In the epic finale of this illustrated series, the best kid gamers in the world face their biggest battle yet, as they fight for their friend's freedom and all their gaming futures. Perfect for young fans of Ready Player One and Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Welcome to Affinity, the hottest battle royale video game around! The Weird Ones—Josh, Hannah, Larkin, and Wheatley—have become four of the biggest stars in gaming. But a surprising twist to their first professional Affinity tournament leaves Wheatley in huge trouble . . . with Hurricane Games, the company that made the game they all love. To save Wheatley, Hurricane offers them a deal: win three near-impossible challenges and Wheatley will be free. But if they lose, the kids will be banned from Affinity for life . . . and they’ll never see Wheatley again. With their futures on the line, The Weird Ones will have to play the best they ever have. But is winning even possible when your opponent literally controls the game?

How does analyzing video games as hypertexts expand the landscape of research for video game rhetoricians and games studies scholars? This is the first book to focus on how hypertext rhetoric impacts the five canons of rhetoric, and to apply that hypertext rhetoric to the study of video games. It also explores how ludonarrative agency is seized by players seeking to express themselves in ways that game makers did not necessarily intend when making the games that players around the world enjoy. This book takes inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, a series which players all over the world have spent decades deconstructing through online playthroughs, speedruns, and glitch hunts. Through these playthroughs, players demonstrate their ability to craft their own agency, independent of the objectives built by the makers of these games, creating new rhetorical situations worthy of analysis and consideration.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2020, held in Bournemouth, UK, in November 2020. The 15 full papers and 8 short papers presented together with 5 posters, were carefully reviewed and selected from 70 submissions. The conference offers topics in game narrative and interactive storytelling, including the theoretical, technological, and applied design practices, narrative systems, storytelling technology, and humanities-inspired theoretical inquiry, empirical research and artistic expression.

This book examines the local, regional and transnational contexts of video games through a focused analysis on gaming communities, the ways game design regulates gender and class relations, and the impacts of colonization on game design. The critical interest in games as a cultural artifact is covered by a wide range of interdisciplinary work. To highlight the social impacts of games the first section of the book covers the systems built around high score game competitions, the development of independent game design communities, and the formation of fan communities and cosplay. The second section of the book offers a deeper analysis of game structures, gender and masculinity, and the economic constraints of empire that are built into game design. The final section offers a macro perspective on transnational and colonial discourses built into the cultural structures of East Asian game play.

With 100 games to start a party, ideas to trigger conversation, storytelling setups, and fiendish puzzles—no materials required—The Floor Is Lava is a how-to for turning screen-free time into quality time. Put down the phone and pick up the fun! Analog play is known to stimulate imaginative thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal connection. However, games only seem to exist on screen now and quality time spent together—in person—is rarer than ever. The Floor Is Lava is perfect for anyone looking to disconnect from technology and spend some quality time with family or friends. Packed with one hundred screen-free games, it’s the necessary antidote to digital overload and the answer to every occasion: - hosting a party - long car rides - cooling off on summer days - sitting around the dinner table - holiday gatherings - rainy days The best part is, you don’t need anything to play. So what are you waiting for? Jump up and get started—the floor is lava!

This two-volume set of HCI-Games 2023, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on HCI in Games, held as Part of the 24th International Conference, HCI International 2023, which took place in July 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The total of 1578 papers and 396 posters included in the HCII 2023 proceedings volumes was carefully reviewed and selected from 7472 submissions. The HCI in Games 2023 proceedings intends to help, promote and encourage research in this field by providing a forum for interaction and exchanges among researchers, academics, and practitioners in the fields of HCI and games. The Conference addresses HCI principles, methods and tools for better games.

Video games are temporal artifacts: They change with time as players interact with them in accordance with rules. In this study, Federico Alvarez Igarzábal investigates the formal aspects of video games that determine how these changes are produced and sequenced. Theories of time perception drawn from the cognitive sciences lay the groundwork for an in-depth analysis of these features, making for a comprehensive account of time in this novel medium. This book-length study dedicated to time perception and video games is an indispensable resource for game scholars and game developers alike. Its reader-friendly style makes it readily accessible to the interested layperson.