THESIS

A MASQUERADE OF PLAYERS
SHAPING LUDIC VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR DIVERSE INTERACTION PATTERNS

Our project will investigate the relation between space and agency in terms of player interaction and game mechanics. The main focus of this work wil be allowing the player to express his/her own way of engaging with the virtual environment using the given game mechanics. Although each game places distinct limits on the way games can be played, it is an increasingly important paradigm in design that games should be able to be played in many different ways. Furthermore we will investigate how the structure of a virtual ludic environment influences the movement of the player, thus allowing us to learn tools to guide players through the level.

To achieve this goal we will start by investigating the game modes that the game Gears of War offers basing our analysis on Norman’s theories on affordances. This will lead us to select three patterns of interaction to implement in three different levels. The goal for each game space is to complement the play mode for which is designed. First we will analyze the structure of each of these levels by designing a virtual environment with neutral representation and based on pure structure of space. Then we will incorporate representation in form of textures and props that will be placed based on environmental storytelling theories. To evaluate our design we will incorporate several playtesting sessions where we will observe the player in a controlled environment. This will be combined with an interview following Kvale´s semi-structured interview method.

The goal is to combine the playtesting with the RITE method in order to better integrate the desired play-pattern into the level. Our final step will be to integrate the three variations of levels in order to investigate how the design of our virtual ludic environment complements choices of navigation and choices of interaction. Players should be able to switch environments/play-style until the complementary play-style/environment fits the one desired by the player. A secondary goal will be to study how to design balanced coexisting modes of interaction that do not punish the player for choosing a specific mode of interaction leading to different but equally optimal strategies to progress in the game.