Hοw Spatial Design shapes Collaborative Gameplay

Sammanfattning

Digital games increasingly function as complex spatial systems that do more than host play: they organize perception, movement, and social interaction. This thesis investigates how spatial design shapes collaborative gameplay by examining Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios, 2025), a two-player co-op game that repeatedly reconfigures space through shifts in camera, topology, physics, and role-dependent access. The study asks how collaboration is structured by spatial design in selected segments of the game, whether recurring combinations of spatial manipulation and cooperative logic can be identified, and how players experience these combinations in play. Methodologically, the thesis combines a qualitative spatial design analysis of fifteen gameplay segments and a qualitative player study with thirty participants (five pairs per selected segment), using recorded play, stimulated recall, and semi-structured interviews. Building on architectural theory, game studies, MDA, and design-pattern thinking, the analysis introduces a two-layer framework: spatial manipulations and cooperative spatial logics. Cross-segment comparison identifies three dominant recurring patterns between those two layers: perceptual manipulation with asymmetrical agency, perceptual manipulation with symmetrical interdependence, and topological manipulation with asymmetrical agency. Findings show that spatial manipulation in Split Fiction operates as a social organizer: it distributes responsibility, attention, and timing authority, producing recognizable shifts in communication, leadership and dependency. Players tended to describe experiences primarily in relational terms rather than in formal spatial terms, indicating that cooperative logic often matters more to players than spatial form. The thesis concludes with design implications: spatial manipulation can be intentionally used to elicit distinct collaboration styles and perceived fairness in co-op can be achieved through alternating responsibility over time rather than constant symmetry.