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  As games become more realistic, how players move around in the game world no longer represents how players have traditionally moved around in the virtual world, but rather represents how humans interact with the real world.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>

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >