Video Games are a media platform that cannot be ignored - yet when we ask what methods can we use to make a successful video game, the answers are blurry. Players seem to care about the emergent properties of games that science traditionally struggles with: fun, balance, feel, and so on. These terms tend to be stigmatized in a research community - yet they also seem to be some of the strongest indicators of a game’s success. This thesis presents two papers that offer a framework to understand how we might start getting good design recommendations for emergent properties through a deep analysis of the conscious experience of players. In the first, we present an automated game design system (AGD) that aims to generate “balanced” games. In the second, we provide a theoretical discussion on why we might need to take unconventional routes of analysis to produce impactful games. Together, these papers present a picture not only of how to think about design strategies of emergent properties in games, but also a case-study of developing such a system and deploying it amongst users.

Today digital art is important as both a hobby and a career, taking many forms from images to animations to 3D models. Creating unique digital art requires feature-rich art software, which can take dozens of hours to learn even the basics of, deterring many aspiring artists. This thesis begins by exploring art software difficulty by examining peoples’ learning struggles with feature-rich 3D modeling software through a survey, identifying themes of struggle and comparing them to education and software design theories. Turning its attention from people to software, this thesis then analyzes existing art software and video game tutorials to create a taxonomy of features that art software and games usually have - comparing features of often successful modern video game tutorials with features of often failing art software tutorials. Finally the best tutorial strategies for feature-rich art software are identified by analyzing how previously seen strategies alleviate the learning struggles of artists.

People have many reasons to want to learn a foreign language: some want to enjoy foreign media in its original form, some need it for business or travel, personal enrichment, and so on. Roughly 1/6 of Earth's population's learn languages with logographic writing systems (LWS) such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean as their native tongues. These peoples harbor an enormous cultural, economic and academic wealth. As a result, these languages are a popular choice for a variety of learners ranging from serious businessmen to K-pop and anime fans. Whatever the motivation, learning additional languages carries a slew of cognitive benefits and should be encouraged.

Maintaining the motivation and persistence needed to learn a language is a difficult task, and the problem is amplified for learners with alphabetic roots tackling an LWS language. One needs to memorize around 2000 characters to be considered literate. This is routinely done through rote memorization, and the prospect discourages many would-be learners. When it comes to LWS as a foreign language, there is a divide between conversational fluency and literacy unlike that in any alphabetic language. My research aims to help bridge this gap through development and evaluation of LWS learning games. In this, I make a point to rely on insights from LWS teaching researchers, best practices of educational game design, and advice from the videogame industry experts.

My approach brings innovation in two areas:

I contribute to LWS instruction by introducing two LWS-learning game designs that focus on production tasks, while the vast majority of games out today target recall only.

I contribute to educational game design field by exploring the use of music as a mnemonic for learning, and conceptualizing the potential future use of notorious commercial game engagement and retention mechanics in an educational context.

Games are a unique interactive system in that failure is expected, and oftentimes, welcomed by its community. When playing a game, people enter a state where they must be open to accepting a role, a different world’s rules, and the challenges that come with overcoming failures while working towards set goals. With the continued relevance of games that offer brutal punishments for player failure, such as roguelike games with permadeath mechanics, it was critical to examine the underexplored space of the design of failure and how it impacts the player experience. I then selected the genre of platformers for its high density of player death to observe 62 games to develop the Fail and Retry Taxonomy using grounded theory methodology. This was broken down into five major cyclical components, starting with Obstacles, FailureConditions, Aesthetics, Player Progress Changes, and Reset Locations. To validate its use, I developed a simple platformer to conduct a study with four Respawn Location modifications: Permadeath/Reset to Start of Game, Reset to Start of Level, Reset to Checkpoint, and Reset to Savepoint. After quantitative analysis, I provided several failure design implications towards specific emphases on respective player experience constructs and tailoring towards goal- and challenge-oriented players. I then conclude with potential applications and future research directions.

During this information age, video games have been utilized as a medium to teach individuals about digital literacy. Games that teach digital literacy in this thesis are defined as games that delve into the topics of computer programming, digital citizenship, big data and cyber-security, ethical consequences of tech, and learning specialized skills in this digital age. While there has been many organizational analysis on how games teach other important social topics, there has been little analysis on organizing the teaching methods of the different types of digital literacy games available today. I analyzed and organized 28 video games that are tagged under the umbrella term of digital literacy. Using Thematic Analysis, I analyzed each game's learning mechanics (Choice, Minigames, Scripted Events, Exploration, Non-Interactive) and mapped it into an inquiry-based teaching approach (Confirmatory, Structured, Guided, and Open/True). Once I finished this synthesis I applied it in a digital literacy game I developed called, CookieMania, and describe how each learning mechanic has been implemented to follow this thematic analysis.

The tension and drama of player challenges are what drives gameplay. While players often only think about performance when they experience difficulty and failure in games, my work argues that the scope of challenge goes beyond that aspect, including more socioemotional eudaimonic gaming experiences.

I first explored micro and macro views of challenge and failure in games from the performative challenge aspect, as well as how they related to player experience outcomes. I then explored how emotional design patterns related to eudaimonic experiences, such as player reflection. Lastly, I explored how the addition of sociality affects the emotionally challenging player experience.

Through my explorations, this dissertation provides a definition of challenge itself that aims to be more player-centric and inclusive of different types of challenge. Secondly, I contribute some future research directions and recommendations towards how to design for challenging player experiences that are emotionally-impactful and memorable.