Creating Active Game Worlds



Thesis Statement

Unique player experiences would stem from video game worlds consisting of interactive environments that facilitate player creativity and expression, while supporting and promoting emergent gameplay.



Thesis Abstract



The framework of a video game world consists of three core parts: the characters, objects, and environment.  Due to advances in technology and an overall increase in the size of the video game marketplace and community, these seminal parts have become more realistic and lifelike then ever before.  Even interactions between the player and the various characters and objects in the game world have increased with the need for video games to emulate real-world actions and events.  It seems, though, that game environments in most of today’s current video game titles lack the ability to allow or produce player-driven interactions, rendering them inert and static.  An inactive game environment, one in which the player has no effect on the world around them, actually carries the ability to disrupt player intuition and immersion.  In an active game world the environment, as well as the characters and objects, is interactive and can be manipulated or modified by the player.  Inherently, such an environment in an active game world allows for player creativity and freedom of expression.

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In order to achieve unique player experiences with an emphasis on increasing player interactivity within an active game world, one possible design approach is to model the game based upon emergent systems.  In essence, emergent systems are comprised of small components that are governed by a relatively small number of rules.  These components act independently of themselves, but due to their relative behaviors, they combine to create what can become an incredibly complex system.  When emergence is combined with gameplay, the results can prove to be unique and unforeseen, by both the player and the game developer.  The visual component for my thesis, entitled Sector EXE, is an active game world, wherein the player has the ability to interact with and influence the environment.  Through the use of weapons and controllable, in-game interfaces, the player has the ability to creatively navigate through the environment.  Navigation through the game will become unique and different to the player due to combinations of interactions between various game systems and mechanics, all of which are defined by a general set of rules and the principles of emergent systems.