Mobile Game Development Research Articles

Android Educational Game for Criminology Students

The researcher developed an app for Criminology students; the focus of this project is to provide them with a mobile educational game that could help them boost their mental awareness on topics and knowledge in the field of criminology. Target users are criminology students. Moreover, the user of this game will be addressed by the proponent to develop this system. Thus, it develops an android game application dedicated to criminology students. Promote criminology students’ knowledge and awareness in a more intuitive and enjoyable way and create and establish a 100% functional android-based application. The programming language used was JAVA, which is specialized in mobile game development. The integrated development environment (IDE) used was Eclipse JUNO, a standalone programming environment that is suitable for the coding structure and interface design of the developed system. A graphic editing tool was also utilized to further enhance the objects used in the game. The finished app was tested using the android tablet model Cloud pad 701 TV having Android 4.2.2 version firmware. The Codified Project Management Framework was then used in the development of the project. Based on the result of the Interface of the system obtained, the Android App concept for criminology students is effective and excellent. It was further recommended that the developed app still be reviewed thoroughly in terms of its data content validity. It was also recommended that the system will be developed further for more additional features.

¿Cómo los cambios en la orientación empresarial pueden explicar los pivotes durante el proceso de internacionalización de las Born global digitales?

Most theories of strategic change focus on established firms. Little research examines how early-stage entrepreneurs decide to change their strategies and pivot in an international context (Kirtley & O’Mahony, 2019). To better understand how Born Globals (BG) pivot during their rapid internationalization, we study digital technology-based mobile game development BGs. We found that pivots are mostly driven by changes in individual Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) components. Using effectuation/causation theory, this study contributes to the understanding of both pivots in born globals and the role of changes in individual EO components over time.

Mobile Game for Equality of Fractions for Elementary School Students

The low learning outcomes in the equality of fractions material are due to the unavailability of mobile technology game media that can train and explore the pattern of equality of fractions appropriately. This study aims to produce a valid, practical, and effective mobile game for equality of fractions (MoGEF) to improve learning outcomes on equality of fractions material. This study uses research and development methods through analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The subjects of this study were 29 students in the fourth grade of elementary school. Validity was measured by assessing two experts (mathematical education expert and information technology education expert). Practicality was measured through the results of the student response questionnaire, while effectiveness was measured through the posttest of student learning outcomes after using MoGEF. Data were collected using questionnaires and tests. The validity results obtained an average of 86.06% in the interval of 85.00% 100.00% with completely valid criteria. Practicality obtained an average of 4.659, which is in the interval of 2.50 3.25 with very practical criteria. Effectivenes shows the criteria of 79.83% berada pada interval 70.00% 85.00% dengan kriteria efektif. The effectiveness of the mobile game obtained a significance value of 2.127 > 2.048, which means it can improve the learning outcomes of elementary school students in the equality of fractions material. Therefore, the development of mobile games for equality of fraction is concluded to be very valid, very practical, and effective.

Development and Implementation of Java Game Engine Based on Network Information Technology

With the development of computer technology and network technology, various digital learning methods have seriously impacted the traditional education and teaching mode, among which gameplay learning represented by teaching games has attracted wide attention of educators. It is considered to be the most effective way to stimulate learners’ learning motivation. Mobile game is an important part of mobile phone value-added service. The research of mobile game engine has extremely important application value for the development of mobile phone game. This paper mainly studies how to realize a high-performance mobile game engine. Through the analysis of mobile phone operating system, mobile game market, mobile phone game user needs, the technology selection and main function modules of the engine are determined. Through the research of java technology, the technical architecture of engine server and client is determined. Performance and algorithm optimization are the focus of this paper, because performance issues are the biggest bottleneck in developing games on java phones.

A/B-Test of Retention and Monetization Using the Cox Model

A/B testing is a popular tool for guiding mobile game development. The developer releases different versions of a game to different test cohorts, and observes which version has the best player retention or monetization. Correctly determining whether the differences are statistically significant is however challenging. Typically the analysis needs to be done on small and heterogeneous player cohorts, with differing follow-up times and unknown player churn. In this paper, we show for the first time how these issues can be properly addressed using the Cox model for recurrent events. The method enables a multivariate A/B-test, that allows determining which game version has the highest player retention or purchase rate, with confidence intervals provided. We demonstrate the benefits of the approach in multiple game development problems, on real-world free-to-play mobile game data.

A model-driven framework for developing android-based classic multiplayer 2D board games

Mobile applications and game development are attractive fields in software engineering. Despite the advancement of programming languages and integrated development environments, there have always been many challenges for software and mobile game developers. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is a software engineering methodology that applies software modeling languages for modeling the problem domain. In this paradigm, the code is to be automatically generated from the models by applying different model transformations. Besides, manipulating models instead of code facilitates the discovery and resolution of errors due to the high level of abstraction. This study presents an approach and framework, called MAndroid, that generates Android-based classic multiplayer 2D board games in a fully automated fashion, relying on the concepts of MDE. Structural and behavioral dimensions of the game are first modeled in MAndroid. Models are then automatically transformed to code that can be run on any mobile phone and tablet running Android 4.4 or higher. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, three board games are fully implemented. Additionally, applicability, developer performance, simplicity and attractiveness of MAndroid are evaluated through a set of questionnaires. MAndroid is also evaluated technically by comparing it to other Android game-development frameworks. Results demonstrate the benefits of using MAndroid.

Research and Design of Shooting Games Based on Unity

This paper is based on design and implementation of the Unity3D shooting game. From the point of view of design, it is analyzed for the shooting game design ideas,the key of the game experience design, game design, as well as the details of the design details and interactive details .It is focus on the design and implementation process of unity3d development of mobile phone game and developed a mobile game.the game has a good entertainment and interactivity.

Mobile Game Development for Children with Down Syndrome

Children with diagnosis of down syndrome has different kinds of personalities, mental states, and talents similar to other children. The key point is that every child needs proper support at the right time. There are options like special education programs, physical and other therapies, and play groups. However, there are not any electronic games to support the education and improvement of these children. The goal of this study is to develop a mobile game for children with down syndrome, in order to help them learn everyday knowledge by using a mobile device such as a smart phone or a tablet. In most cases pedagogues use puzzle or paper based card games to teach these children the necessary knowledge they need to maintain their lives. This study aims to optimize the learning process of children with down syndrome by providing educators electronic games they can use to teach them in a mobile application which will enrich the teaching process in addition to update their teaching methods to Industry 4.0 standards.

UI design development for informative mobile game about light pollution

Light pollution has been an environmental concern in Jakarta and surrounding cities. Despite the negative consequences, Jakarta residents have low to non-existent awareness about light pollution. To raise awareness, the development of an informative mobile game with the title MA’LAM is proposed. As one means to develop an ideal gaming experience, User Interface (UI) needs to be developed with usability and aesthetic approach. To implement UI design successfully, a suitable user-centric design method is required. Therefore, Design Thinking was used to develop MA’LAM’s UI design as part of User Experience (UX) development process. With a usable and aesthetically pleasing UI, message and information about light pollution could be conveyed through a positive gameplay interaction.

Educational mobile game for learning English words

English is a second language in Malaysia and English language skills are vital for Malaysians. Mobile technologies such as mobile phone can be a great tool for educational purposes since it can increase students’ engagement and is a popular tool for interactive digital media. This paper discusses the development of an educational mobile game called EWORD for learning English words, for primary school kids. There were four phases involved; preliminary analysis, game design, game development and game evaluation. In the first phase, the fundamental knowledge of English words and vocabulary, English language learning methods in Malaysia, traditional learning methods, and educational mobile game were studied to acquire adequate information about the requirements for educational mobile game. User Interface (UI), gameplay, and game mechanics were designed in the second phase, while the mobile game prototype was developed in the third phase. In the fourth phase, the evaluation was conducted to evaluate the usability of the educational mobile game prototype. Based on the results, the educational mobile game helps in boosting the learnability of English words among students and is capable to increase student engagement.

Interactive mobile games development for children to learn about money

Money notes and coins are used for transactions and are essential in daily human life. Children need to be exposed to enough knowledge about the purposes of money notes, and the most important is to identify the money correctly. Children begin to expose to identifying the money at school in standard one. However, depending on formal education is not enough because the children easily get bored, and they did not fully engage with formal education. The use of mobile games for learning purposes is becoming increasingly popular because they are interactive and able to attract students. Therefore, this research aims to develop mobile games to identify and learn about money. Three main phases have been carried out, and the first phase is preliminary research on the learning approach for children and data collection in money Malaysia Ringgit. The second phase is to design and develop mobile games. Three mini-games have been proposed, and the first game is to identify the money notes and coins. The second game is to learn about counting the money and coins, and the third game is to learn to use the money for purchasing purposes. After these three mini-games have been developed in the second phase, the third phase is the evaluation phase. The usability result shows the users agree the mobile games help them to identify money, calculate the value of money, and to perform basic purchasing activities. Based on the user acceptance results show that the mobile game works more effectively with adult or parental guidance. Overall, this research has successfully produced a mobile game that can help the children to learn to identify, count, and use money.

PANDANGAN MAHASISWA PENDIDIKAN MATEMATIKA: APAKAH SISWA AKAN MUDAH BELAJAR DENGAN PERMAINAN EDUKASI?

The development of mobile games at this time can be utilized in the field of mathematics education. One of them by using educational games in mathematics learning. Teachers as instructors need to innovate in using learning media. The purpose of this study was to determine the views of students of mathematics education about the ease of students when learning to use math education games. This research is a quantitative descriptive study and the instrument used is a questionnaire about mathematics educational games. The study was conducted in the city of Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara with research subjects who are mathematics education students. There are 48 students; 11 males and 37 females. The results of the study showed that 45 students students agreed that mathematics education games made it easy for students to learn mathematics. As for some of the reasons raised, among others, educational games can increase students' understanding, interest, and enthusiasm for learning in mathematics.

Factors Influencing the Knowledge Adoption of Mobile Game Developers in Online Communities : Focusing on the HSM and Data Quality Framework

Recently, with the advance of the wireless Internet access via mobile devices, a myriad of game development companies have forayed into the mobile game market, leading to intense competition. To survive in this fierce competition, mobile game developers often try to get a grasp of the rapidly changing needs of their customers by operating their own official communities where game users freely leave their requests, suggestions, and ideas relevant to focal games. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) and the data quality (DQ) framework, this study derives key content, non-content, and hybrid cues that can be utilized when game developers accept suggested postings in these online communities. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that relevancy, timeliness, amount of writing, and the number of comments are positively associated with mobile game developers’ knowledge adoption. In addition, title attractiveness mitigates the relationship between amount of writing/the number of comments and knowledge adoption.

Challenges of Developing a Mobile Game for Children with Down Syndrome to Test Gestural Interface

After a literature review published by Nascimento et. al. (2017), the research team noticed the lack of studies focused on game controllers’ accessibility during use by children with Down syndrome. In view of that, this research describes a mobile game development and its usability analyses, which were created to evaluate the accessibility of touchscreen gestural interfaces. The methodology was organized into three steps: bibliographic research and the definition of the project guidelines, the game development, and its evaluation. The guidelines used were based on a study made by Nascimento et. al. (2019) of the impairments that children can have, their game preferences found on Prena’s article (2014), games accessibility guidelines for people with intellectual deficiency from the Includification Book (2012), a manual of touchscreen gestural interfaces from Android and iOS and a game development framework from Schuytema (2008). Then, for the usability analyses, the team decided to first submit the game to a group of experts in order to make some improvements before submitting it to the audience. In this way, two evaluations were done, a heuristic test with usability specialists and a cognitive walkthrough with health professionals. The list of heuristics used on the tests was created by a mash up of the Breyer evaluation (2008) and the recommendations of the Able Games Association (2012) and the cognitive one followed the Preece, Sharp and Rogers (2007) recommendations. The results found reveal some challenges in the field and adjustments, mainly in the narrative, game goals and interface feedback, that should be addressed as soon as possible.

Engaging African American Youth in the Development of a Serious Mobile Game for Sexual Health Education: Mixed Methods Study.

BackgroundAlthough teen pregnancy rates decreased dramatically in the United States over the past decade, the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents and young adults increased. STI rates disproportionately affect African American youth and young adults. Innovative, accessible, and culturally relevant sexual health interventions are urgently needed.ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify the optimal modality for a game-based sexual health intervention; develop the educational, entertainment, and technological aspects of the serious game; and demonstrate its usability and acceptance by the target population.MethodsThis project was grounded in formative data collection with community-based participatory research principles and practices combined with a user-centered design and development approach. Sexually Active Adolescent–Focused Education (SAAFE) was developed using input and feedback from African American youths aged 15 to 21 years who participated in a youth advisory board and focus group discussions to inform the co-design and cocreation of the serious game. The process was highly iterative with multiple sessions for user input following design changes. It proceeded in 3 stages. Social cognitive theory and problem-solving theory were leveraged to provide evidence-based, trauma-informed education through a serious game. Usability testing assessed the quality of user experience with the prototype.ResultsAcross all 3 stages, a total of 86 self-identified African American males and females aged 15 to 21 years from the District of Columbia and Birmingham, Alabama, participated. Participants requested a dating simulation game. They wanted SAAFE to be customizable, realistic, entertaining, educational, modern, and experiential, linking consequences to their gameplay decisions. Usability testing resulted in an initial System Usability Survey score of 77.7, placing the game in the 82nd percentile and above average for usability.ConclusionsInitial results suggest that the SAAFE prototype is a promising intervention to engage African American youth in sexual health education using a role-playing game. If proven efficacious, the game has the potential to meet the need for sex education, counterbalance unhealthy portrayals of sex in popular media, and respond to the disparities in the STI epidemic.

Visualising a “good game”: analytics as a calculative engine in a digital environment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to concern the use of analytics as a calculative engine enabling coordination and control for the development process in a creative digital business environment. Design/methodology/approach This research employs an explorative field study approach, using interview data from professionals working with free-to-play mobile game development. Drawing on the concepts of cycles of accumulation, accounting as an engine and mediating instruments, this study examines how organisational actors using the analytics in a digital business environment participate in the data generation that accumulates knowledge about and new insights into the desired outcome. Findings The real-time metrics provided the means for organisational actors to continually monitor, visualise and if necessary intervene in the creative “good game” development process. Timely quantification and visualisation of user actions, collected as digital traces, enhanced the cycle of information accumulation. This new knowledge resulted in a desire for improvement and perfection, which directed the actions towards the organisational objectives. Originality/value This study furthers our understanding of the performativity of accounting as an engine and the user behavioural data trace as its “fuel” in a digital product development. It highlights the role of analytics as a “fact-generating” device, capable of transforming the raw user behavioural data, the fuel, into powerful explanations through visualisations of ideals. The real-time metrics, understood as mediating instruments, enable the generation of new insights and accumulation of knowledge guiding the further development towards the desired outcome, the “good game”.

The Development Process of Awang Sains 2D Digital Mobile Game

This article presents the process of the development of a 2D digital mobile game; Awang Sains. The game has been developed based on features that have been identified, and will be tested for its heuristics – usability, mobility, playability, learning content, local content, language and aesthetics. Fifteen experts were selected to play and then test and evaluate the game. The objective of this game is to use it in teaching and learning Science year 4. The study used design and develop research (DDR) embedded with the ADDIE model (analysis, design, develop, implement, and evaluate), based on pedagogy and the instructional need to make the software meaningful with the ability to help pupils master Science subjects.

By two: A two-dimensional mobile game model for novice developers

The objective of this research was to discuss the processes and challenges encountered in the creation of mobile games for both Android and iOS platforms, which would help the novice game developers to enter the big world of mobile game industry. We highlighted each phase of the mobile game development. These involved suggestions on efficient brainstorming of ideas, proper selection of game engine, game design, number and type of pages, creation of levels, and distribution of complexity across the game level. In addition, other factors were considered such as the creation of User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) as well as definition of the screen object’s sizes and positions that would be suitable in all mobile devices. The importance of agile cycles of alpha and beta testing was also discussed, particularly its influence on the enhancement of game features. However, a successful game is recognized based on its earnings. Hence, a guide on how to properly market the game was also included. A model game called “By Two” was used in this study to illustrate and explain the steps in detail.

Continuance use intention with mobile augmented reality games

Purpose As mobile augmented reality (AR) games enter the maturity stage, understanding how to improve players’ continuance use intention with mobile AR games is critical. Drawing upon the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of four major gratifications – content, process, social and technology – and other factors on continuance intention to play mobile AR games. Design/methodology/approach Data collected from 280 Pokémon Go players were used to address research questions. Partial least squares method was employed to assess the relationships in the model and multigroup analysis was conducted based on survey participants’ demographics and their gaming experience. Findings Content gratification (i.e. catching Pokémon), process gratification (i.e. entertainment), game knowledge and achievement drive players’ continuance use intention. However, social and technology gratifications do not influence players’ continuance use intention. Multigroup analysis suggests that mobile AR game developers should capitalize on the fact that different types of gratifications prompt continuance use intention of different user segments in terms of demographics and experience in general mobile games and Pokémon Go. Originality/value The user behavior of mobile AR games has been studied at the early stage of the games, with less attention to variable continuance use intentions across different user segments. This paper attempts to fill the gap by extending the U&G theory to continuance use intention of mobile AR games at the maturity stage and further investigating the importance of player heterogeneity in continuance use intention with mobile AR games. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on U&G, continuance use intention and mobile AR games.

スマートフォンゲーム開発における信頼度成長曲線を用いたソフトウェア信頼性評価

スマートフォンゲーム開発における信頼度成長曲線を用いたソフトウェア信頼性評価