Technical animation plays a crucial role in shaping player experience in modern digital games,
yet the field remains fragmented across disciplines, with limited effort devoted to unifying
its underlying principles. Existing peer-reviewed literature predominantly focuses either on
isolated technical solutions or empirical research on isolated perceptions of animation quality,
leaving a gap in understanding how these layers interact in practice. Addressing this research
gap, an integrative research methodology is employed, combining peer-reviewed literature,
industry publications, Game Developers Conference (GDC) presentations, and qualitative
expert interviews. Based on this synthesis, the state of the art in technical animation is
outlined. In parallel, frequently used, but verbose indicators for animation quality or key
high-level goals of animation were identified, namely immersion, realism, responsiveness, the
illusion of life, avoiding the uncanny valley and game rule communication. Each of these
concepts is analyzed with respect to its theoretical foundations and existing implementation
approaches in technical animation. Based on these findings, an overarching hierarchical
model is proposed that understands immersion as the ultimate goal of animation in games,
grouping the remaining goals as interconnected, and sometimes conflicting subdisciplines.
The applicability of the model is demonstrated through the design and development of a
game prototype, highlighting its value as a practical tool for structuring animation systems.

This thesis examines the accessibility of dialogue systems in digital games through an analysis of specific dialogue types and the implementation of a prototype using the Unity engine. It addresses two research questions: which accessibility challenges arise across different dialogue system types, and how selected accessibility requirements can be implemented in practice. Three chosen dialogue types were analyzed: cinematic dialogue, menu-based dialogue, and dialogue wheels. The analysis is based on established accessibility frameworks and considers visual presentation, auditory access, comprehension, and interaction. The results indicate that accessibility challenges vary depending on the structure of the dialogue system, while some requirements remain consistent across all types. Key concerns include readable text, sufficient visual contrast, and alternative access methods. Based on these insights, a Unity prototype was developed as a linear text-box system implementing selected accessibility features such as adjustable text size and speed, high-contrast modes, a dyslexia-friendly font, simplified language, and optional voiceovers.

Spatial arrangements in games shape the players' gameplay experience. Level design, as an interdisciplinary effort, includes the design of these spatial arrangements. Understanding simple spatial patterns and principles can help level designers create better gameplay experiences. This master's thesis aims to explore common and impactful level design patterns and to construct a framework that can algorithmically identify them. To do so, this thesis first examines formal representation models for describing the spatial properties of gamespaces. Then, it constructs a model for formalizing level design patterns. The thesis proceeds by outlining the architectural design and the implementation of the Structural Pattern Identifier (SPI), a framework that can algorithmically identify level design patterns in gamespaces.

The Space Foundation System (SFS) is a technology for Unity3D games based on a graph data structure focused on location-based semantics. This allows for new layers, like an integrated questing system, to be built on top, making use of its rich locational context. Ensuring that all current quests are viable is a non-trivial problem during the process of game and level development.
The aim of this thesis is to create such system which can not only be used to create all types of quests in video games, but also verify their viability and automatically generate appropriate solutions where issues arrise.
The proposed solution is called Dora, named after Dora the Explorer, as quests are integrated with the SFS for exploration and adventure-based quests.
We want to investigate whether such systems can not only improve iteration speed, but also catch potential development issues.