Skills for creativity in games design

This paper reports on an experimental study to understand further the extent to which academics may differ to practitioners in their conception of skills relevant to creativity within a specific design related subject: in this instance, Games Design. Ten academics, sampled from BA Hons games courses in the UK, participated in identifying what factors they each considered important to creativity in games design, and how, collectively, they rated particular skills, knowledge, talents and abilities relevant to creativity in games design. With the same research methodology, theoretical framework and procedures, the focus was placed on ten games design practitioners’ conceptions of skills for creativity in games design. A detailed comparison is made between the findings from both groups

Sense3

Sense3, at its core, is a game in which the player has to collectively use the three senses of sight, touch and hearing to primarily dodge obstacles and collect audio samples, which are vertically remixed to form music. We chose EDM themed music, coupled with a futuristic outer space theme for the art style of the game, creating an immersive environment. The game is a pseudo-endless runner, where the player has to collect all the components to assemble their music. After each play through, the game allows the player to listen to the newly assembled music before reloading. We wanted to encourage replay value as each play through yields new and different music. The concept was decided upon after a series of prototyping sessions and iterations on a select few of them

Design Scaffolding for Computational Making in the Visual Programming Tool ARIS

In this thesis, I explore how design scaffolds, or (i.e., intellectual supports) can assist learners engaging with computational making processes. Computational making combines programming with artifact production. Due to the complexity of tasks involved in computational making, there is an increasing need to explore and develop support systems for learners engaging with computational making. With $3,000 funding from Utah State University’s College of Education and Human Services, an undergraduate researcher and I, who both have experience with youth and computational making research, explored how design scaffolds impact youth engaging with computational making processes. To do so, we held a workshop where 11 learners (11 female, ages 11-16) used ARIS, a platform designed for non-programmers to create mobile games. In addition, we interviewed five ARIS designers who were able to evaluate our design scaffolds. We provide insights for improving the use of design scaffolds in computational making with ARIS specifically that also apply broadly to computational making processes. Moreover, we developed an ARIS course that teaches educators to use a design scaffold tool for ARIS. This research provides immediate benefits for educators who access the ARIS course and researchers seeking to improve upon design scaffold research for computational making processes

Games design as a curatorial intervention: Rethinking museum representation, meaning-making and agency with games design

This thesis contributes to the academic fields of Museum Studies and Game Studies by rethinking the application of games, play and design in museums. I propose and document the applicability of games design with museum visitors as a creative and visual methodology. Building upon established Museum Studies, games, play and design theories, power and agency theories and Multimodal Social Semiotics, I conceptualise games design as an active curatorial intervention in representation, meaning-making and agency. Drawing on data collected during two case studies, I examine and describe step by step how families with young people design games inspired by museums and their collections. As part of the research process, two workshops were designed and implemented in two different museums in the UK. Bringing together theories from the fields of Museum Studies, Game Studies, Platform Studies and Museum Distributed Network theories and Multimodal Social Semiotics, I read visitors’ games as curatorial platforms that challenge, add and transform the context within which they are situated, designed and played. This thesis maps out and highlights the potential of games design as a creative and visual methodology. It provides new and important insights into the much-debated question of museum representation, the notion and ethics of the playful and participatory museum and the role that games as media can play in the relation between museums and their communities. Its findings show that games design with visitors offers museum practice and academia the methodology to rethink issues of curation, representation, meaning-making and agency. Games design with visitors as a curatorial intervention allows museums to recognise and empower the production of alternative classifications that add new layers of playful representations and meanings to the authentic museum curation. In this way, new paths of encountering and experiencing the tangible and intangible heritage and natural history are created allowing visitors to play and experiment with meaning and representation in the museum setting. These findings make a significant contribution to the literature of Game Studies. By proposing and applying games design as a participatory curatorial intervention in museums, this thesis introduces and documents the value of games as media beyond their current entertainment and educational application. In this way, the findings in this study extend the understanding of how game studies and games culture contribute to other academic fields and practices

Intramural, collaborative learning systems

This thesis focuses on three related concepts: problem-based collaborative learning; the use of multimedia tools in learning systems; and participatory design as a software engineering methodology to create multimedia tools to be used in learning systems. A literature review of the three areas is followed by an overview of the pedagogical, technological, and business trends that affect the direction of innovation in education, including problem-based learning. A discussion of a software engineering project to develop a multimedia application that enhances the learning of geography skills and puts the programming, interface design and multimedia systems capabilities of college students into action ensues. The project results are presented, and suggestions for future research are proposed

Automated Game Design Learning

While general game playing is an active field of research, the learning of game design has tended to be either a secondary goal of such research or it has been solely the domain of humans. We propose a field of research, Automated Game Design Learning (AGDL), with the direct purpose of learning game designs directly through interaction with games in the mode that most people experience games: via play. We detail existing work that touches the edges of this field, describe current successful projects in AGDL and the theoretical foundations that enable them, point to promising applications enabled by AGDL, and discuss next steps for this exciting area of study. The key moves of AGDL are to use game programs as the ultimate source of truth about their own design, and to make these design properties available to other systems and avenues of inquiry.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for CIG 201

Design methodologies to implement computer games (Super Milkman)

Trabalho final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores.Jogos de vídeo actualmente são a principal forma de entretenimento, superando filmes e música. O processo de criação de jogos de vídeo envolve muitas áreas de especialização. Começando pela definição da arquitectura, existem os motores de física e gráfico, os recursos artísticos, como modelos 3D e imagens 2D. Além disso, alguns destes recursos artísticos são animados. Os efeitos visuais, o áudio, a interface de utilizador, as mecânicas, a câmara, e às vezes, inteligência artificial, juntos criam o sistema de jogabilidade. Cada uma destas diferentes áreas requer diferentes metodologias para ser implementada. É apresentado um protótipo de um jogo de vídeo, chamado Super Milkman, onde são descritas as diferentes metodologias para cada área e são discutidas as opções escolhidas. O protótipo desenvolvido é jogável, podendo servir de guia para programadores iniciantes na área dos jogos de vídeo e podendo também ser estendido através da adição de novos níveis de jogo.Video games nowadays are the first form of entertainment, exceeding films and music. The process of creating a video game involves many areas of expertise. Starting from the definition of the architecture, there are also the physics and graphical engines, the art assets like 3D models or 2D sprites. Furthermore, some of these art assets are also animated. The visual effects, the audio, the user interface, the mechanics, the camera and sometimes the artificial intelligence, are connected creating the gameplay system. Each one of these different areas requires different methodologies to be implemented. Herein, it is depicted a prototype of a video game, namely Super Milkman, where are described the different methodologies for each area, and discussed the option chosen. The prototype developed is playable, can be used as a guide for beginner developers of video games, and also can be extended through the addition of new game levels.N/