Högskolan i Skövde

As a medium that integrates entertainment and education, serious games show unique potential in cultural communication, and their effectiveness is highly dependent on scene design. This thesis focuses on the scene design of simulation games and explores how visual symbols, interactive mechanisms and narrative elements in scene design can promote cultural communication in a coordinated manner. Through a questionnaire data analysis of 36 simulation game players and a case study of Euro Truck Simulator 2 (SCS Software, 2021), the study found that: visual symbols intuitively present cultural backgrounds through architecture and landscapes, which is the primary channel for players to understand culture; interactive mechanisms enhance immersion through dynamic participation, but need to be deeply bound with cultural elements to enhance cultural cognition; narrative elements deepen cultural understanding through task background and environmental details, and stimulate interest in exploration. The study reveals the complementarity of the three elements of scene design, emphasizing that the design must take into account intuitiveness, participation and narrative depth, providing theoretical support for optimizing the cultural communication function of serious games.