A Generative Model of Group Conversation

Conversations with non-player characters (NPCs) in games are typically confined to dialogue between a human player and a virtual agent, where the conversation is initiated and controlled by the player. To create richer, more believable environments for players, we need conversational behavior to reflect initiative on the part of the NPCs, including conversations that include multiple NPCs who interact with one another as well as the player. We describe a generative computational model of group conversation between agents, an abstract simulation of discussion in a small group setting. We define conversational interactions in terms of rules for turn taking and interruption, as well as belief change, sentiment change, and emotional response, all of which are dependent on agent personality, context, and relationships. We evaluate our model using a parameterized expressive range analysis, observing correlations between simulation parameters and features of the resulting conversations. This analysis confirms, for example, that character personalities will predict how often they speak, and that heterogeneous groups of characters will generate more belief change.Comment: Accepted submission for the Workshop on Non-Player Characters and Social Believability in Games at FDG 201

Creation of an interactive environment through the development of a Videogame Engine

Treball final de Grau en Disseny i Desenvolupament de Videojocs. Codi: VJ1241. Curs acadèmic: 2021/2022This work consists of the development of a videogame engine that facilitates the creation of games with 2D and 3D graphics, mainly shooters, RPGs in 2D or isometric perspective, and board or puzzle games with basic mechanics. This project is focused on developing an efficient and modular engine, which can be easily used through a graphical interface, which is possible thanks to the internal design of the engine or API for each part of it. This interface allows to create entities and add components to them, such as code to give them behavior, textures, or physics among others, also allows saving and loading scenes, facilitating the development of several complex projects

SpaceRaceEdu: Development of a Gamified Educational Tool for Self-Study and Evaluation

This Bachelor Thesis is an investigation into the field of new technologies in education with regards to the gamification of learning and examinations. The software created in this investigation is designed to increase student participation, foment teamwork, improve educational outlook, and serve as a psychologically less invasive way to examine a student’s knowledge when compared to a typical written exam. This investigation considers the experiences of teachers with varying years of experience in the educational field as well as a multitude of age ranges, to demonstrate how effective gamified education is at primary, secondary, and university level. The software developed in this thesis creates a limited virtual environment, inspired by contemporary multiplayer games, in which students work in teams to resolve tasks set out by the teacher. The game incorporates elements of limited competition as well as elements of cooperation. The cooperative aspects encourage teamwork and good sportsmanship while the competitive aspects increase the entertainment factor of typical class assignments. The aforementioned tasks involve visually appealing, gamified versions of multiple-choice questions, mathematical solutions, categorization, ordering and identification. These tasks are designed in such a way as to not negatively affect a student’s desire to learn, wherein they allow for unlimited, monitored retries and can be exited and returned to at a later point in the game. This means that the students are not discouraged through typical examination tactics like negative scoring on incorrect responses, rather, they are encouraged in a safe, diverting environment to make the mistakes that will help them grow as problem solvers and human beings. This software is designed to keep track of the number of tries a student takes to complete a task and the number of tasks completed by the student, as a way for the teacher to gauge the learning curve of each student individually. These statistics will be available for future revisions, allowing the teacher to, using their own discretion, evaluate the performance of their students. The testing process was completed through a series of opinionative surveys regarding limited gamplay videos. These initial tests have shown a positive response to the gamification of subject matter mostly in primary and secondary institutions, and university level studies which require higher levels of memorization rather than independent thought experiments and idea development. The student response was also positive, in that most students opted for revisions (if the subject matter permits) done using this software because of the entertainment value and the competitive aspects

Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications

Refugee Shelter in a Logistical World: Designing Goods for Supply Chain Humanitarianism

Focusing on the design and production of the IKEA Foundation "Better Shelter" and on its use in a camp on the island of Lesvos, Greece, this article explores the role of logistical calculative rationales in the provision of emergency shelters to refugees. It argues that an engagement with the critical geographies of logistics contributes to the study of such "humanitarian goods" in two main ways. First, it foregrounds the technologies that allow emergency shelter products to circulate across production sites and disaster and border zones, and their connections to broader infrastructures and commercial networks in what recent literature has called "supply-chain humanitarianism". Second, a logistical lens highlights the disruptions that characterise the production and usage of emergency shelter products. The analysis adds to a body of work that exposes humanitarian technology and design as sites of friction, deeply embedded in global processes of bordering and accumulation.Peer reviewe

A Serious Games Development Environment

Un ambiente per lo sviluppo di Serious Game

Volume 42, Number 1, March 2022 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized March 2022 issue of the OLAC Newsletter