MetaboCraft: building a Minecraft plugin for metabolomics

Motivation: The rapid advances in metabolomics pose a significant challenge in presentation and interpretation of results. Development of new, engaging visual aids is crucial to advancing our understanding of new findings. Results: We have developed MetaboCraft, a Minecraft plugin which creates immersive visualisations of metabolic networks and pathways in a 3-D environment and allows the results of user experiments to be viewed in this context, presenting a novel approach to exploring the metabolome

Experimental Approaches to the Composition of Interactive Video Game Music

This project explores experimental approaches and strategies to the composition of interactive music for the medium of video games. Whilst music in video games has not enjoyed the technological progress that other aspects of the software have received, budgets expand and incomes from releases grow. Music is now arguably less interactive than it was in the 1990’s, and whilst graphics occupy large amounts of resources and development time, audio does not garner the same attention. This portfolio develops strategies and audio engines, creating music using the techniques of aleatoric composition, real-time remixing of existing work, and generative synthesisers. The project created music for three ‘open-form’ games : an example of the racing genre (Kart Racing Pro); an arena-based first-person shooter (Counter-Strike : Source); and a real-time strategy title (0 A.D.). These games represent a cross-section of ‘sandbox’- type games on the market, as well as all being examples of games with open-ended or open-source code

A Validation of Minecraft

UID/HIS/04666/2019The use of world-simulation videogames for cultural heritage (CH) communication presents one of the greatest opportunities for engaging people with the safeguarding of cultural resources. However, not all simulation videogames have the capacity to transmit heritage values efficiently. This article reviews the use of serious and commercial videogames in CH to frame and properly identify characteristics for the selection and assessment of videogames in the context of cultural communication. Based on the analysis of the capacities of videogames to motivate, immerse and represent reality, the videogame Minecraft is identified as one of the optimal solutions to represent and promote engagement with the cultural built environment. As such, the authors assessed the capacity of the videogame Minecraft to be used as an efficient tool to communicate built heritage environments, considering identified criteria on immersion, motivation, and fidelity on simulation.publishersversionpublishe

Virtual Simulation Platform for Training Semi-Autonomous Robotic Vehicles’ Operators

This chapter covers the development of a virtual simulation platform for training a semiautonomous robotic vehicle (SARV) operator via an open-source game engine called Unity3D. The SARV such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) is becoming increasingly popular in the maritime industry for risky jobs in inhospitable environments. The primary element in carrying out underwater missions in a hostile environment lies within the skills and experience of an ROV pilot. Training for ROV pilots is essential to prevent damage to expensive field equipment during the real operations. The proposed simulator differs from the existing simulators in the market is the use of modern game engine software to develop a “serious game” for ROV pilot trainee at much lower cost and shorter time-to-market. The results revealed that proposed virtual simulator can develop a high-fidelity virtual reality training for the underwater operation guided by classification society

Videogame agency as a bio-costs contract

This paper presents a novel descriptive model for agency in videogames as communication. Literature pertaining to interactive works including videogames has identified the need to overcome dyadic perspectives of communication in such works. Research specifically to do with agency has called for agency to no longer be confused with freedom of action, for an integrated perspective of the player and the system, and for that relationship to be viewed as a conversation. The transactional model in this paper achieves this by proposing a nested hierarchy of levels of communication that operate as an implicit contract, negotiated between the system and the player, where the object of the transaction is bio-costs, effected through the signalling of the attainability of understandings. The paper describes research antecedents, a research agenda, the basis for the model, the model itself, examples of how the model can be used to describe videogame designs, and future research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

VISUAL NOVEL ‘DUSTBIN DREAMING’ A BULLY STORY

People at the stage of adolescence may reject help and advice from their peers or elders as an effort to grow independent. At this era of technology, most teenagers will have come in contact frequently with electronic media such as smart phones and computers, and some may even see them as their only pillar of support. This project aims to support and advice this type of schooling teenagers, of age thirteen to seventeen, on at least one issue that many of them will meet in their school life, and that is bully. Also, this project hopes to rekindle reading as an attractive hobby. This project aims to create a Visual Novel titled ‘Dustbin Dreaming’ to achieve the above objectives. A visual novel is a work of interactive fiction which features clever usage of static graphics such as anime-style art, live-action stills, and sometimes video footage. The specialized platform that will be used to construct the game is called the Ren’Py engine. In addition, supporting tools such as Adobe Photoshop will be used to acquire image and sound resources for this project. This project is expected to be completed within 6 months of time by the end of November 2012

Metaverse Architecture. A Study on the Metaverse from an Architectural Perspective

O próximo metaverso é um mercado enorme com muitas oportunidades criativas sobre para surgir para os artistas. O mundo virtual tridimensional exigirá o desenvolvimento do ambientes que o povoam e os arquitetos devem ser a principal força por trás disso. Com tecnologias como realidade virtual e aumentada, a imersão nesses espaços parecerá quase tão real quanto o mundo físico. Embora o desenvolvimento tecnológico do campo é de extrema importância para o seu sucesso, vale ressaltar a importância obra arquitetônica terá também para a sensação humana de experimentar espaços virtuais. A indústria de jogos explora campos semelhantes há anos, mas carece do senso de casualidade interações ou experiências compartilhadas da mesma forma que o metaverso faz. Este lembra mais as mídias sociais do que os videogames. Neste espaço, os arquitetos são os web designers do metaverso. Como um campo completamente novo, pesquisar o metaverso e como ele pode ser benéfico para arquitetos requer uma certa quantidade de pensamento crítico e visões abstratas sobre o que é arquitetura tradicionalmente. Esse novo ramo artístico diverge do que atualmente definem arquitetura, tanto no sentido artístico, mas também no impacto social que tem na sociedade. Arquitetar o metaverso aborda ambos os lados de uma maneira diferente, virtualmente, mas cujas ramificações também impactam vidas humanas, ainda que em uma moderna rede global. Tal como está, o metaverso não tem uma definição concreta. Ainda é um conceito sendo construído e há várias opiniões sobre seu atual estágio de desenvolvimento e como será como um produto completo. Integrar uma arte como a arquitetura, com uma história tão rica e envolvendo experiências tradicionalmente tão fundamentadas em sensações físicas, focando sobre os principais componentes do metaverso e trabalhando com os mais confiáveis especulações do produto acabado é fundamental. A revolução digital iniciada no década de 1990 com a World Wide Web e ganhou força na transição para a década de 2010 com a portabilidade possível com smartphones e wearables, impactou vários indústrias, incluindo arquitetos. A profissão mudou drasticamente ao longo tempo, mas o metaverso pode se tornar o maior catalisador nos próximos anos, possivelmente ramificando arquitetos formados em outra profissão dedicada a o metaverso. Embora eles compartilhem conhecimentos semelhantes em habilidades como design espacial e modelagem 3D, eles diferem na chave de conhecimento para o produto de cada um. Metaverso arquitetos não exigem conhecimentos em áreas como engenharia, mas precisam compreender a tecnologia que suporta o seu trabalho. Todas as considerações corretas podem mudar à medida que o projeto se desenvolve, mas é importante que os arquitetos integrem no processo de construção do metaverso. Compreender a antropologia humana num espaço digital será um dos desafios a superado na criação de um universo virtual onde, embora não seja a realidade física que onde nascemos e vivemos, ainda é um lugar real, onde podemos socializar e viver experiências impossíveis sem ele, que ainda são projetadas por e para humanos. Nesta dissertação, reunimos informações sobre o que é o metaverso e possíveis formas como os arquitectos podem integrar o seu desenvolvimento, reflectindo sobre o seu estado actual e futuras integrações que possa ter pela sociedade.The upcoming metaverse is a massive market with a lot of creative opportunities about to surge for artists. The three dimensional virtual world will require development of the environments which populate it and architects should be the main force behind it. With technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, immersion in those spaces will feel almost as real as the physical world. Although the technological development of the field is massively important for its success, it's worth highlighting the importance architectural work will have as well for the human feel of experiencing virtual spaces. The gaming industry has explored similar fields for years, but lacks the sense of casual interactions or shared experiences in the same way the metaverse does. This one resembles more of social media than video games. In this space, architects are the web designers of the metaverse. As a completely new field, researching the metaverse and how it can be beneficial to architects requires a certain amount of critical thinking and abstract views on what is architecture traditionally. This new artist branch diverges from what we currently define architecture, both in the artist sense, but also in the social impact it has in society. Architecting the metaverse tackles both sides in a different manner, virtually, but which ramifications also impact human lives, albeit in a modern global network. As it stands, the metaverse doesn't have a concrete definition. It's still a concept being built and there's various opinions on its current development stage and what it'll look like as a complete product. To integrate an art like architecture, with such a rich history and involving experiences traditionally so grounded on physical sensations, focusing on the key components of the metaverse and working with the most credible speculations of the finished product is key. The digital revolution that started in the 1990's with the World Wide Web and gained traction in the transition into the 2010's with the portability possible with smartphones and wearables, has impacted multiple industries, including architects. The profession has changed drastically throughout time, but the metaverse might become the biggest catalyst in the next few years, possibly branching formed architects into another profession of its own dedicated to the metaverse. Though those share similar knowledge in skills such as spatial design and 3D modelling, they differ in knowledge key to each's product. Metaverse architects don't require knowledge in areas such as engineering, but do need to understand the technology that supports their work. All considerations going on right might change as the project develops, but it's important that architects integrate in the process of building the metaverse. Understanding human anthropology in a digital space will be one of the challenges to overcome in creating a virtual universe where, though it's not the physical reality we were born into and live in, is still a real place, where we can socialise and live experiences not possible without it, that's still designed by and for humans. In this dissertation, we gather information about what the metaverse is and possible ways architects can integrate its development, reflecting on its current stage and future integrations it can have by society