Abstract

As players go through a circular pattern of experiencing games they pass through: observation, interpretation, hypothesis making, decision-making then finally acting upon decisions. Their successes and failures help the player construct an understanding of the game world, and as a result increases their confidence in their ability to make informed decisions when faced with game play challenges. In order for a player to be emotionally absorbed by the game’s story they must be fully immersed in the action. In order to achieve this, all aspects of the game must reinforce the narrative design and sculpt a world in a way that makes the player feel as if they were living in the shoes of the character/avatar. When successfully applied this allows the player to have an emotional experience at which point they are more likely to fully invest in the story of the game through autonomous, authorial, and asynchronous play. This thesis proposes that the control scheme design for games with gesture interfaces which require a more global embodiment from the players should actively reinforce the narrative and in so doing reflect the feel of the game more completely.