Becker Video Game Design

Abstract: "We describe ANGELINA3, a system that can automatically develop games along a defined theme, by selecting appropriate multimedia content from a variety of sources and incorporating it into a game's design. We discuss these capabilities in the context of the FACE model for assessing progress in the building of creative systems, and discuss how ANGELINA3 can be improved through further work."

Includes "Upcoming trends in social impact games" and other articles

"During recent years "gamification" has gained significant attention among practitioners and game scholars. However, the current understanding of gamification has been solely based on the act of adding systemic game elements into services. In this paper, we propose a new definition for gamification, which emphases the experiential nature of games and gamification, instead of the systemic understanding. Furthermore, we tie this definition to theory from service marketing because majority of gamification implementations aim towards goals of marketing, which brings to the discussion the notion of how customer / user is always ultimately the creator of value. Since now, the main venue for academic discussion on gamification has mainly been the HCI community. We find it relevant both for industry practitioners as well as for academics to study how gamification can fit in the body of knowledge of existing service literature because the goals and the means of gamification and marketing have a significant overlap."

"As research for a Ph.D. thesis, we propose to show that a layered Statechart-based AI is a suitable formalism for Game AI, enabling the use of model-driven development techniques such as reuse and high-level analysis including model-checking. The fundamentally modular nature of this approach leads naturally to reuse as a fundamental component of the design process. Supported by a clearly defined formalism, useful behavioural analyses become possible, such as testing reactions to various inputs at design time. We also explore transformations at the modelling level to enable procedural generation, allowing rapid deployment of varying AIs. Additionally, such a model allows for the generation of efficient code that can be directly inserted into games. Tool support for reuse, generation, and analysis will be developed, then employed in creating an industrial scale AI, proving that this formalism is appropriate for industrial use."

Recently published by CRC Press, excerpts on Google Books. "expert advice you need to generate compelling and original game concepts and narratives."

Excerpted in Google Books

Abstract: "In this project, the following research question is set forth: is it possible to create fair maps for a video game using multi objective evolution algorithms? A description of the video game used for this project, Civilization V, is provided as well as an overview of other map generation methods, and research being done in the field of procedural content generation. A definition for what is fair is made and expressed through functions, that evaluate maps for the video game Civilization V. These evaluation functions express five distinct perspectives on how fair maps are perceived. The fitness functions are designed to conflict as little as possible with each other. A method is defined as to how this theory is applied in practice to generate maps for Civilization V. The evaluation functions are applied on maps from the game's map generation method, and compared to maps that have been evolved with the method provided by this project."

"Hosted by University College Cork and Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland, 4-5 October 2012"

Abstract: "Gamification is the "use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (Deterding et al, 2011, p.1). A frequently used model for gamification is to equate an activity in the non-game context with points and have external rewards for reaching specified point thresholds. One significant problem with this model of gamification is that it can reduce the internal motivation that the user has for the activity, as it replaces internal motivation with external motivation. If, however, the game design elements can be made meaningful to the user through information, then internal motivation can be improved as there is less need to emphasize external rewards. This paper introduces the concept of meaningful gamification through a user-centered exploration of theories behind organismic integration theory, situational relevance, situated motivational affordance, universal design for learning, and player-generated content."

"As yet games have not achieved the engagement factor seen in the movie industry, the holy grail for any games designer is to engage, excite and attract their players without running into the downside of addiction. There are two major factors to achieving this goal that need to be considered: a) Does the player "Believe" the game b) The emotional "roller-coaster" ride experienced by the player If these are achieved then the game becomes a XXX game. This paper seeks to investigate the factors affecting these two goals and offers guidelines in order to achieve a successful implementation, avoiding the obvious design pitfalls."

"The key contribution of this paper is a simple protocol language which is at the heart of defining constructive claims through games. Our protocol language generalizes the class of claims that can be expressed in predicate logic. We build on the long tradition in logic and games of imperfect information: our protocol language can also express indeterminate claims, such as "I am better than you at solving this problem." The purpose of SCG is to provide a helpful framework to develop and disseminate the world's constructive claims in formal scientific domains. The development of claims is both collaborative and selfevaluating using the global brain."

"This course is designed to be a fun introduction to the basics of programming in Python. Our main focus will be on building simple interactive games such as Pong, Blackjack and Asteroids."

"Millions flock to their computers, consoles, mobile phones, tablets, and social networks each day to play World of Warcraft, Farmville, Scrabble, and countless other games, generating billions in sales each year. The careful and skillful construction of these games is built on decades of research into human motivation and psychology: A well-designed game goes right to the motivational heart of the human psyche. In For the Win, authors Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter argue persuasively that gamemakers need not be the only ones benefiting from game design. Werbach and Hunter are lawyers and World of Warcraft players who created the world's first course on gamification at the Wharton School. In their book, they reveal how game thinking?addressing problems like a game designer?can motivate employees and customers and create engaging experiences that can transform your business. For the Win reveals how a wide range of companies are successfully using game thinking. It also offers an explanation of when gamifying makes the most sense and a 6-step framework for using games for marketing, productivity enhancement, innovation, employee motivation, customer engagement, and more."

"This paper presents a design methodology that allows technical leads in the game industry to introduce story designers with low technical background to generative techniques for automatic plot creation, in particular to a specific method of AI-based planning. The approach provides support to convey necessary technical knowledge by paper prototyping. Further, it demonstrates that paper prototypes are not only useful to learn these concepts but also as tools of creation."

"Physics engines have created a whole new source of emergence and fun for digital games. Water simulation could add another similar emergent interaction element, but it is currently only rarely used as a part of gameplay. The reasons for this are analysed and different water simulation methods are compared, focusing on actual game usage. Based on this, we suggest using the extremely simple but fast pipe model. The simplicity of the underlying simulation can be masked in many ways using modern shader effects and other tricks. An example of the pipe method in action is given and compared to more sophisticated fluid solvers."

"In any sufficiently sized government, it's going to be pretty easy to cherry-pick examples of programs that seem wasteful or unnecessary. So it's not too surprising that Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is able to do just that each year with his headline-grabbing "Waste Book," listing 100 examples of extraneous spending in the US government. ... But when the Waste Book deals with federal grants for a number of video game-related projects, it seems to write them off without considering the important scientific and artistic goals the projects achieve. While Coburn appears to believe it's self-evident that anything related to games couldn't possibly be worthy of federal funding, talking to the people behind these projects shows taxpayer dollars are going to much more than mindless entertainment."

"Five word summary: Nazis in Hell fighting demons. Five more words: It's pure Javascript and HTML5. Today's the day I finally decided to release Subbania to the public."

"we analyze two different trends that have informed technology for learning in cultural institutions during recent years: one more established trend, supporting the information consumption metaphor and the other one, emerging recently, that invites visitors to participate in the process of culture creation. We discuss then game design as an example of participatory activity and we identify its learning dimensions. In particular, we elaborate on the role of technology in providing a scaffold that can help museum audience to construct games which can function as "public artefacts" and can be added to the museum's assets, enhancing audience engagement and community building."

Abstract: "As computational capability continues to increase, the tools available to designers of digital games have become more robust, allowing high fidelity graphics and sound to become common, and resulting in a market saturated with kinetic-based games. However, consumers and educators are eschewing such games for more complex and immersive stories, the creation of which has proven a difficult mountain for designers to climb. A central reason is that story-immersive games rely on dialogue between the player character (PC) and nonplayer characters (NPCs), the writing and coding of which is time consuming and inefficient. This paper documents the author's experiences with complex, branching dialogue systems, and examines the possibility of system automation through natural language processing (NLP)."