural shaping of a new medium

In the past few decades, video games have developed from a marginal technological experiment into a mainstream medium. During this period they have gone through several transformations, from arcade machines offering a few minutes of solitary fun for a quarter to monthly subscription-based online MMOs in which thousands of players spend hundreds or even thousands of hours and lead a significant part of their social life as a fantasy character. But what is it that has driven video games? development? Is it technology? Indeed, with every new generation of hardware, game designers were given a broader set of tools for evoking exhilarating experiences. But is not culture at least as important? What would games look like if Tolkien never had written Lord of the Rings, or if Nintendo had not brought Japanese manga drawing styles to the new medium? This book looks at the theoretical challenges and foundations on which to base a cultural shaping approach towards the evolution of video games and proposes a set of concepts for analyzing and describing this process