BACHELOR THESIS

An Analysis of the Technology Trees in "Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition"

TOPIC

I chose this topic for my bachelor thesis because, on the one hand, I have a great personal interest in Age of Empires and, on the other hand, because tech trees represent an interesting and versatile element in game design. Furthermore, despite the undeniable relevance of tech trees, there is little scientific research or work on this topic, which is why I decided to conduct my own investigation.

CONTENT

In my bachelor thesis, I first dealt with the relevance of the topic and the more precise definition of the parameters for my investigation, for which I formulated a research question and hypotheses. In the following, I prepared and explained theoretical basics about the tasks and the functioning of tech trees in general as well as about Age of Empires 2 in order to establish a consistent level of knowledge. For my investigation I selected and explained a method of analysis and then conducted this Qualitative Content Analysis. The last chapters include the detailed evaluation of the results of my investigation, as well as a final conclusion. You can see the most important results in a short presentation in the gallery below or download my complete bachelor thesis via the download link.

REFLECTION

From my bachelor thesis I learned that it is very interesting to analyze a single, central element of a game in depth. However, it was sometimes difficult to draw concrete and unambiguous conclusions due to the variety of factors that had to be taken into consideration. This clearly showed the numerous interrelationships within the game and the complexity of the game. In the end, I was able to gain some interesting insights from my investigation and have been able to acquire knowledge about tech trees and in-depth game analysis while working on my bachelor thesis.