Temporal Constraints in Video Game Design: Coding Matrix, Genre Means and Analysis Scripts (80 titles, 14 genre categories)

Coding matrix, computed genre means, correlation matrices, cluster assignments and analysis scripts supporting the article "Temporal Semiotic Resources in Video Game Design: A Grammar of Temporal Constraints as Attentional Design" (Public Journal of Semiotics). Temporal Constraints (TCs) are design structures that regulate when a player may act, how far the player may advance, and under what conditions the system enables new states of progression. The dataset records their frequency across 80 buy-to-play titles from the EA Play platform, each recorded for 30 minutes at default difficulty and coded by two trained coders. The eight coded subcategories are consolidated into three functional macro-categories: TC_game (immediate execution), TC_challenge (deferred resolution) and TC_management (anticipation and planning). Genre membership is coded as 14 dummy variables, and a title may belong to more than one category, which yields 167 title-genre entries over 80 unique titles. Frequencies and correlations are computed over the 80 unique titles; genre means are computed over the 167 title-genre entries. The README gives the correspondence between the dataset codes and the labels used in the article, for both the genre categories and the TC subcategories.