VIII. Structure of the thesis

Animators, Multimedia Designers, Architects, Urban Planners, etc., to identify and define a set of

display, navigation and manipulation patterns that can help them in the design process of creative and

interactive spaces which can push further the frontiers of space.

This research can serve particularly professionals and students of architecture to be oriented and

trained to work with gaming tools to build generative forms and advanced visualizations in architecture,

real-time interactive visualization which can be manipulated in an interactive ay by multiple actors and

make the design process more open and collaborative. In this regard, the use of gaming tools also

facilitates communication with clients and serves the client to have a clear idea of architecture and to

discuss various options before building it. Moreover, clients, thanks to AR technologies can overlap the

design with the real environment and have a more realistic idea of its implementation.

Other stakeholders include technical or managerial professionals in fields related to architecture, such

as engineers, urban planners, and others, who can benefit from the use of digital twins of real objects,

which contain data from the real world and can be used to control the performance of real objects or

solve complex problems like those encountered in simulator construction games or resource

management games.

People who immerse themselves in a virtual environment, such as architecture, cities, virtual heritage,

or museums, are also immediate beneficiaries. They can visit places or buildings that are far away or

don’t exist at all but are recreated as 3D representations. Furthermore, they may investigate them from

multiple angles, which is not feasible in the actual world. Finally, because video games are so prominent

in today’s media, and VR is becoming part of our daily lives, this search involves a wide range of

stakeholders from numerous industries.

VIII. Structure of the thesis

Chapter 1 addresses the nature of virtual space from a philosophical standpoint and investigates

“architecture as virtual” through a variety of mediums varying from literature to movies, drawings, video

games, and current virtual reality experiences. The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate the idea that

architecture is virtual and that virtual reality is the future of architecture.

Chapter 2covers the theoretical background on video games fundamentals, including video game

definition, game genre, their main elements of video games related to and the components of game play

and a literature review on architecture comparison with video game. This chapter seeks to draw

parallels and analyses analogies between video games and architecture in order to focus the research domains in three primary shared areas: narrative, ludology, and game/architecture spatial

representation or visualization.

Chapter 3covers a theoretical background on narrative in video games and architecture, identifying

analogies and exploring the importance of narrative in virtual architecture.

Chapter 4 covers a theoretical background on ludology and interaction in video games and architecture,

drawing parallels and discussing the role of game interactivity and gaming in an immersive and playful

virtual architecture.

In Chapter 5, we conducted qualitative research on game design tools using the “research from design” methodology, beginning with three primary areas of study: narrative, ludology, and aesthetic

representation or visualization. As a consequence of the analysis of successful game case studies, a list of

game design tools will be addressed.

Chapter 6 analyses and evaluates the use of game design tools in architectural design, architecture

visualization, virtual heritage, and urban planning, based on methodology, “research for design”. Qualitative feedback and observations are given as findings.

Chapter 7addressed the thesis’s findings, `proposed a new workflow in the architecture design/visualization process (including virtual heritage and urban planning) and made suggestions with

an outlook to further research and applications in architectural practice.

Table 1 Structure of the thesis (source: Authors)

NARRATIVE AND INTERACTIVITY FROM VIDEO GAME TO ARCHTECTURE

Table 2 Detailed structure of the thesis: Creative space in virtual reality (source: Authors)