Multimodality with Eye tracking and Haptics: A New Horizon for Serious Games?

The goal of this review is to illustrate the emerging use of multimodal virtual reality that can benefit learning-based games. The review begins with an introduction to multimodal virtual reality in serious games and we provide a brief discussion of why cognitive processes involved in learning and training are enhanced under immersive virtual environments. We initially outline studies that have used eye tracking and haptic feedback independently in serious games, and then review some innovative applications that have already combined eye tracking and haptic devices in order to provide applicable multimodal frameworks for learning-based games. Finally, some general conclusions are identified and clarified in order to advance current understanding in multimodal serious game production as well as exploring possible areas for new applications

A serious game about recycling rules

Nowadays serious games is one of the biggest existing industries and it is still growing steadily in many sectors. As a major subset of serious games, designing and developing virtual reality applications to support education or promote social behavior has become a promising frontier, because games technology is inexpensive, widely available, fun and entertaining for people of all ages, with several health conditions and different sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities. In this paper, we provide an overview about a serious game with a perspective of virtual reality for social behavior. The work uses a serious game in an immersive learning environment for recycling learning. In order to improve the user experience the game was developed to work in a cave-like immersive environment, with natural interaction selective alternative. The game includes static and dynamic 3D environments, allowing to share the experience of scenario navigation among users, even geographically distributed.XIII Workshop Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización (WCGIV)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

A serious game about recycling rules

Nowadays serious games is one of the biggest existing industries and it is still growing steadily in many sectors. As a major subset of serious games, designing and developing virtual reality applications to support education or promote social behavior has become a promising frontier, because games technology is inexpensive, widely available, fun and entertaining for people of all ages, with several health conditions and different sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities. In this paper, we provide an overview about a serious game with a perspective of virtual reality for social behavior. The work uses a serious game in an immersive learning environment for recycling learning. In order to improve the user experience the game was developed to work in a cave-like immersive environment, with natural interaction selective alternative. The game includes static and dynamic 3D environments, allowing to share the experience of scenario navigation among users, even geographically distributed.XIII Workshop Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización (WCGIV)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Designing interactive virtual environments with feedback in health applications.

One of the most important factors to influence user experience in human-computer interaction is the user emotional reaction. Interactive environments including serious games that are responsive to user emotions improve their effectiveness and user satisfactions. Testing and training for user emotional competence is meaningful in healthcare field, which has motivated us to analyze immersive affective games using emotional feedbacks. In this dissertation, a systematic model of designing interactive environment is presented, which consists of three essential modules: affect modeling, affect recognition, and affect control. In order to collect data for analysis and construct these modules, a series of experiments were conducted using virtual reality (VR) to evoke user emotional reactions and monitoring the reactions by physiological data. The analysis results lead to the novel approach of a framework to design affective gaming in virtual reality, including the descriptions on the aspects of interaction mechanism, graph-based structure, and user modeling. Oculus Rift was used in the experiments to provide immersive virtual reality with affective scenarios, and a sample application was implemented as cross-platform VR physical training serious game for elderly people to demonstrate the essential parts of the framework. The measurements of playability and effectiveness are discussed. The introduced framework should be used as a guiding principle for designing affective VR serious games. Possible healthcare applications include emotion competence training, educational softwares, as well as therapy methods

AUGGMED: developing multiplayer serious games technology to enhance first responder training

Many serious games are designed for single player access only. However, the benefits of the immersive nature of serious games and virtual reality may be enhanced when teams who usually train together can also do so within a virtual environment. The purpose of this article is to outline the architecture of the AUGGMED serious game and discuss the technical challenges faced when creating a multiplayer counter terrorism training serious game utilising virtual reality, touch screen interfaces and a realistic crowd simulation. AUGGMED is designed using an agile modular approach utilising user centred design principles, with each technical developer owning a set of tools which are continuously integrated, piloted, and improved throughout the development cycle. Constant piloting with first responders enables iterative improvements, which meet end user training requirements. Building a multiplayer training game specialised in providing realistic simulation of real situations, and enabling users to interface with the simulation through virtual reality identifies a large set of technical challenges. The article identifies a number of the challenges faced while developing AUGGMED and the solutions used to overcome them, including barriers and logistical/technical difficulties to integrating multiple existing (Exodus crowd simulation) and new (virtual reality) technologies into a single serious game for training first responders

A serious game about recycling rules

Nowadays serious games is one of the biggest existing industries and it is still growing steadily in many sectors. As a major subset of serious games, designing and developing virtual reality applications to support education or promote social behavior has become a promising frontier, because games technology is inexpensive, widely available, fun and entertaining for people of all ages, with several health conditions and different sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities. In this paper, we provide an overview about a serious game with a perspective of virtual reality for social behavior. The work uses a serious game in an immersive learning environment for recycling learning. In order to improve the user experience the game was developed to work in a cave-like immersive environment, with natural interaction selective alternative. The game includes static and dynamic 3D environments, allowing to share the experience of scenario navigation among users, even geographically distributed.XIII Workshop Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización (WCGIV)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Basic and Advanced Life Support Training

The use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for life support training is increasing. These technologies provide an immersive experience that supports learning in a safe and controlled environment. This review focuses on the use of AR and VR for emergency care training for health care providers, medical students, and nonprofessionals. In particular, we analyzed (1) serious games, nonimmersive games, both single-player and multiplayer; (2) VR tools ranging from semi-immersive to immersive virtual and mixed reality; and (3) AR applications. All the toolkits have been investigated in terms of application goals (training, assessment, or both), simulated procedures, and skills. The main goal of this work is to summarize and organize the findings of studies coming from multiple research areas in order to make them accessible to all the professionals involved in medical simulation. The analysis of the state-of-the-art technologies reveals that tools and studies related to the multiplayer experience, haptic feedback, and evaluation of user’s manual skills in the foregoing health care-related environments are still limited and require further investigation. Also, there is an additional need to conduct studies aimed at assessing whether AR/VR-based systems are superior or, at the minimum, comparable to traditional training methods

Reconciling the dissonance between Historic Preservation and Virtual Reality through a Place-based Virtual Heritage system.

This study explores a problematic disconnect associated with virtual heritage and the immersive 3D computer modeling of cultural heritage. The products of virtual heritage often fail to adhere to long-standing principles and recent international conventions associated with historic preservation, heritage recording, designation, and interpretation. By drawing upon the geographic concepts of space, landscape, and place, along with advances in Geographic Information Systems, first-person serious games, and head-mounted Virtual Reality platforms this study envisions, designs, implements, and evaluates a virtual heritage system that seeks to reconcile the dissonance between Virtual Reality and historic preservation. Finally, the dissertation examines the contributions and future directions of such a Place-based Virtual Heritage system in human geography and historic preservation planning and interpretation