Current Issue : October-December Volume : 2025 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
Background Dementia has physical, psychological, social and economic impacts, not only for people living with dementia, but also for their carers, families and wider society. Due to the growing number of people living with dementia, children are increasingly likely to encounter family members living with dementia. The aim of this project was to pilot an educational game which was co-designed with children and people living with dementia with the intention of improving children’s understanding and perception of dementia. Research design and methods An acceptability study of the Kids Dementia Game was conducted in three classes in three schools in Northern Ireland. This study investigated acceptability of the game and the feasibility of online data collection using a pre-post test methodology to explore how best to collect evaluation data if the game was to be delivered on a larger scale. Results Evaluation of the game with children showed a positive level of acceptability of the game. Children found the game engaging, easy to navigate and fun to play. Feasibility of the data collection method was found to be a barrier to the pre-post test evaluation of the game. Discussion and implications These findings suggest that the game shows evidence of promise for improving public perception and understanding of dementia using an early intervention approach with children....
Generative AI tools are increasingly being integrated into game design and development workflows, offering new possibilities for creativity, efficiency, and innovation. This paper explores the evolving role of these tools from the perspective of game designers and developers, focusing on the benefits and challenges they present in fostering creativity. Through a mixed-method study, we conducted an online survey (n = 42) with game design professionals, followed by in-depth online interviews (n = 9), to investigate how generative AI influences the creative process, decision-making, and artistic vision. Our findings reveal that while generative AI accelerates ideation, enhances prototyping, and automates repetitive tasks, it also raises concerns about originality, creative dependency, and undermine of human-authored content. Future work will aim to address these challenges by investigating strategies to balance leveraging AI’s capabilities with preserving the integrity of human creativity. This includes developing collaborative human-AI workflows that maintain human oversight, designing systems that support rather than replace creative decision-making, and establishing ethical guidelines to ensure transparency, accountability, and authorship in AI-assisted content creation. By doing so, we aim to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of generative AI’s role in creative practices and its implications for the game design and development lifecycle....
City-building games are very popular, on both digital and analog platforms. However, analog games named after cities are a tradition in modern board games. These games, resulting from the game design innovations of the last decades, are engaging a growing number of players worldwide. We wanted to understand what drives players and game designers to develop games that have a direct connection with cities or urban matters. We intend to explore them and identify their design patterns in order to support game-based planning support tools, mostly for participatory and collaborative planning. Planners have been using game-based processes, and analog games seem to be the easier solution. We analyzed the top-ranking city-building games (CBGs) and games named after cities (GNACs) from Board Game Geek (BGG) and then ran a survey with BGG users (n = 102). The results show that GNACs do not deeply portray cities but tend to focus on a specific dimension. CBGs are better at mimicking an urban planning process but with many simplifications. Despite this, mastering the design of these two types of games is useful for planners who wish to use game-based planning processes. However, the engagement level might depend on the target audience....
Background: This study examined external intensity and acute neuromuscular responses across multiple games played during a single-day ocial 3 × 3 basketball tournament. Methods: Twelve male players (Tier 2–3; age: 24.7 ± 4.5 years; height: 186.4 ± 8.5 cm; body mass: 86.5 ± 13.0 kg) were monitored with microsensors (Movement Intensity (MI), while countermovement jump (CMJ) variables—jump height (JH); time to takeo (TTTO); and Modied Reactive Strength Index (RSImod)—were obtained before the start of the tournament and after each game. Linear mixed models examined dierences in MI and CMJ variables across tournament phases. Additionally, the smallest worthwhile change (SWC) calculations were applied to all comparisons. Results: No statistical dierences were found across tournament stages for MI (p = 0.466), JH (p = 0.762), TTTO (p = 0.990), or RSImod (p = 0.951). SWC comparisons showed that MI was higher in GG1 than GG2, GG3, and QF; higher in GG2 than GG3; and lower in G3 than QF and SF. Regarding JH, the post-QF value was higher than the baseline and post-GG2. For TTTO, post-QF was higher than post-GG1. RSImod post-GG2 was lower than post-GG3 and post-SF. Conclusions: While no signicant changes were observed, MI showed a practically meaningful decline in GG3 and recovery in QF, while RSImod initially declined before improving post- SF. These ndings highlight the importance of pacing and recovery strategies in 3 × 3 basketball tournaments....
Recent advances in artificial intelligence technologies have begun to transform the gaming industry, especially in the areas of player-character interaction and narrative development. Traditionally, game stories and character relationships are predefined through scripted dialogues and sequences, which requires developers to invest a lot of time and effort. However, AI-driven approaches such as large language models (LLMs) and deep learning techniques offer a dynamic alternative that can enable more flexible, player-driven interactions and adaptive AI behaviors. This paper comprehensively reviews the current role of AI in game design from multiple perspectives, including applications in multi-agent interaction, procedural level and game content generation, and game development process optimization. In addition, this study explores the advantages and limitations of AI technology, coping with technical challenges, and ethical issues that may arise during the implementation of AI. The results are intended to provide a reference for the future application of AI in game design and provide recommendations for coping with emerging risks....
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