A Framework for Designing 3d Virtual Environments

The process of design and development of virtual environments can be supported by tools and frameworks, to save time in technical aspects and focusing on the content. In this paper we present an academic framework which provides several levels of abstraction to ease this work. It includes state-of-the-art components we devised or integrated adopting open-source solutions in order to face specific problems. Its architecture is modular and customizable, the code is open-source.\u

Automated state of play: rethinking anthropocentric rules of the game

Automation of play has become an ever more noticeable phenomenon in the domain of video games, expressed by self-playing game worlds, self-acting characters, and non-human agents traversing multiplayer spaces. This article proposes to look at AI-driven non-human play and, what follows, rethink digital games, taking into consideration their cybernetic nature, thus departing from the anthropocentric perspectives dominating the field of Game Studies. A decentralised post-humanist reading, as the author argues, not only allows to rethink digital games and play, but is a necessary condition to critically reflect AI, which due to the fictional character of video games, often plays by very different rules than the so-called “true” AI

Endomorphisms of spaces of virtual vectors fixed by a discrete group

Consider a unitary representation $\pi$ of a discrete group $G$, which, when restricted to an almost normal subgroup $\Gamma\subseteq G$, is of type II. We analyze the associated unitary representation $\overline{\pi}^{\rm{p}}$ of $G$ on the Hilbert space of "virtual" $\Gamma_0$-invariant vectors, where $\Gamma_0$ runs over a suitable class of finite index subgroups of $\Gamma$. The unitary representation $\overline{\pi}^{\rm{p}}$ of $G$ is uniquely determined by the requirement that the Hecke operators, for all $\Gamma_0$, are the "block matrix coefficients" of $\overline{\pi}^{\rm{p}}$. If $\pi|_\Gamma$ is an integer multiple of the regular representation, there exists a subspace $L$ of the Hilbert space of the representation $\pi$, acting as a fundamental domain for $\Gamma$. In this case, the space of $\Gamma$-invariant vectors is identified with $L$. When $\pi|_\Gamma$ is not an integer multiple of the regular representation, (e.g. if $G=PGL(2,\mathbb Z[\frac{1}{p}])$, $\Gamma$ is the modular group, $\pi$ belongs to the discrete series of representations of $PSL(2,\mathbb R)$, and the $\Gamma$-invariant vectors are the cusp forms) we assume that $\pi$ is the restriction to a subspace $H_0$ of a larger unitary representation having a subspace $L$ as above. The operator angle between the projection $P_L$ onto $L$ (typically the characteristic function of the fundamental domain) and the projection $P_0$ onto the subspace $H_0$ (typically a Bergman projection onto a space of analytic functions), is the analogue of the space of $\Gamma$- invariant vectors. We prove that the character of the unitary representation $\overline{\pi}^{\rm{p}}$ is uniquely determined by the character of the representation $\pi$.Comment: The exposition has been improved and a normalization constant has been addressed. The result allows a direct computation for the characters of the unitary representation on spaces of invariant vectors (for example automorphic forms) in terms of the characters of the representation to which the fixed vectors are associated (e.g discrete series of PSL(2, R) for automorphic forms

Overview of crowd simulation in computer graphics

High-powered technology use computer graphics in education, entertainment, games, simulation, and virtual heritage applications has led it to become an important area of research. In simulation, according to Tecchia et al. (2002), it is important to create an interactive, complex, and realistic virtual world so that the user can have an immersive experience during navigation through the world. As the size and complexity of the environments in the virtual world increased, it becomes more necessary to populate them with peoples, and this is the reason why rendering the crowd in real-time is very crucial. Generally, crowd simulation consists of three important areas. They are realism of behavioral (Thompson and Marchant 1995), high-quality visualization (Dobbyn et al. 2005) and convergence of both areas. Realism of behavioral is mainly used for simple 2D visualizations because most of the attentions are concentrated on simulating the behaviors of the group. High quality visualization is regularly used for movie productions and computer games. It gives intention on producing more convincing visual rather than realism of behaviors. The convergences of both areas are mainly used for application like training systems. In order to make the training system more effective, the element of valid replication of the behaviors and high-quality visualization is added

Synthesis of variable dancing styles based on a compact spatiotemporal representation of dance

Dance as a complex expressive form of motion is able to convey emotion, meaning and social idiosyncrasies that opens channels for non-verbal communication, and promotes rich cross-modal interactions with music and the environment. As such, realistic dancing characters may incorporate crossmodal information and variability of the dance forms through compact representations that may describe the movement structure in terms of its spatial and temporal organization. In this paper, we propose a novel method for synthesizing beatsynchronous dancing motions based on a compact topological model of dance styles, previously captured with a motion capture system. The model was based on the Topological Gesture Analysis (TGA) which conveys a discrete three-dimensional point-cloud representation of the dance, by describing the spatiotemporal variability of its gestural trajectories into uniform spherical distributions, according to classes of the musical meter. The methodology for synthesizing the modeled dance traces back the topological representations, constrained with definable metrical and spatial parameters, into complete dance instances whose variability is controlled by stochastic processes that considers both TGA distributions and the kinematic constraints of the body morphology. In order to assess the relevance and flexibility of each parameter into feasibly reproducing the style of the captured dance, we correlated both captured and synthesized trajectories of samba dancing sequences in relation to the level of compression of the used model, and report on a subjective evaluation over a set of six tests. The achieved results validated our approach, suggesting that a periodic dancing style, and its musical synchrony, can be feasibly reproduced from a suitably parametrized discrete spatiotemporal representation of the gestural motion trajectories, with a notable degree of compression

The Challenge of Believability in Video Games: Definitions, Agents Models and Imitation Learning

In this paper, we address the problem of creating believable agents (virtual characters) in video games. We consider only one meaning of believability, ``giving the feeling of being controlled by a player'', and outline the problem of its evaluation. We present several models for agents in games which can produce believable behaviours, both from industry and research. For high level of believability, learning and especially imitation learning seems to be the way to go. We make a quick overview of different approaches to make video games' agents learn from players. To conclude we propose a two-step method to develop new models for believable agents. First we must find the criteria for believability for our application and define an evaluation method. Then the model and the learning algorithm can be designed

Is a Technological Singularity near also for bots in MMOGs?

Using the idea of the Technological Singularity this essay offers some reflections on the possible future of bots in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). The paper starts by briefly introducing the notion of Technological Singularity as the advent of a super-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that could threaten human existence. Bots are computer programs that automate repetitive and time consuming activities for the Internet user. In MMOGs, bots are often used to cheat and could have nefarious effects on the gameplay. Assuming that bots are rudimentary forms of Artificial Intelligence that also pose a threat to MMOGs and their players, the paper presents some evidence-based trends of the future evolution of bots and the implications of these for Virtual Worlds research

Automation of play:theorizing self-playing games and post-human ludic agents

This article offers a critical reflection on automation of play and its significance for the theoretical inquiries into digital games and play. Automation has become an ever more noticeable phenomenon in the domain of video games, expressed by self-playing game worlds, self-acting characters, and non-human agents traversing multiplayer spaces. On the following pages, the author explores various instances of automated non-human play and proposes a post-human theoretical lens, which may help to create a new framework for the understanding of videogames, renegotiate the current theories of interaction prevalent in game studies, and rethink the relationship between human players and digital games