Causing Fear and Anxiety Through Sound Design in Video Games
By: Ahmed Amdel-Meguid

This project researched and tested how to cause fear and anxiety through sound design in video games. The project made the distinction between fear and anxiety and explored how the two emotions are linked while explaining how to effectively evoke those emotions using sound design. By selecting and designing sounds using Freud’s Id, Ego, and Superego theory as a baseline for human psyche, this project tested the use of volume, timing, and source in causing fear and anxiety in players. more >

How Level Designers Affect Player Pathing Decisions: Player Manipulation through Level Design
By: Brandi Alotto

Have current games become so realistic that a level designer’s greatest asset is human psychology and knowing why humans do what they do?  As games become more realistic, how players move around in the game world no longer represents how players have traditionally moved around in the virtual world, but rather represents how humans interact with the real world. more >

Can Great Graphics Overcome Mediocre Gameplay?
By: Susan Arnold

This thesis studies the importance of visual design in video games.  Gameplay is often pushed in front of graphics as being the most important part of a game: the definition of a game’s success or failure.  This study looks at first-person-shooter (FPS) players’ opinions on two maps with polar differences in visual and gameplay qualities to find what gamers see as more important.  more >

Balancing Cut Scenes and Gameplay
By: Eric Bakutis

This thesis examines methods for videogames to tell complex stories to players. This thesis examines the two most common storytelling approaches in today’s games, cut scenes and scripted sequences, and details the benefits and drawbacks of each. This thesis tests a large pool of testers to play two versions of the same story, one told through cut scenes, the other told through scripted sequences, and then draws conclusions about the best ways to use both storytelling approaches in today’s games.  more >

The Effects of Adding Stealth Gameplay to the Level Building Process of an Action Game
By: Steve Baroski

As video games increase in popularity and in quantity, there is a somewhat natural progression towards the mixing of various genres. Action games seem to be the most viable platform for this genre-mixing; Role Playing Game-style stat-boosting, puzzle-based or sports-based mini-games, platforming-style jumping puzzles, have all managed to seep into various action games, often in a hope to provide some variance to the gameplay experience. more >

The Hero and the Prize: Mythic Structure and Narrative Incarnation in Quest Design
By: Joshua Black

This thesis approaches the problem of creating entertaining and compelling quest design in digital games.  Researchers and designers have both advised that quests should allow players to incarnate the game's narrative.  This project implements this advice with a quest/level for the computer game Half-Life 2. more>

Effect of Success versus Other Players on the Perception of Fun
By: Charles Butler

Fun can be a very difficult topic to nail down since everyone seems to have a different idea about what fun is and is not.  Fun is very desirable in nearly all commercial games, but defining it and actually getting it into a game can prove difficult.  Developers have included multiplayer features into their games since the beginning of the industry in an attempt to create fun, but to what extent does this actually affect a player’s perception of a game’s fun? more>

Gender-Related Gaming Considerations: A Practical Exploration
By: Jennifer Canada

As games become a more widespread cultural pastime, many developers and publishers are targeting previously underserved demographics in an effort to increase both their sales numbers and their overall saturation in the entertainment marketplace. One such underserved category is females, who have long been marginalized or outright ignored as potential consumers of video games. more>

Techniques to Create Non-Linear Gameplay within Confined Playspaces
By: Steven Chew

Games offer players interactivity: the opportunity to participate in game events and affect the overall experience based on their choices and decisions. This thesis introduces techniques to create non-linear gameplay within confined playspaces by reusing game assets and creative gameplay scripting. more >

Character Interaction Gameplay: An Analysis of Form and Function
By: Brent Ellison

Ever since Joseph Weizenbaum created the artificial therapist, ELIZA, in 1966, designers of interactive entertainment have attempted to incorporate meaningful interactions with virtual characters to aid immersion. However, while a great deal has been written about the process of creating game characters and writing for games, very little literature has addressed the mechanics of character interaction in games. more >

An Evaluation of Realistic Animal Behavior in Video Games
By: David Elkin

Video games are becoming ever more realistic and complex.  Not only are computer controlled opponents reacting more intelligently to player actions, but characters in the background also react to each other to create the appearance of a living virtual world.  Do these details truly make a video game more immersive and fun? more >

Emergent Cooperative Gameplay
By: Elizabeth England

This thesis attempts to reconcile the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma with a game whose primary purpose is entertainment in an effort to reproduce a gradual trend from competitive gameplay to cooperative.  It involves the creation of a 2D game to provide a ground to implement the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma and collecting data from play testers to track their choices.  more >

Choices in Video Game Quest Structure
By: Svea Eppler

This thesis explores alternatives to the common standard of quest structure and progression in modern role play video games. Research implies that many games today rely on a similar and systematic style of quest progression that creates a similarity in player choice and a lack of dynamic gameplay during quest progression.  more >

The Right Way is the Wrong Way: Dead End Theory in Level Design
By: Robert Gee

This project examines the application and use of dead-ends for practical level design.  Additionally it looks at several reward systems associated with dead-end areas and the effectiveness at different level design techniques to lead players into certain areas.  This thesis includes a test level created using the Hammer editor in Half-Life 2: Episode 2.
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Creating Meaningful Choices in Single Player First Person Shooter Levels with Modifiable Spaces
By: Andres Gonzales

This thesis proposes a design technique for introducing meaningful choice in single player FPS maps with the intent of enhancing the level of immersion. This method involves the integration of alternate paths within a single player FPS environment giving players meaningful choices. The intent is to help enhance the experience found in games that tend to rely solely on realism to create immersion. more >

Can Cognitive Puzzle-Centric Game Play Captivate a First Person Shooter Audience?
By: Jonathan Hemingway

This thesis provides research data supporting the idea that cognitive puzzle game play can captivate the first person shooter audience.  It also provides data that helps distinguish what attributes of cognitive puzzles are enjoyed by the FPS audience and which are detrimental to their overall experience.   more >

The Invisible Hand: Using Level Design Elements to Manipulate Player Choice
By: Thomas Hoeg

One of the key tasks of a level designer is to manage “level flow,” the path that the player takes through the level. A good level subtly leads the player and makes the world feel larger than it really is. more >

Techniques of Balancing Two-Flag, Asymmetrical Capture the Flag Levels
By: Travis Hoffstetter

Typical capture the flag maps use a symmetrical layout to provide balance.  This leaves a wealth of opportunity to create asymmetrical maps and expand the genre.  However, a set of techniques for creating balanced asymmetrical maps does not yet exist.  Debates over the viability of asymmetrical CTF maps persist throughout the industry.  more >

Riding without Training Wheels: Communicating Objectives Using Implicit Communication Techniques
By: Robert Howard

Modern video games have increasingly relied on explicit communication techniques to explain objectives to the player. This communication most often takes the form of on-screen text.  more >

Trading Camera for Controller: The Use and Effectiveness of Cinematic Techniques in In-Game Machinima Style Cut-Scenes
By: Ryan Jenkins

With the advent of modern technology, video games have become more story-driven, and often times contain longer and more elaborate cut-scenes than in the past.  Consequently, developers have questioned the need for film techniques in cut-scenes.  Should designers adhere to the strict rules of filming and editing when working on a game? more >

Character Advancement in the First-Person Shooter Genre
By: Hans Larsen

As the video game industry continues to mature, the demand for games with more depth increases. One way in which to meet this demand has been to use mechanics from other genres to add to the depth of the genre in which the developer is creating a game. Another method used is to create a hybrid genre for the game. more >

Smooth, Artistic Transitions between Highly Contrasting Environments
By: Timothy Locke

This thesis project examines two methods used in video games to transition between drastically different outdoor environments.  This project presents two variations of a dense jungle environment that transition into an arid desert canyon environment utilizing the technique of transitional asset placement and terrain textural blending.   more>

Environmental Storytelling as a Primary Narrative Technique
By: Rachel Maille

This thesis explores the effectiveness of using a game’s environment to imply narrative.  Games are an interactive media, and it is the designer’s role to provide those interactions while reducing or eliminating non-interactive elements.  For story-centered games, the designer must carefully balance the need to present goals and critical story elements with the player’s need to stay in constant control.  more >

Effectual Learning of Physics as a Means of Entertainment within Interactive Media
By: Kris McMahan

This project focuses solely on players’ ability to learn core physics concepts effectively within the realm of console and personal computer games (henceforth referred to as “games”) as well as the resulting effects that players experience from this style of learning in relation to more widely accepted learning styles such as audio-visual learning and memorization.  more >

Graphics vs. Gameplay: Multiplayer Games
By: Benjamin McArdle

As graphics improve, they become an even more integral and essential element of today’s games. When developers combine an appealing aesthetic experience with the social experience found in today’s standard multiplayer games (Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch), the past has shown that the outcome is virtually always success. more >

Using Artificial Intelligence to Enable Dynamic Gameplay
By: Richard Porter

This thesis investigated the viability of using artificial intelligence to enable dynamic gameplay. Dynamic gameplay promotes exciting, challenging, non-repetitive player experiences. Artificial intelligence represents a powerful but complex tool for delivering these types of experiences. This project implemented an example of how to use this tool and evaluated its effectiveness.  more >

The Importance of Story in Single Player First Person Shooters
By: Clancy Powell

This project analyzes the impacts of narrative in the first person shooter genre as it applies to single player games.    By analyzing existing literature on videogame narrative as well as single player first person shooter titles over the last 15 years, it is clear that story has become integral into the newer titles and suggest that story gives the player a sense of purpose, a sense of place, and motivation to keep playing.  more >

Techniques and Methods to Design and Balance Asymmetrical Bases in Team Fortress 2 Capture the Flag Levels
By: Christian Schmidt

Classic capture the flag map design relies on symmetry in order to inherently balance both sides of the map. Both bases have identical designs ensuring no side has an advantage. Although asymmetrical designs can be balanced, it is considered more difficult and time consuming that simply relying on symmetrical designs. more >

How Players Learn: Evaluating Interjected and Contextual Education in Interactive Entertainment
By: Tanya Short

This thesis studies the education of players in video games. Facts and data are often presented separately from gameplay in educational games, but might players learn more effectively from a seamless integration? This study looks at adult and child gamers’ opinions on two games with different methods of presenting data to find which encourages better data retention and/or a better play experience.   more >

The Imperative Nature of Communication and Understanding through Geometric Form within Virtual Environments
By: Brandon Souders

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the communication between players and the surrounding environment.  Within virtual environments basic geometric forms provide the basis for this communication.  A solid understanding of the potential of this communication helps to provide spaces that are more easily understood by players. more >

The Second Player's Dilemma
By: Jeff Touchstone

This Thesis explores the subject of how game developers can create meaningful choices for players in a cooperative mode given a single player framework. By creating a Half-Life 2 level with branching paths, multiple purpose spaces, and dilemma puzzles. A dilemma puzzle is problem involving two players that has no obvious solution and often something is lost and gained regardless of the decision. more >

Evoking Fear Through Level Design
By: Matt Wilkinson

Level Designers continually strive to immerse their players in the game they are playing. The best way to immerse a player is to evoke emotions in them through the game, and few emotions are more powerful than fear. By using a variety of “scare” methods to evoke fear in the players, this thesis hopes to improve a level designer’s ability to frighten their players. more >

Evoking Urgency through Level Design
By: Hunter Wright

As a level designer, designing a level to create a specific emotion is a valuable skill, and is applicable to almost any genre of game. This project studied methods to evoke a sense of urgency in the player, and what causes them to move through an area the fastest. This thesis focuses on the effect that game entities have on this sense of urgency. more >