Distributed game

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaThe demand for online games has risen over the years, expanding multiplayer support for new and different game genres. Among them are Massively Multiplayer Online games, one of the most popular and successful game types in the industry. Nowadays, this industry is thriving, evolving alongside technological advancements and producing billions in revenue, making it an economic importance. However, as the complexity of these games grows, so do the challenges they face when constructing them. This dissertation aims to implement a distributed game, through a proof of concept or an existing game, using a distributed architecture to acquire knowledge in the construction of such complex systems and the effort involved in dealing with consistency, maintaining communication infrastructure, and managing data in a distributed way. It is also intended that this project implements multiple mechanisms capable of autonomously helping manage and maintain the correct state of the system. To evaluate the proposed solution, a detailed analysis is carried out with performance benchmark analysis, stress testing, followed by an examination of its security, scalability, and distribution’s resilience. Overall, the present research work allowed for a greater understanding of the technologies and approaches used in constructing a gaming system, establishing a new set of development opportunities to be further investi gated upon the constructed solution.A procura por jogos online aumentou ao longo dos anos, expandindo o suporte multiplayer para novos e diferentes géneros. Entre estes estão os jogos Massively Multiplayer Online, um dos tipos de jogos mais populares e bem-sucedidos na indústria. Atualmente, esta indústria está a prosperar, evoluindo com os avanços tecnológicos e gerando milhares de milhões em receita, tornando-se uma importância económica. Porém, à medida que a complexidade destes jogos aumenta, também aumenta os problemas encontrados durante a sua construção. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo implementar um jogo distribuído, através de uma prova de conceito ou um jogo existente, usando uma arquitetura distribuída a fim de adquirir conhecimento na construção destes sistemas complexos e o esforço envolvido em lidar com consistência, manter a infraestrutura de comunicação e gerir dados de maneira distribuída. Para isto, é pretendido que este projeto também implemente vários mecanismos capazes de, forma autônoma, ajudar a gerir e manter o correto estado do sistema. Para avaliar o solução proposta, uma análise detalhada é realizada sobre o desempenho, segurança, escalabilidade e resiliência da distribuição do sistema. De forma geral, o presente trabalho de pesquisa permitiu uma maior compreensão das tecnologias e abordagens utilizadas na construção de um sistema de jogos, estabelecendo um novo conjunto de oportunidades de desenvolvimento a serem investigadas sobre a solução construída

Spin observation and trajectory prediction of a ping-pong ball

© 2014 IEEE. For ping-pong playing robots, observing a ball and predicting a ball's trajectory accurately in real-time is essential. However, most existing vision systems can only provide ball's position observation, and do not take into consideration the spin of the ball, which is very important in competitions. This paper proposes a way to observe and estimate ball's spin in real-time, and achieve an accurate prediction. Based on the fact that a spinning ball's motion can be separated into global movement and spinning respect to its center, we construct an integrated vision system to observe the two motions separately. With a pan-tilt vision system, the spinning motion is observed through recognizing the position of the brand on the ball and restoring the 3D pose of the ball. Then the spin state is estimated with the method of plane fitting on current and historical observations. With both position and spin information, accurate state estimation and trajectory prediction are realized via Extended Kalman Filter(EKF). Experimental results show the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

From Spacewar! to Twitch.tv: The Influence of Competition in Video Games and the Rise of eSports

Since their inception in the 1950s, video games have come a long way; with that advancement came more popularity, a growing demand, and an evolving culture. The first person shooter (FPS) video game genre and the competitive scene that was born out of it is an ideal case study to analyze this change over time. To understand how video games became so popular, one must examine their history: specifically, their development, impacts the games have had on society, and economic trajectories. Similar to traditional professional sports, video games experienced a cultural shift around their lucrative profit margins and unfolding professionalization of gamers as entertainers/athletes. Professional gaming started in the 1980s, where 10,000 participants competed in the Space Invaders Championship. Since then, video games evolved from being a casual past time to a career for some gamers. The resulting professional gaming community has attracted the attention of wealthy businessman, including a disproportionate number of iconic sports names, including the New York Yankees, Golden State Warriors, Magic Johnson, and Robert Kraft, who have all bought into eSports. All of this is possible due to advancement in technology and significantly improved graphics which allows game developers to increase the amount of content and quality of their games. Without continual advancement in these areas, gamers start to lose interest, which means no economic and societal growth. For example, games released in the early 2000s such as Counter Strike, World of Warcraft, and Halo have utilized online features to allow players to compete with whoever they want from the comfort of home, making it easier than ever for gamers to hone their skills against others. Today, constant updates and new titles are now the norm for successful video game companies; marking this particular industry and accompanying culture as a microcosm for global society at large