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To be published in May 2013, excepts in Google Books. "From the text adventures of Zork, to the arcade game of Pac-Man, to the corridors of Doom, and on to the city streets of Grand Theft Auto IV, the maze has often been used as a space to trap and confuse players in their navigation of gameworlds. However, the maze as a construction on the landscape has a long history before the invention of the videogame. By examining the change in the maze from the landscapes of open spaces and closed gardens through to the screen of the videogame, both mazes and labyrinths are discussed in terms of historical reference, alongside the author's personal experiences of walking and playing these structures. This book shows how our cultural experiences of real world maze landscapes may have changed, and how we negotiate videogame worlds along the various paths and meanings they so often create for us."

Abstract: "The collaborative nature of many modern multiplayer games raises a lot of questions in cooperative game design. We address one of them in this paper by analyzing cooperative game patterns in remote gameplay in order to define benefits and drawbacks for each one. With the help of a user experiment, we analyzed player experience in a set of existing cooperative patterns for games played remotely without communication. By comparing patterns, supporting closely- and looselycoupled collaboration, we discovered that the first type provided a more enjoyable experience but introduced additional challenges in case of a lack of communication. By analyzing patterns for both closely- and loosely-coupled interaction, we determined the most beneficial pattern within each type. We concluded with the results of a pattern comparison in colocated and remote setups."

from the abstract: "The Meta!Blast project was developed to provide a medium that lends itself to the com- prehension of cell and metabolic biology by placing the student into a virtual plant cell and allowing them to experience plant biology rst-hand (Wurtele, 2011). By taking advantage of existing agile development methodologies, Meta!Blast has been designed to meet many of the challenges of developing video games in an academic environment. Using a special editor, educators and researchers can also modify in-game content in an eort to tailor the game to their specic curriculum needs. Due to the massive, explorative environment in which the game places players, Meta!Blast provides an ideal environment for a variety of other STEM-related mini-games. By leveraging existing methods of current software used to teach computer science, the initial development stage of a mini-game within Meta!Blast called TALUS (Technology Assisted Learning Using Sandbox) has been designed to let players experience dierent computer programming con- ix cepts. The rst iteration has shown that an environment can be created that allows players to interact with actual computer code in a fail-safe and non-violent manner; furthermore, it has the potential to augment a player's existing knowledge of computer programming."

Abstract :"This thesis deals with the analysis, design, implementation and testing of a video game prototype , which is intended for practicing lucid dreaming induction . R esearch i ndicates the potential of the video game medium in this end and the experimental game design has been the result of examining various study case s covering both video gam es and dreams , besides multiple lucid dreaming induction techniques . The design approach was more focused on creatively modif yin g existing techniques , in order to take advantage of the potential of the video game medium, than to simply copy them. This has led to establishi ng a set of formal design goals , with an emphasis on creating a game world simulating a dream, in which rehearsing can take place prior to sleep . The video game prototype is inasmuch an interactive training tool as it is an artistic video game experiment . With the aim of also tak ing the player experience into account, a set of aesthetic goals was also established , approached by the use of the MDA framework ( Hunicke , LeBlanc & Zubek, 2004) and the player involvement model - related to the concept of incorporation (Calleja, 2011)"

"Many games and consoles today allow for a player to substitute a personal music playlist into the video game. We examined the influence that a player's choice of music has on the player's experience in one particular game, Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage. "

Abstract: "With the growing availability of personal communication devices we are witnessing a tremendous increase in the demand for mobile services based on location and context. Mobile gaming is, of course, following this same trend. Unfortunately, differently from other services, location- and context-based gaming strictly requires near-field communication to interact with nearby players in order to create teams and arenas. Since currently adopted technologies suffer from scalability (Bluetooth) or energy (WiFi) constraints, Opportunistic Networks (ONs) have already been addressed as a viable solution to involve a considerable number of players on a wider area. While massive multiplayer games are commonplace on wired networks, it is not yet clear how player experience is affected by the increased delay and probabilistic message forwarding introduced by a huge population over an ON. In this paper we address this problem by proposing an opportunistic collaborative game, which is meaningful for the category of collaborative puzzle games, and evaluating its playability and scalability by means of simulations on a real city topology."

Abstract: "The rich interaction space of man y educational games presents a challenge for designers and researchers who strive to help players achieve specific learning outcomes. Giving players a large amount of freedom over how they perform a complex game task makes it difficult to anticipate what t hey will do. In order to ad dress this issue designers must ask : what are students do ing in my game? And does it embody what I intended them to learn? To answer these questions, designers need methods to expose the details of student play. We describe our a pproach for automatic extract ion of conceptu al features from logs of student play sessions within an open educational game utilizing a two - dimensional context - free grammar. We demonstrate how these features can be used to clu s- ter student solutions in the e ducational game RumbleBlocks . U s- ing these clusters , we explore the range of solutions and measure how many students use the designers' envisioned solution . Equipped with this information, designers and researchers can focus redesign efforts to areas in the game where discrepancies exist between the designer s' intention s and player experience s."

From the abstract: "n the last decade the popularity of MMOGs has exploded. Unfortunately, the demand has far outweighed the resources commercial game providers can provide. Many MMOGs are suffering from scalability issues, resulting in game world partitioni ng, service down time and server crashes. The centralized server architecture of most modern day MMOGs is unable to cope with this increase in the number of participating players. Hence, there is a need for a scalable network architecture which can support these large number of players without affecting the overall gaming experience for each player. In this paper, we provide a review on the existing networking infrastructure solutions for MMOGs. This includes description and comparison of different im plementation techniques for the deployment of massive multiplayer on-line games, which work as a client/server and peer-to-peer paradigms. "

towards a game tutorial to "adapts to the skill of the player and tailors itself to the individual player"

Abstract: "Game Artificial Intelligence (Game AI) is a subdiscipline of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) that explores the ways in which AI and ML can augment player experiences in computer games. Storytelling is an integral part of many modern computer games; within games stories create context, motivate the player, and move the action forward. Interactive Narrative is the use of AI to create and manage stories within games, creating the perception that the player is a character in a dynamically unfolding and responsive story. This paper introduces Game AI and focuses on the open research problems of Interactive Narrative."

abstract: "Demon Dissension provides a strategic twist on the traditional fighting game experience to players and showcases co mplex game logic, networking, and fighting game design principles. Built entirely in the Unity engine and programmed in C#, Demon Dissension pits two players against one another in a battle for glory, challenging them to not only fight against the charact er in game, but the strategies being employed by the actual opponent . A team of two artists and two programmers took four terms to create a deep multiplayer battle experience." Becker student Breeze Grigas participated in this project.

"This paper describes the creation of the game Endless Web, a 2D platforming game in which the player's actions determine the ongoing creation of the world she is exploring. Endless Web is an example of a PCG-based game: it uses procedural content generation (PCG) as a mechanic, and its PCG system, Launchpad, greatly influenced the aesthetics of the game. All of the player's strategies for the game revolve around the use of procedural content generation. Many design challenges were encountered in the design and creation of Endless Web, for both the game and modifications that had to be made to Launchpad. These challenges arise largely from a loss of fine-grained control over the player's experience; instead of being able to carefully craft each element the player can interact with, the designer must instead craft algorithms to produce a range of content the player might experience. In this paper we provide a definition of PCG-based game design and describe the challenges faced in creating a PCG-based game. We offer our solutions, which impacted both the game and the underlying level generator, and identify issues which may be particularly important as this area matures."

"we theorize the unique storytelling potential of mobile games while describing our experience attempting to harness that potential through the design and implementation of our hybrid-reality game University of Death."

"The design and development of commercial AAA videogames is a difficult and complex endeavor. It involves large development teams that together aim to create high quality, entertaining games that sell well. Up to now, very few scholars have documented or problematized this practice."

"A Comprehensive Study of Sound in Computer Games: How Audio Affects Player ActionJørgensen, Kristine This study examines the functionality of sound in computer games, a topic which has received little attention in game studies and media studies." Especially focuses on player experience of sound

Abstract "The increasingly social nature of gaming suggests the importance of understanding the associated experiences, and influence on potential outcomes."

Abstract: "Mobile games - in particular, games played on smartphones and tablet computers - are becoming increasingly popular. Yet, there has been little research into whether players can experience immersion while playing mobile games. As the potential for immersive mobile games would be of interest to game developers, researchers and players, it is proposed to measure mobile immersion by comparing Osmos, a multi-platform ambient video game, on three differentsized devices - a smart phone, a tablet and a desktop computer."

"This paper investigates aspects of learning in museums through mobile games, i.e games that are played usually by groups of players, using mobile devices that allow interaction with the space and the exhibits and physical mobility of the players. It is argued that playing these games (which usually follow the pattern of scavenger hunt or role playing narratives), results in visitor engagement, motivation and knowledge about museum exhibits. Despite of these positive aspects, it has been observed that learning remains at the level of transfer of factual information about the exhibits. It is argued that in order to enrich the learning experience of game play we need to also involve the visitors in the process of designing mobile games for the museum."

Abstract: "As computer games are an increasingly large industry, it is becoming increasingly important for people working in the eld to understand what elements of the game engage the player so as to improve the design of the game. By studying common techniques used in modern games, this paper looks to highlight how the techniques work and thereby provide developers and designers with more information to improve the use of these techniques in future games. The paper also re ects upon the applicability of these techniques outside of games specifically."

Abstract: "ideo games and other applications using off - the - shelf tracking devices often take a simple approach to gesture and pose recognition: a recognized gesture is always mapped to the same action . This approach basically turns a gesture into a binary button pre ss and misses much of the nuance implicit in natural gestures. In this paper we explore , in a game design setting , the use of continuous 3D gesture sequences where in attributes of individual gestures, such as speed, direction, etc., combine to influence th e r esult of the sequence as a whole . We present Pixelbending, a game demo built using the Microsoft Kinect and Unreal Developers Kit (UDK) in which the player performs Tai Chi inspired movements to control water. Designed with the goal of creating a fun an d engaging 3D game experience built on a nuanced gesture set, the demo was well received by many players of different ages and sizes. Through the development process we encountered challenges to working with off - the - shelf devices."