Alex Manns Video game companion mobile applications and their future Bachelor’s Thesis Bachelor of Engineering, Information Technology 2019 Author (authors) Degree Time Alex Manns Bachelor of November 2019 Engineering Thesis title 90 pages Video game companion mobile applications and their future 8 pages of appendices Commissioned by South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Ltd. Supervisor Niina Mässeli Abstract The objective of the thesis was to examine the companion application concept like where it came from and where it is now. Additionally, to explore this subject more, making a game and companion application prototypes was a part of the objective to study the concept’s practicality in the design and development of games. This thesis details the general concept of companion applications and what it stemmed from to understand how it has evolved and what the current state of it is to be able to implement one in a prototype. To help this, eight companion applications from recent years were compared with each other based on groups of common features found in them. Additionally, this thesis describes the design and implementation processes of the game and companion application prototypes in a comprehensive manner, going over details of planning and issues in development. Designing and development of a game and its companion mobile application was the predominant purpose of this thesis. The Unity game engine and Xamarin mobile development tools were the main tools of development, with other various tools used to improve the ability to test the prototypes and manage the project. The designing of the prototypes was done further than the prototypes would be developed, to explore ideas relevant to the companion application concept at least during the planning process. As a result, more insight into the current state and the future of companion applications was gained. The prototypes showed some difficulties with the concept at a small scale, nevertheless the project was a success as the prototypes achieved some of the features present in companion applications. The companion application concept shows great future promise, as the market of people owning both a smartphone and other gaming hardware grows and that there are more of them being made although there is room for experimentation with features. Additionally, the designed game and companion application serve as a good example for the concept. Keywords companion applications, game design, game development CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................ 5 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Objective of thesis .................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Commissioner ......................................................................................................... 8 2 VIDEO GAME COMPANION APPLICATIONS ............................................................. 8 2.1 History and current state ....................................................................................... 10 2.2 Functionality.......................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Analyzing examples .............................................................................................. 15 2.3.1 Features .......................................................................................................... 17 2.3.2 Battlefield Companion ..................................................................................... 21 2.3.3 Call of Duty Companion App ........................................................................... 23 2.3.4 Final Fantasy XIV Companion ........................................................................ 24 2.3.5 World of Warcraft Companion App ................................................................. 26 2.3.6 Fallout Pip Boy ................................................................................................ 27 2.3.7 Red Dead Redemption 2 Companion ............................................................. 28 2.3.8 Ghost Recon: Wildlands HQ ........................................................................... 29 2.3.9 Destiny 2 Companion...................................................................................... 30 2.3.10 User experience .............................................................................................. 32 2.4 Thought Experiment ............................................................................................. 33 3 TOOLS ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.1 Unity ..................................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Visual Studio ......................................................................................................... 38 3.2.1 Xamarin .......................................................................................................... 40 3.2.2 Json.NET ........................................................................................................ 40 3.3 SourceTree ........................................................................................................... 41 3.4 Wireshark ............................................................................................................. 42 4 PLANNING ................................................................................................................. 43 4.1 Scope ................................................................................................................... 44 4.2 Game .................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 Overall design ................................................................................................. 47 4.2.2 Development plan ........................................................................................... 49 4.3 Mobile app ............................................................................................................ 50 4.3.1 Overall design ................................................................................................. 51 4.3.2 Development plan ........................................................................................... 53 4.4 Shared networking library ..................................................................................... 54 5 DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................................... 56 5.1 Unity ..................................................................................................................... 57 5.1.1 Data structure ................................................................................................. 59 5.1.2 Character ........................................................................................................ 60 5.1.3 Game World .................................................................................................... 62 5.2 Xamarin ................................................................................................................ 63 5.2.1 Learning Xamarin ........................................................................................... 64 5.2.2 User Interface ................................................................................................. 65 5.2.3 Game data view .............................................................................................. 66 5.3 Data transfer connection ....................................................................................... 69 5.3.1 Game Server .................................................................................................. 70 5.3.2 Mobile Client ................................................................................................... 71 6 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 72 6.1 Prototypes ............................................................................................................ 74 6.2 Future development .............................................................................................. 75 SOURCES ......................................................................................................................... 76 FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... 80 APPENDICES Appendix 1. The Quest of Companionship Game Design Document 5 ABBREVIATIONS AI Artificial Intelligence, computer controlled element GDD Game Design Document, a document used to give a detailed description of each component in a game. GUI Graphical user interface, visual controls that the user of software uses to operate the software. HUD Heads up display, commonly used in video games where visual elements showing game statistics over game and that game elements can be hidden behind. JSON JavaScript Object Notation, a programming language- independant human readable file format meant for data object transmission. NPC Non-player character, a entity in the game that looks similar to the players character, but is AI controlled.