Game Design and Development

Historical game development is a still-emerging area of Digital Humanities theory and praxis that crosses and challenges many disciplinary borders. Requiring strong humanities expertise in historical research and educational theory, as well as many artistic and technical skills from the fields of computer science, digital art, and game design, such projects foster strong multidisciplinary teams. This paper discusses the co-authors' ongoing collaboration to develop an educational historical game called The Migrants' Chronicles, which seeks to balance pedagogical goals with engaging gameplay in order to create a game that is equally fun and educational. After providing an overview of the project origins, a detailed discussion of the pedagogical concepts driving the game, and the practical methodologies used to translate historical knowledge into game play, the paper concludes by suggesting a series of best practices for a collaborative co-design process for historical game development.

Challenge is a cornerstone of modern video game design, shaping the way players engage with virtual worlds. It provides a sense of purpose, tests player skills, and delivers satisfaction through hard-earned rewards. However, the delicate balance between frustration and reward is critical; games that are too difficult risk alienating players, while those that are too easy fail to capture their interest.

In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game Jam 2018 was organized in Utsjoki, in a small Sámi village next to the border of Finland and Norway. The group of 44 jammers consisted of local Sámi participants and Finnish as well as international game students and professional developers. The event had 12 Sámi themes to explore that were divided between the teams and the event resulted in six games all combining two. The jam was stressful for the participants and organizers, both Sámi and non-Sámi, but in the end created an invaluable space for rich experiences, learning and self-discoveries. Furthermore, the jam provided a platform for indigenous game development and local game education and a platform to develop Sámi Pedagogy further.

The creation of video games involves multidisciplinary processes that are not accessible to the general public. Currently, the development environments are very powerful tools, but they also require an advanced technical level to even start using them. This article presents a 2D game development environment to propose an alternative model to reduce the technical complexity existing in these systems, presenting a data model and a game editor that allows fulfilling this goal. In order to test its capabilities, several games have been successfully implemented in the proposed environment. With this achievement, it can be stated that it is possible to create video games simply and affordably for the general public without giving up its potential and remarking that there is still a long way to go to reach democratization in the creation of video games and the need to continue working in this field.

Jose de la Cruz's "Corrido and Life Lived by the Three Princes, Children of King Fernando and Queen Valeriana in the Kingdom of Berbanya," better known as "Ibong Adarna," is required reading for Philippine high school students. However, its portrayal of women promotes a problematic narrative of women revolving around a protagonist who eventually chooses a bride and then gives the others to his villainous brothers. This paper describes a video game project that re-imagines these women as human beings with voices and agency. Entitled "Adarna: Alamat ni Maria Blanca," the project is a turn-based roleplaying game that focuses on female empowerment without emasculating the men of Jose de la Cruz's world. It is set in precolonial Philippines and aims to take players back to a time when women and men were considered equals.

El objetivo de este estudio es el de identificar qué metodologías y técnicas
utilizan las empresas de videojuegos en España cuando están desarrollando
sus productos. Específicamente queremos saber cuáles utilizan para evaluar la usabilidad y cuáles para conocer la experiencia del usuario. La falta de profesionales dedicados a incorporar la UX en las empresas conlleva que en algunos casos se confundan los conceptos y que otros perfiles asuman estas funciones sin poder dedicarle todo el tiempo que se requiere o sin aplicar métodos o técnicas que podrían ser más adecuados. La opinión de los usuarios se tiene en cuenta progresivamente en etapas iniciales del diseño, pero todavía no se está aplicando con rigor. Hablar con el usuario
potencial desde las etapas iniciales del desarrollo del juego y valorar sus percepciones, forman parte del diseño iterativo (indagación/requisitos, diseño, evaluación, revisión del producto, diseño, evaluación... y así sucesivamente), que tiene como objetivo asegurar una experiencia de usuario satisfactoria. Tradicionalmente, se ha incorporado al usuario
como parte del diseño, pero en fases avanzadas del desarrollo, ya sea en forma de test u otras técnicas.

Cloud storage provides the simpler way to share the files privately and publicly. A good Cloud Storage Provider (SCP) is not only measured by the access speed or file size that can be shared to others, but also regarding the security issues in file sharing itself. In this paper, we analyze the security of file sharing in 3 Chinese CSPs, which are: Baidu, Weiyun and Kanbox. Those CSPs have their own vulnerabilities that successfully revealed. We also provide some suggestions to countermeasure the weaknesses so that they can maintain the quality while improving the security.

Cloud storage provides the simpler way to share the files privately and publicly. A good Cloud Storage Provider (SCP) is not only measured by the access speed or file size that can be shared to others, but also regarding the security issues in file sharing itself. In this paper, we analyze the security of file sharing in 3 Chinese CSPs, which are: Baidu, Weiyun and Kanbox. Those CSPs have their own vulnerabilities that successfully revealed. We also provide some suggestions to countermeasure the weaknesses so that they can maintain the quality while improving the security.

In this paper, we explore the experiences and lessons learned from Sami Game Jam 2018. Sami Game Jam 2018 was organized in Utsjoki, in a small Sámi village next to the border of Finland and Norway. The group of 44 jammers consisted of local Sámi participants and Finnish as well as international game students and professional developers. The event had 12 Sámi themes to explore that were divided between the teams and the event resulted in six games all combining two. The jam was stressful for the participants and organizers, both Sámi and non-Sámi, but in the end created an invaluable space for rich experiences, learning and self-discoveries. Furthermore, the jam provided a platform for indigenous game development and local game education and a platform to develop Sámi Pedagogy further.

Recent years have witnessed a rise in Game Jams organized events to create playable prototypes in a very short time frame. Game Jams offer a unique and quick way to prototype games. Beyond that, we believe Game Jams can also be seen as a design research method, situated in the research-through-design tradition, to create knowledge in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. The goal of this Game Jam is thus twofold: first, participants will use the Game Jam approach to investigate a research question; second, participants can, through actual practice, identify advantages and disadvantages of Game Jams as a research method. Hereby the Game Jam workshop provides a unique opportunity for HCI practitioners and researchers to gain experience in applying gameoriented methods for research.

The creation of video games involves multidisciplinary processes that are not accessible to the general public. Currently, the development environments are very powerful tools, but they also require an advanced technical level to even start using them. This article presents a 2D game development environment to propose an alternative model to reduce the technical complexity existing in these systems, presenting a data model and a game editor that allows fulfilling this goal. In order to test its capabilities, several games have been successfully implemented in the proposed environment. With this achievement, it can be stated that it is possible to create video games simply and affordably for the general public without giving up its potential and remarking that there is still a long way to go to reach democratization in the creation of video games and the need to continue working in this field.

Eric Barone is the creator and lead developer of Stardew Valley, the indie farming and life sim RPG that’s enchanted millions around the world.  He’s a 32-year old game developer based in Seattle, Washington, who grew up in a semi-rural area of the Pacific Northwest with dreams of one day being a musician.  A digital meditation on what’s truly important in life, Stardew Valley resonates with themes of joy, magic and connection.  This interview, undertaken on Friday, March 20, 2020, began with a single question on the theme of communicating, encouraging and sharing happiness.

This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game produc- tion format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self- narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi partici- pants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.

Almost all high schools require the reading of Jose de la Cruz’s “Korrido and Life Lived by the Three Princes, Children of King Fernando and Queen Valeriana in the Kingdom of Berbanya”, more popularly known as “Ibong Adarna”. The story seems to promote, however, family values that are rife with jealousy and betrayal, as shown in how the protagonists’ older brothers violently turn on him when he just effectively rescued them from certain doom. This paper describes a video game project, Adarna, as it re-imagines Filipino sibling rivalry that evolves from intense competition to brotherly coopetition. The project aims to be a point of discussion in universities and colleges’ game development classes, in particular those that involve the study of the socio-cultural impact of games.

Keywords: Philippine literature, culture, games, family

This paper examines the new product creation process in videogames - a product that incorporates large quantities of creative talent and effort. Using various secondary and primary (interview and ethnographic) data, we identify three main characteristics that are involved in the creation of videogames: inspirations are significant in their creation, they are constructed from a wide variety of cultural and other influences, and they have evolutionary aspects. These three aspects are interrelated. We also demonstrate that the creation of videogames involves a large variety of types of creative thinking processes. However, rational thinking processes, defined as problem-solving, planning and other processes, are also needed, as well as processes at the group level. This provides us with a new kind of framework for identifying and understanding products, especially ones that are constructed from cultural and many other influences, or that involve the convergence of technologies as well ...

In this paper, the tentative results of an online ethnography on the Global Game Jam 2012 Theme Committee are presented. The role of the committee was to come up with a globally distributed theme and a list of optional design constraints for the participants of Global Game Jam 2012. Within the brainstorming and discussions, several different ideas were proposed. A picture of an Ouroboros and a list of 15 “diversifiers” were eventually selected. The ideation process of the theme was not straightforward: within the discussions, different arguments were presented in support or refutation of the candidate themes. The opinions explicated within the discussion echo different views on game design paradigms.

In this paper, an analysis of game jam descriptions and definitions in academic papers is presented. A total of 20 papers from various publication venues from 2006 to 2014 are analyzed in terms of their conceptualizations of a “game jam”. The background of the papers and their contribution to game jam research are also critically examined. A further explication, “an advanced definition”, is proposed as a basis for future academic discussions and collaborations. The advanced definition sums up game jams as: accelerated, constrained and opportunistic game creation events with public exposure.