The science behind sound’s influence on user perception and emotion—and how to design, evaluate, and enhance sound-driven experiences across diverse products and interfaces.Most user experience (UX) research prioritizes what users see and touch—but what about what they hear? Sound is a powerful, often overlooked layer of user experience, shaping perception, emotion, and behavior in ways users may not even realize. In Sonic UX, KC Collins offers UX...

An introduction to the concepts and principles of sound design practice, with more than 175 exercises that teach readers to put theory into practice.This book offers an introduction to the principles and concepts of sound design practice, from technical aspects of sound effects to the creative use of sound in storytelling. Most books on sound design focus on sound for the moving image. Studying Sound is unique in its exploration of sound on its own as a me...

An examination of the many complex aspects of game audio, from the perspectives of both sound design and music composition.A distinguishing feature of video games is their interactivity, and sound plays an important role in this: a player's actions can trigger dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound, and music. And yet game sound has been neglected in the growing literature on game studies. This book fills that gap, introducing readers to the many complex aspects of...

An examination of the player's experience of sound in video games and the many ways that players interact with the sonic elements in games.In Playing with Sound, Karen Collins examines video game sound from the player's perspective. She explores the many ways that players interact with a game's sonic aspects—which include not only music but also sound effects, ambient sound, dialogue, and interface sounds—both within and outside of the game. She investigat...

The Meaning of Video Games takes a textual studies approach to an increasingly important form of expression in today’s culture. It begins by assuming that video games are meaningful–not just as sociological or economic or cultural evidence, but in their own right, as cultural expressions worthy of scholarly attention. In this way, this book makes a contribution to the study of video games, but it also aims to enrich textual studies.Early video game studies scholars were qu...

The greatest trick the videogame industry ever pulled was convincing the world that videogames were games rather than a medium for making metagames. Elegantly defined as “games about games,” metagames implicate a diverse range of practices that stray outside the boundaries and bend the rules: from technical glitches and forbidden strategies to Renaissance painting, algorithmic trading, professional sports, and the War on Terror. In Metagaming, Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux d...

Playing with Videogames documents the richly productive, playful and social cultures of videogaming that support, surround and sustain this most important of digital media forms and yet which remain largely invisible within existing studies.James Newman details the rich array of activities that surround game-playing, charting the vibrant and productive practices of the vast number of videogame players and the extensive 'shadow' economy of walkthroughs, FAQs, art, narrative...

Understanding Video Game Music develops a musicology of video game music by providing methods and concepts for understanding music in this medium. From the practicalities of investigating the video game as a musical source to the critical perspectives on game music - using examples including Final Fantasy VII, Monkey Island 2, SSX Tricky and Silent Hill - these explorations not only illuminate aspects of game music, but also provide conceptual ideas valuable for future analysis. Music is n...

This book reaffirms the enduring importance of effective explanations at a time when "teacher talk" is often undervalued. Drawing on the science of learning, Zach Groshell explores essential techniques for showing, telling, demonstrating, modeling, and presenting so that even the most complex concepts become accessible to all learners.Engage with the art and science of "breaking it down" to discover how a direct and explicit approach to teaching can significantly impact classroom su...

Exploring the often-overlooked history and technological innovations of the world's first true multimedia computer.Long ago, in 1985, personal computers came in two general categories: the friendly, childish game machine used for fun (exemplified by Atari and Commodore products); and the boring, beige adult box used for business (exemplified by products from IBM). The game machines became fascinating technical and artistic platforms that were of limited real-world ...

Gain a deeper understanding of games and game design through 18 pioneering frameworks—with examples from board games, computer games, video games, and more.As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of gam...

Cutting-edge computational tools like artificial intelligence, data scraping, and online experiments are leading to new discoveries about the human mind. However, these new methods can be intimidating. This textbook demonstrates how Big Data is transforming the field of psychology, in an approachable and engaging way that is geared toward undergraduate students without any computational training. Each chapter covers a hot topic, such as social networks, smart devices, mobile apps, and comp...