Game Design Patterns Research Articles

Game psychotherapy intervention based on entertainment interactive robots for preventing depression in university students

This study designs an entertainment interactive robot system for gaming psychotherapy intervention and evaluates its effectiveness in preventing depression in students. In terms of the architecture and hardware of the entertainment interactive robot system, the robot adopts high-performance processors and sensors to achieve the ability to quickly respond and accurately perceive user actions. In terms of software, a mathematical model was established based on the structure and kinematic principles of the robot to describe its motion. Preprocess user gesture data by analyzing the features and patterns of user gestures, extracting key action information, and using machine learning algorithms or deep learning models to classify and recognize gestures to determine user intent and action types. Evaluate action recognition and effectiveness, and verify the accuracy and reliability of the gesture interaction module through comparison and testing with actual user gestures. The study designed an entertainment interactive robot assisted game that provides a fun and interactive experience to attract students’ attention and stimulate positive emotions. Through game design and behavioral pattern evaluation, the research team evaluated the preventive effect of entertainment interactive robot assisted games on depression and proposed optimization strategies.

Application of game design pattern: Gradual generation of usable sub-mechanisms from core mechanism

Among the many commendable creations presented by game developers, the design of game mechanics generally shares common components. This observation can also be validated by using some less impressive works as counterexamples; however, there is currently a lack of comprehensive summarization of these systems. Through analysis, this paper extracts the game mechanic design patterns present in these successful games. The paper explores the practical application of a game design pattern that originates from a core game mechanism and progressively generates usable sub-mechanisms. This pattern involves selecting a specific core gameplay element and introducing auxiliary mechanisms to expand its dimensions. Through a systematic exploration of various combinations and interactions, this approach aims to create diverse sub-mechanisms that enrich gameplay and level design. The paper discusses the benefits and challenges of this design pattern and provides illustrative examples.

The Dark Side of Fun: Understanding Dark Patterns and Literacy Needs in Early Childhood Mobile Gaming

Play has always been recognized as an essential aspect of human development, particularly during early childhood, as it contributes to learning, the formation of meanings, and experiencing the world. In today's digitalized society, early childhood education has increasingly integrated digital media into its practices, both in schools and at the family level. Mobile digital games (MDG) have received significant attention due to their impact on children's interactions, play, and learning. However, as young children engage more with MDGs, concerns about problem gaming have arisen, referring to conflicts and issues that emerge from game playing within everyday sociocultural contexts. Scholars such as Zagal et al. (2013) have identified certain game design patterns as "dark", which can be considered unethical as they manipulate players against their best interests. Given the prevalence of mobile gaming in early childhood, studying these dark patterns becomes even more crucial. This study aims to investigate the presence of dark patterns in MDG for young children (0-5 years old), through qualitative analysis. The five most popular free games for this age range on App Store (February 2023) were analysed, particularly focusing on the presence of temporal, monetary, social, and/or psychological dark patterns. The analysis uncovers the presence of temporal, monetary, and psychological dark patterns, including aesthetic manipulations, paywalls, and periodic rewards resembling gambling elements. The games also employ advertising strategies and engagement tactics that challenge young children's navigation. Parental control mechanisms offer limited safeguards, requiring continuous monitoring and parental involvement in play dynamics. The study highlights the importance of adult media and digital literacy in supporting children's online play effectively, while also emphasising the responsibility of game designers and developers to create healthier and less risky game experiences.

Design Patterns for Mobile Games Based on Structural Similarity

Software design patterns have a proven impact on the quality of software applications and the development process of an application. The success of design patterns in the software industry has attracted mobile game developers and researchers to apply patterns in the context of mobile games. Researchers have already proposed different frameworks and design patterns, but they are not truly beneficial for game developers. The high-level taxonomies can be adjuvant while proposing useful design patterns. The existing taxonomies for mobile games do not consider different parts of a game that outline top-level structure. In this paper, we propose a new taxonomy that emphasizes the top-level structure for identifying new design patterns for mobile games. We propose five novel generic design patterns that might be applied to the development of mobile games and other software applications. The presented design patterns are, in a true sense, programming patterns that outline top-level generic classes and interfaces, and that could be the basis for the development of new games. We developed four demo games by using these patterns for the realization of taxonomy and design patterns.

Gamification in a textbook for Brazilian learners of English

Gamification, i.e. the use of game design elements in non-game settings, has attracted an increasing academic interest with numerous research papers having been published on the application and evaluation of gamification in education. The strenuous effort to introduce innovation to textbooks and improve student engagement in the classroom has allowed gamification to gain ground in English language teaching. This article aims to present and discuss the strategies implemented to gamify a textbook for young Brazilian learners of English. In addition, it also intends to contribute to materials writing by describing some game design principles. Pedagogic and design implications stemming from the strategies adopted in the examined textbook include providing a variety of game design elements on varying levels of abstraction (game interface design patters, game design patterns and mechanics, game design principles and heuristics, and game models). Finally, the text shares some reflections on the importance of creating a student-centred learning environment based on meaningful gamification.

Development of sandbox components with microservices architecture and design patterns in games

Nowadays, making games is more complicated than typical applications. Based on the survey, most of the architecture applied by the development industry still does not have a pattern. Therefore the game becomes difficult to develop. This study aims to create a sandbox by applying a microservice and design patterns in the game. The development of this research also involves the gaming industry to increase credibility. The results show that the platform developed has run smoothly and received good feedback from users. Therefore, the output of this research can be useful for developers in making games easy and efficient.

Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice

Existing implementations of game design patterns have largely been confined to theoretical or research settings. Weaknesses in these implementations have prevented game design patterns from being properly evaluated as an educational and practical development tool. This paper examines these weaknesses, describes a method of developing and applying patterns that overcome the weaknesses, and evaluates use of the method for game design education and practice. Weaknesses in existing pattern implementations are: the omission of design problems, presumption of functional completeness at the level of pattern languages, narrow topical focus, and lack of a concise, repeatable method for pattern production. Several features of the proposed method were specifically built to address these weaknesses, namely the pattern template, the process for connecting patterns into a language and assessing the language’s scope, a rubric for assessing pattern confidence and interconnectivity confidence, and pattern-building exercises. This method was applied in a classroom setting. Results as assessed by the evaluation of student work suggest that creating patterns/pattern languages is an effective pedagogical approach. Designs produced using designer-created patterns closely align with existing design theory and are clearly understood by students. The above results may indicate that the path to gaining wider acceptance of pattern theory as a design framework within game design is not to produce a universal pattern language, but to facilitate the creation of case-specific languages by students and professional designers that use a shared ontology, and thus can be combined easily to solve the diverse sets of problems faced by these groups.

Construction of Electronic Educational Game Design Pattern Based on Feature Extraction Technology

With the popularity of computer and Internet, online games and educational games have become very common forms of entertainment in our daily life. Especially for teenagers, all kinds of games have become an indispensable part of their extracurricular activities. The emergence of Educational Games brings entertainment and interest to students’ boring learning, which can realize the change of students from tired of learning to willing to learn. Its purpose is to stimulate learners’ interest in learning and promote learners’ autonomous learning. Whether the design of educational games matches the characteristics of learners is the key factor to determine the success of educational game design. The design of educational games must be based on the characteristics of learners. Based on the feature extraction technology, this paper analyzes the construction method of the design pattern of electronic educational games, strives to balance the educational and game nature of electronic educational games in the design program, and provides a new idea for the construction of teaching resource database.

Towards a Generic Method of Evaluating Game Levels

This paper addresses the problem of evaluating the quality of game levels across different games and even genres, which is of key importance for making procedural content generation and assisted game design tools more generally applicable. Three game design patterns are identified for having high generality while being easily quantifiable: area control, exploration and balance. Formulas for measuring the extent to which a level includes these concepts are proposed, and evaluation functions are derived for levels in two different game genres: multiplayer strategy game maps and single-player roguelike dungeons. To illustrate the impact of these evaluation functions, and the similarity of impact across domains, sets of levels for each function are generated using a constrained genetic algorithm. The proposed measures can easily be extended to other game genres.

Story beats in videogames as value-driven choice-based unit operations

We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.

The MIMIC construction logistics game: facilitating group discussion and understanding of construction logistics through gameplay

In order to facilitate discussion on construction logistic solutions in both homogenous and heterogeneous groups, the MIMIC CLS game has been developed, that allows players to negotiate transport routes and common logistics solutions surrounding an abstract construction area. Through game mechanics specially chosen to create appropriate friction between the players, discussion on the topics of the game is stimulated. The design process included significant amounts of testing and provided two key insights: the manner in which specific game design patterns influenced the game’s purpose, and the difficulties involved in creating, playing and presenting games for a target group with little or no experience of games. It was also evident that a designated game facilitator made it possible to further reinforce the impact of the game, and likely necessary to be able to use it in an appropriate timeframe. Future venues of work include the integration of the game and subsequent discussions into an overall workshop format.

Zetcil: Game Mechanic Framework for Unity Game Engine

Games are interactive multimedia products that require programming logic and graphic design capabilities in the development process. Game development using Unity Game Engine has become a primary subject in the Multimedia Engineering Technology study program, School of Applied Sciences, Telkom University. In the initial observation, it was found that more than 33% of students have difficulties in making a game using the C# language for Unity. The students understand the Game Design Pattern logic but having difficulty when applying it into programming codes. This research proposes Zetcil, a Game Mechanic Framework that simplifies the game development process for the Unity Game Engine. This framework turned most of the text-based programming commands into visual properties. Based on research for two years, it concluded that the Zetcil could increase 36% of student's confidence to develop games prototype rapidly.

The effect of challenge-based gamification on learning: An experiment in the context of statistics education.

Gamification is increasingly employed in learning environments as a way to increase student motivation and consequent learning outcomes. However, while the research on the effectiveness of gamification in the context of education has been growing, there are blind spots regarding which types of gamification may be suitable for different educational contexts. This study investigates the effects of the challenge-based gamification on learning in the area of statistics education. We developed a gamification approach, called Horses for Courses, which is composed of main game design patterns related to the challenge-based gamification; points, levels, challenges and a leaderboard. Having conducted a 2 (read: yes vs. no) x 2 (gamification: yes vs. no) between-subject experiment, we present a quantitative analysis of the performance of 365 students from two different academic majors: Electrical and Computer Engineering (n=279), and Business Administration (n=86). The results of our experiments show that the challenge-based gamification had a positive impact on student learning compared to traditional teaching methods (compared to having no treatment and treatment involving reading exercises). The effect was larger for females or for students at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Existential dramaturgy and video games: a formalistic approach to Telltale's ‘The Walking Dead’ as Existentialist gameplay

ABSTRACT Existentialism has recently appeared as an analytical tool for a deeper or different understanding of video games as cultural artifacts. The existing discourse points towards the requirement of a systematic approach to this matter, which in the present research is in the form of a gameplay-dramaturgy case study. Telltale's video game The Walking Dead, Season 1, presented itself as a potential game that appeared to include many Existentialist aspects. Therefore, it became the focus of this research. This is because the game's story unfolds based on (conditional) freedom of choice in a difficult situation with challenging and ultimately insoluble moral dilemmas. Hence, the objective of this case study was a bottom-up, formalistic approach to analyze the connection between the game and Existentialism. It concentrates on the critical dramatic elements of the narrative and the game mechanics, with an emphasis on their game design pattern. The results of the analysis exposed The Walking Dead as a characteristic example of what could be considered an Existential ergodic drama or an Existential, ethical gameplay. This is because of the game's affinity with most of the major Existential concepts both in its narrative and ludic nature.

Teaching Software Engineering Topics Through Pedagogical Game Design Patterns: An Empirical Study

Teaching software engineering in its many different forms using traditional teaching methods is difficult. Serious games can help overcome these challenges because they allow real situations to be simulated. However, the development of serious games is not easy and, although there are good practices for relating game design patterns to teaching techniques, there is no methodology to support its use in a specific context such as software engineering. This article presents a case study to validate a methodology that links the Learning and Teaching Functions (LTF) to the Game Design Patterns (PIB) in the context of Software Engineering Education. A serious game was developed from scratch using this methodology to teach software estimation (a specific topic of software engineering). An experiment was carried out to validate the effectiveness of the game by comparing the results of two different groups of students. The results indicate that the methodology can help to develop effective educational games on specific learning topics.

Patterns in Mainstream Programming Games


 
 
 Studies have found serious games to be good tools for programming education. As an outcome from such research, several game solutions for learning computer programming have appeared. Most of these games are only used in the research field where only a few are published and made available for the public. There are however numerous examples of programming games in commercial stores that have reached a large audience.This article presents a systematic review of publicly available and popular programming games. It analyses which fundamental software development concepts, as defined by the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curricula, are represented in these games and identifies game design patterns used to represent these concepts.This study shows that fundamental programming concepts and programming methods have a good representation in mainstream games. There is however a lack of games addressing data structures, algorithms and design. There is a strong domination of puzzle games. Only two of the 20 studied games belong to a different genre. The eleven game design patterns identified in this study have potential to contribute to future efforts in creating engaging serious games for programming education.
 
 

Analysis and Use of the Emotional Context with Wearable Devices for Games and Intelligent Assistants.

In this paper, we consider the use of wearable sensors for providing affect-based adaptation in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. We begin with discussion of selected issues regarding the applications of affective computing techniques. We describe our experiments for affect change detection with a range of wearable devices, such as wristbands and the BITalino platform, and discuss an original software solution, which we developed for this purpose. Furthermore, as a test-bed application for our work, we selected computer games. We discuss the state-of-the-art in affect-based adaptation in games, described in terms of the so-called affective loop. We present our original proposal of a conceptual design framework for games, called the affective game design patterns. As a proof-of-concept realization of this approach, we discuss some original game prototypes, which we have developed, involving emotion-based control and adaptation. Finally, we comment on a software framework, that we have previously developed, for context-aware systems which uses human emotional contexts. This framework provides means for implementing adaptive systems using mobile devices with wearable sensors.

Pegasus: A Simulation Tool to Support Design of Progression Games

The process of designing a game involves many phases. We can summarize the work of the game designer as satisfactorily converting the idea in their mind to a digital game, which is not a simple task. Therefore, game designers should have a variety of tools to assist them. However, there are not that many specialized tools to support the game design process. Herein, we describe the experience of using Pegasus to design a part of a game. We propose an environment to simulate progression games based on game design patterns. Thus, we described the interaction of the game designer with Pegasus in such an environment, in order to support the process of creating, testing, and refining game elements before proceeding to the programming phase. Each configuration of the game elements corresponded to a simulation that could be performed multiple times, like in discrete event simulation. The results showed that Pegasus has the potential to support game design. Additionally, we presented some support components that were created to facilitate the use of the tool.

Affective patterns in serious games

We discuss affective serious games that combine learning, gaming and emotions. We describe a novel framework for the creation and evaluation of serious affective games. Our approach is based on merging pertinent design patterns in order to recognize educational claims, educational assessment, best game design practices, as well as models and solutions of affective computing. Björk’s and Holopainen’s game design patterns have been enhanced by Evidence Centered Design components and affective components. A serious game has been designed and created to demonstrate how to outline a complex game system in a communicative way, and show methods to trace how theoretically-driven design decisions influence learning outcomes and impacts. We emphasize the importance of patterns in game design. Design patterns are an advantageous and convenient way of outlining complex game systems. Design patterns also provide favorable language of communication between multidisciplinary teams working on serious games.

Abusive Game Design Pattern as a Game Art Form

Abusive Game Design Pattern as a Game Art Form