170 research outputs found
Digi Island: A Serious Game for Teaching and Learning Digital Circuit Optimization
Karnaugh maps, also known as K-maps, are a tool used to optimize or simplify digital logic circuits. A K-map is a graphical display of a logic circuit. K-map optimization is essentially the process of finding a minimum number of maximal aggregations of K-map cells. with values of 1 according to a set of rules. The Digi Island is a serious game designed for aiding students to learn K-map optimization. The game takes place on an exotic island (called Digi Island) in the Pacific Ocean . The player is an adventurer to the Digi Island and will transform it into a tourist attraction by developing real estates, such as amusement parks.and hotels. The Digi Island game elegantly converts boring 1s and Os in digital circuits into usable and unusable spaces on a beautiful island and transforms K-map optimization into real estate development, an activity with which many students are familiar and also interested in. This paper discusses the design, development, and some preliminary results of the Digi Island game
Introducing Game Development into the University Curriculum
Integrating computer games development into computer science curriculum is gaining acceptance. However, the question is how this should be done. In our course on computer game development we present all necessary steps that a game project has to address, from design to publication and marketing, from the theoretical to the practical point of view. The goal is that each student makes a casual game for Apple iOS platform and possibly publishes it. The games are built on our xni framework for iOS, which is a subset of Microsoftâs xna. We take an iterative incremental approach to teaching game development, where we discuss a number of selected topics from various categories, such as gameplay design, graphics and artificial intelligence, each week. Thereafter the students receive mandatory and non-mandatory assignments that force them to add functionality to their game and, thus, steadily progress towards their goal. At the end of the course more than 20 % of all projects were ready for the Apple App Store, which, together with student pools saying that the course was one of the best executed courses they attended, confirms the viability of the suggested scheme
Coupling BIM and game engine technologies for construction knowledge enhancement
Interactions and collaboration between parties in construction projects are often characterised by misunderstandings and poor information exchange. Game engine technologies, when employed with building information modelling (BIM), can help address these shortcomings. Quite often, the visualisation capabilities of BIM models are not explored fully partly because of their limited interactive capability. While game engines are powerful in visualisation and interactions in the gaming industry, the literature suggests a lack of understanding of the applicability of the same in construction. This study investigates the potential of the use of game engines in construction practice which culminated in a framework that can guide the implementation of the same in enhancing interactive building walkthroughs
Serious interface design for dental health: Wiimote-based tangible interaction for school children
This paper describes a camera-based approach towards creating a tangible interface for serious games. We introduce our game for dental health targeted at school children which implements the Nintendo WiiMote as infrared camera. Paired with a gesture-recognition system, this combination allows us to apply real-world items as input devices. Thereby, the game tries to address different aspects of dental hygiene along with the improvement of children's motor skills. In our focus group test, we found that tangible interfaces offer great potential for educational purposes and can be used to engage kids in a playful learning process by addressing their childlike curiosity and fostering implicit learning
Serious games: design and development
With the growth of the video game industry, interest in video game research has
increased, leading to the study of Serious Games. Serious Games are generally
perceived as games that use the video gamesâ capabilities to emerge players, for other
purposes besides entertainment. These purposes include education and training, among others. By using Serious Games for education, teachers could capture the studentsâ attention in the same way that video games often do, thus the learning process could be more efficient. Additionally, by exploiting the potential of these virtual worlds, it is possible to experience situations that would otherwise be very difficult to experience in the real world, mainly due to reasons of cost, safety and time.
Serious Games research and development is still very scarse. However, nowadays
there is a large number of available platforms and tools, which can be used to develop Serious Games and video games in general. For instance, web browsers can now
provide easy access to realistic 3D virtual worlds. This grants video game developers
the tools to create compelling and rich environments that can be accessed by anyone
with an internet connection. Additionnaly, other development platforms can be used
to achieve different goals. Desktop technologies provide greater processing power and achieve greater results in terms of visual quality, as well as in terms of creating more accurate simulations.
This disseration describes the design and development of two Serious Games, one
for PC, developed with XNA, and another for the web, developed with WebGL.O crescimento da indĂșstria dos jogos de vĂdeo, despoletou um maior interesse no estudo
deste fenĂłmeno, o que consequentemente levou ao estudo de Jogos SĂ©rios. Jogos SĂ©rios
sĂŁo normalmente considerados jogos de vĂdeo que sĂŁo desenvolvidos para outros fins
para além do entretenimento. Estes fins incluem a educação e o treino, entre outros.
Ao utilizar Jogos Sérios para a educação, os docentes poderiam conseguir captar a
atenção dos alunos da mesma forma que os jogos de vĂdeo normalmente conseguem.
Desta forma o processo de aprendizagem poderia ser mais eficiente. Adicionalmente,
ao explorar o potencial destes mundos virtuais, Ă© possĂvel experienciar situaçÔes que
de outra forma seriam difĂceis de experienciar na vida real, devido ao seu custo, a
razÔes de segurança e também ao tempo dispendido para as realizar.
O estudo de Jogos SĂ©rios Ă© ainda bastante disperso. No entanto, hoje em dia existe
jĂĄ um grande nĂșmero de plataformas e ferramentas disponĂveis que podem ser usadas
para desenvolver Jogos SĂ©rios. Por exemplo, os web browsers podem agora fornecer
acesso fĂĄcil a mundos virtuais 3D. Isto permite que os criadores de jogos de vĂdeo
tenham acesso Ă s ferramentas necessĂĄrias para criar ambientes ricos, que possam ser
acedidos por qualquer pessoa através de uma ligacção à internet. Adicionalmente,
existem outras plataformas de desenvolvimento que podem ser utilizadas para alcançar
objetivos diferentes. Tecnologias desktop fornecem um maior poder de processamento
e permitem alcançar melhores resultados em termos de qualidade visual, bem como em
termos de criação de simulaçÔes mais precisas.
Nesta dissertação descreve-se a criação e o desenvolvimento de dois Jogos Sérios,
um para PC, desenvolvido em XNA e outro outro para a web, desenvolvido em WebGL
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The use of motion-based technology for people living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment: a literature review
Background: The number of people living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is increasing substantially. Although there are many research efforts directed toward the prevention and treatment of dementia and MCI, it is also important to learn more about supporting people to live well with dementia or MCI through cognitive, physical, and leisure means. While past research suggests that technology can be used to support positive aging for people with dementia or MCI, the use of motion-based technology has not been thoroughly explored with this population.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and synthesize the current literature involving the use of motion-based technology for people living with dementia or MCI by identifying themes while noting areas requiring further research.
Methods: A systematic review of studies involving the use of motion-based technology for human participants living with dementia or MCI was conducted.
Results: A total of 31 articles met the inclusion criteria. Five questions are addressed concerning (1) context of use; (2) population included (ie, dementia, MCI, or both); (3) hardware and software selection; (4) use of motion-based technology in a group or individual setting; and (5) details about the introduction, teaching, and support methods applied when using the motion-based technology with people living with dementia or MCI.
Conclusions: The findings of this review confirm the potential of motion-based technology to improve the lives of people living with dementia or MCI. The use of this technology also spans across several contexts including cognitive, physical, and leisure; all of which support multidimensional well-being. The literature provides evidence that people living with dementia or MCI can learn how to use this technology and that they enjoy doing so. However, there is a lack of information provided in the literature regarding the introduction, training, and support methods applied when using this form of technology with this population. Future research should address the appropriate introduction, teaching, and support required for people living with dementia or MCI to use the motion-based technology. In addition, it is recommended that the diverse needs of these specific end-users be considered in the design and development of this technology
Computer-Assisted Interactive Documentary and Performance Arts in Illimitable Space
This major component of the research described in this thesis is 3D computer
graphics, specifically the realistic physics-based softbody simulation and
haptic responsive environments. Minor components include advanced
human-computer interaction environments, non-linear documentary storytelling,
and theatre performance. The journey of this research has been unusual because
it requires a researcher with solid knowledge and background in multiple
disciplines; who also has to be creative and sensitive in order to combine the
possible areas into a new research direction. [...] It focuses on the advanced
computer graphics and emerges from experimental cinematic works and theatrical
artistic practices. Some development content and installations are completed to
prove and evaluate the described concepts and to be convincing. [...] To
summarize, the resulting work involves not only artistic creativity, but
solving or combining technological hurdles in motion tracking, pattern
recognition, force feedback control, etc., with the available documentary
footage on film, video, or images, and text via a variety of devices [....] and
programming, and installing all the needed interfaces such that it all works in
real-time. Thus, the contribution to the knowledge advancement is in solving
these interfacing problems and the real-time aspects of the interaction that
have uses in film industry, fashion industry, new age interactive theatre,
computer games, and web-based technologies and services for entertainment and
education. It also includes building up on this experience to integrate Kinect-
and haptic-based interaction, artistic scenery rendering, and other forms of
control. This research work connects all the research disciplines, seemingly
disjoint fields of research, such as computer graphics, documentary film,
interactive media, and theatre performance together.Comment: PhD thesis copy; 272 pages, 83 figures, 6 algorithm
A Game Based, Financial Literacy Oriented Approach to Improving Programming Education
Every year, two thirds of college seniors (about 1.8 million) in the US graduate with significant debts, but most of them are poorly equipped with essential financial knowledge to manage their debts and make intelligent financial decisions. Programming courses are uniquely positioned to offer opportunities to help students improve financial literacy. However, there have been no integrated courses to exploit the synergy. Meanwhile, computing disciplines face continued challenges of getting students interested in computing and finding ways to improve learning effectiveness. To address these challenges, we are developing an innovative teaching strategy that infuses financial literacy into four computing courses and engages students to develop financial literacy games. Studentsâ interests and learning outcomes will be improved because they enjoy computer games and are motivated when they use computing skills to address issues closely related to their daily lives
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