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Katarzyna Marak

Katarzyna Marak, Ph. D., lectures at Department of English and Department of Cultural Studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland; the author of Japanese and American Horror: A Comparative Study of Film, Fiction, Graphic Novels and Video Games (McFarland 2015). Research interests: popular culture, horror fiction—including the appropriation of the horror genre to digital media—Internet studies and game studies.

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Department of English

Virtual trouble: An outline of the problems of immersion and the question of quality in VR games

Panel talk, FROG main conference | Saturday, 14th October, 17:30 – 18:00

To some, the VR technology seems like not only a tremendous development, but—more importantly—the natural next step in game design. However, flat, non-interactive screens have been the default display device for digital games for a very long time and the newly emerging VR environment involves problems with immersion/incorporation. The first important issue concerns its emersive qualities. The other issue is the problem of the expected and perceived quality of the games and the resulting situation where non-VR games are still expected to uphold the highest achieveable standards while the VR titles are not.

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Katharina Mittlböck

  • Work: “Play & Learn” at the Zentrum für Lerntechnologie & Innovation, University College of Teacher Education Vienna. Several Lectureships.
  • Degrees: Education & Special Education, University of Vienna & Educational Technology, Danube University Krems.
  • Several publications in the fields of Game Studies & Personality Development, PhD candidate (nearly finished 😉 )

Zentrum für Lerntechnologie & Innovation, University College of Teacher Education Vienna (start: Sept. 2017)

Digital Game Psychoanalysis – A Methodical Approach

Panel talk, FROG main conference | Saturday, 14th October, 17:00 – 17:30

The focus of this contribution is on a new methodical approach for the research on the relevance of digital role-playing games for the players’ personality development from a psychoanalytical point of view.Following to some extent Lorenzer’s (1986) and König’s (2001) Cultural Analysis and In-Depth Hermeneutics and Hamburger’s (2017) and Zwiebel’s (2006) Film Psychoanalysis, I apply these two approaches to the act of playing and implement methodical modifications owed to the characteristic of the object of research. In the course of this the following pattern emerged: 1.  Theoretical contexts were 2.  linked to symbols-providing material from a game and 3.  self reflective findings deriving from the act of playing.The theses-generating process of searching and understanding is spiraling along the above-mentioned three recurring stops: theory – game – self-reflection.The submitted contribution shows this methodical approach, gives illustrating examples and raises outstanding issues on the applicability of this approach to gain a broader insight in the impact of gaming.

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Sven Lagger

  • Born 21/10/1998
  • Graduated from Gymnasium Schillerstraße Feldkirch
  • Basic knowledge acquired through elective subject Computer Science at school
  • Passionate Computer Gamer
  • Believes in Game Based Learning (experiences made with JavaFX, Greenfoot and Unity)
  • Interested in further studies in the field of Computer Science (especially in the subfield of Game Development/Design).

Gymnasium Schillerstraße Feldkirch

2D Game Development with the professional Game Engine Unity – An Example of Game Based Learning

VWA presentation, FROG main conference | Sunday, 15th October, 14:45 – 15:00

This VWA in the field of computer science is dedicated to the development of the 2D jump and run game “Fency Jumper”. Additionally, the fact that the game was developed cost-effective and cross-platform represents an essential point. The development of the game was exclusively done using the game engine Unity with C# as the programming language. Apart from closer descriptions regarding the code, there are also theoretical fundamentals included, specially explanations of terms such as “computer game”, “game engine” and “programming language”. In conclusion, an outlook on the possible future development of the game is given.

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Richard Fojkar

Graduate from the GRG3 Radetzkygymnasium with Matura. As of 10.7. 2017 Conscript. Mag. Elisabeth Krones: Teacher at the GRG3 Radetzkygymnasium and Supervisor of the Pre-scientific Paper.

GRG3 Radetzkystraße

Texas Hold’em Poker: Skill and Luck

VWA presentation, FROG main conference | Sunday, 15th October, 12:00 – 12:15

In this paper I dive into the Mechanics of Texas Hold’em Poker. I will approach the Game form a practical and not purely mathematical perspective.Although Poker is not truly based on luck it does not rely on direct Skill (like Chess) either but rather on a statistical phenomenon making the “What is a good or bad Decision?” Question al lot more complicated. I attempt to find out how skillbased Poker really is.

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Monika Gorczyca

  • Name: Monika Gorczyca
  • Born: 15.11.1998
  • Languages: German, Polish, English
  • Computer skills: Unity, GIMP, Microsoft Office
  • Experience: Internship at the university of Vienna
  • Hobbies: Playing Games, Digital photography

BORG 20 – Brigittenauer Gymnasium, Karajangasse

Brain-Computer-Interface Games for ADHD children

VWA presentation, FROG main conference | Saturday, 14th October, 14:45 – 15:00

My work enlightens a novel treatment possibility for ADHD children. Normally, kids with such problems are treated with drugs combined with additional exercises  such as Yoga or martial arts. Several research studies came to the conclusion that a video game controlled by a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) could represent a good alternative  to traditional treatments avoiding the side effects of drugs. However, this approach is still at an experimental stage. To confirm the effectiveness of this method I  programmed such a computer game steered by a BCI.

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Martin Zenz

Martin Zenz is a former student and currently serving his compulsory duties as an Austrian citizen doing community service. Afterwards he is planning to study sports and music as a teaching profession. His main fields of interests are sports, videogames and music. Combining the latter equals a perfectly suited topic for the prescientific paper, which is a big part of the highschool graduation-examin Austria.

Video Game Music: History and Composition

VWA presentation, FROG main conference | Sunday, 15th October, 17:15 – 17:30

The prescientific paper examines the history important techniques used in video game music. Using basic methods modern music production, the author recreates the sound of each era with a new melody. The paper focuses on how the technologic improvement changed the way music was composed and not the technology itself. Current and future games are being discussed and issues concerning the importance of music in (competetive) games are observed in connection with a survey carried out at the Gamecity Convention in 2016.

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Jakob Wonisch

Jakob Wonisch is a high school graduate of SLSZ Wien West, a school for aspiring professional athletes. In his spare time, he has developed an interest in computer programming and game development. Coming fall, he will begin to study computer science at the TU Wien.

SLSZ Wien West

The Advantages of Using a Scripting Language As a Tool for Designers of Point-and-Click Adventure-Games

VWA presentation, FROG main conference | Saturday, 14th October, 09:30 – 09:45

Point-and-click adventure games are often developed using custom scripting languages to design the stages. The designers who build the game’s story and puzzles are often inexperienced in programming. What makes those languages such a great tool is the separation of technical tasks and the creative design process. In this paper, the exact advantages have been discovered through analysis of SCUMM, LucasArts’ in-house game engine. They were implemented in a point-and-click game engine with a custom scripting language designed to showcase those exact features. In addition, a short game was developed as an example.

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Simon Wimmer

Simon Wimmer holds Bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of Vienna. In his Elective Modules “Museum and Educational Work” and “Art-Media-Narration” he took every chance to write about game related topics. He is attending “Game Studies” at Donau-Universität-Krems since 2015.

Participant Observation As a Tool to Delve Within the Magic Circle

Thesis presentation, FROG main conference | Sunday 15th October, 16:30 – 16:45

In my talk I will point out why the participant observation can be a great tool to gather qualitative data within the magic circle. I will prove my points with my theoretical bachelor thesis, which sketches how anthropology handled “game” since Johan Huizinga. In this thesis, I also refer to three anthopolical case studies. Each of these case studies used a form of participant observation as a research method. Further I will talk about my empirical bachelor thesis where I did my own participant observation.

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Philipp Söchtig

Philipp Söchtig (M.A.) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese Studies and Philosophy as well as a Master’s degree in Literary and Media Studies. As part of his studies he has been at the Waseda University in Tokyo for two semesters. Philipp Söchtig has been a PhD candidate and lecturer at the Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg since 2017. His main fields of research include Game Studies, Intermediality, Gamification and Virtual Reality.

Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg

Video games as art – How players create their own worlds

Thesis presentation, FROG main conference | Friday, 13th October, 16:15 – 16:30

The aim of my Master’s thesis was to look at how players create their own meanings and worlds in and out of context of games and how they can be seen as artists in doing that. Umberto Ecos concept of open works of art, John Fiskes theory of productive consumers and Johan Huizingas and Roger Caillois notions of play served as a theoretical base. To illustrate the many ways players use to engage with digital games, the main part of the thesis was divided into four sub-categories of with regard to the field of creativity: narration, mechanics, technology and communication.

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Lyubov Stafyeyeva

Lyuba Stafyeyeva works as a Social education worker in Caritas St. Pölten. She received her Bachelor of Education from Gorlovka University of Applied Science in Ukraine and obtains a Master Degree in Applied Knowledge Management at FH Burgenland. Her current research interests include Integration of Digital Games in Learning and E-learning Environments in school and enterprises.

FH Burgenland

Game-based learning in schools: Is it for everyone?

Thesis presentation, FROG main conference | Sunday, 15th October, 09:30 – 09:45