This book provides readers with a solid understanding of game development, design, narrative, charaterization, plot, back story and world creation elements that are crucial for game writers and designers as they create a detailed world setting, adventure, characters, narrative and plot suitable for possible publication. Game design and development issues such as writing for games, emergent complexity, risk reward systems, competitive and cooperative game play will be investigated, analyzed and critiqued. Examples will be used to highlight and explain the various concepts involved and how the game development process works. Key Features Provides the critical skills any good game designer should have, such as narrative, characterization, progression, challenges, world building, plot, and rewards Using a hands-on, learn-by-doing approach, this book teaches prospective game designers how to excel in creating their own worlds and adventures without having to learn any programming or technical computer skills Includes clear and concise chapter objectives, chapter overviews, examples, case studies, key terms and multiple in-depth analyses Multiple case studies are provided and thoroughly analyzed so that readers will be familiar with the concepts and methodologies involved in each task Over the course of the book, readers will develop a professional level asset for inclusion in a portfolio of work suitable for submitting to job applications

Design research is grounded on the iterative Triangulation Methodology (ITM), where theoretical, development and empirical research approaches are triangulated to accomplish the design research objectives. Constructing and associating research gaps, questions, objectives, methods and outcomes are imperative in a research. However, not linking all these and choosing the wrong and poorly designed methods are common especially among inexperienced researchers and students. Therefore, researchers should practice strategies in identifying the right methods to collect data or perform experiment that can meet the predefined objectives and determined research problems. This book is aimed at providing some of the likely strategies. It contains personalized strategies and examples that are useful for starting a design research in any field particularly in software and application development. The examples described are real studies that we conducted together with our research team members.

Digital gaming is today a significant economic phenomenon as well as being an intrinsic part of a convergent media culture in postmodern societies. Its ubiquity, as well as the sheer volume of hours young people spend gaming, should make it ripe for urgent academic enquiry, yet the subject was a research backwater until the turn of the millennium. Even today, as tens of millions of young people spend their waking hours manipulating avatars and gaming characters on computer screens, the subject is still treated with scepticism in some academic circles. This handbook aims to reflect the relevance and value of studying digital games, now the subject of a growing number of studies, surveys, conferences and publications. As an overview of the current state of research into digital gaming, the 42 papers included in this handbook focus on the social and cultural relevance of gaming. In doing so, they provide an alternative perspective to one-dimensional studies of gaming, whose agendas do not include cultural factors. The contributions, which range from theoretical approaches to empirical studies, cover various topics including analyses of games themselves, the player-game interaction, and the social context of gaming. In addition, the educational aspects of games and gaming are treated in a discrete section. With material on non-commercial gaming trends such as ‘modding’, and a multinational group of authors from eleven nations, the handbook is a vital publication demonstrating that new media cultures are far more complex and diverse than commonly assumed in a debate dominated by concerns over violent content.

Occupational segregation is an important issue and can be detrimental to women. There is a strong need for more women in science, engineering, and information technology, which are traditionally male dominated fields. Female representation in the computer gaming industry is a potential way to increase the presence of women in other computer-related fields. Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming Industry provides a collection of high-quality empirical studies and personal experiences of women working in male-dominated fields with a particular focus on the media and gaming industries. Providing insight on best methods for attracting and retaining women in these fields, this volume is a valuable reference for executives and members of professional bodies who wish to encourage women in their career progression.

This book examines the historical background of game development, offline and online gamer interactions, and presents a method to study the health impacts of digital games in East Asia. Focusing on examinations of how video games shape external interactions with the world as well as internal spaces, Lee and Pulos' volume brings together a range of approaches and regions to understand the impact of video games in East Asia and beyond. Contributions range from assessments of Nintendo's lasting technological impact in Japan and globally to analyses of mobile social gaming among teenage girls in Korea, with qualitative and quantitative methodologies set in contact with one another to offer a full spectrum of perspectives on video gaming and its profound cultural impact.

A much needed textbook taking students through both the theory and practice of both studying and working in the creative industries.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Serious Games Development and Applications, SGDA 2013, held in Trondheim, Norway, in September 2013. The 32 papers (23 full papers, 9 short papers/posters and 2 invited keynotes) presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on games for health, games for education and training, games for other purposes, game design and theories, gaming interface, policy matters.

This is the first book that sheds light on global game industries and cultural policy. The scope covers the emerging and converging theory and models on cultural industries and its development, and their connection to national cultural policy and globalization. The primary focus of the book is on Asian cultural policy and industries while there are implicit comparisons throughout the book to compare Asia to other global markets. This book is aimed at advanced undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members in programs addressing cultural policy and digital games. It will also be of interest to those within the cultural policy community and to digital games professionals.

This book examines how creativity feeds through into typical application areas, and the lessons that can be learned from this. A number of Case Studies in creative and general application domains are included which illustrate how the academy and industry can collaborate to mutual benefit and advantage. It also examines the pros and cons of the collaboration, and what lessons can be learned from successes or failures in aspects of the implementation and delivery. The academy has played a key role in the past in the research and development of key ideas and patents that have been migrated into successful industrial products and services and continues to do so. A variety of models of interaction between the academy and industry have been developed depending on the circumstances of the institution, its mission, its values, its expertise, and its relationship to the local and cultural environment in which it is situated. These models are reviewed and evaluated. The process of initial idea through to design and successful implementation is a pipeline. If this process requires the involvement of technology (as is more often the case – as creative applications are increasingly dependent on technology) then there is need to understand how this can efficiently and optimally be done. A number of factors tend to be generic and permeate many application areas (such as bandwidth requirements, use of colour, interaction methods) whilst others are more customized with specialist hardware and software (e.g. shared virtual environments, augmented reality).

Cultural and creative sectors and industries are a significant source of jobs and income. They are a driver of innovation and creative skills, within cultural sectors and beyond. The report outlines international trends with new data, including at subnational scale.