gEYEded: Subtle and Challenging Gaze-Based Player Guidance in Exploration Games

This paper investigates the effects of gaze-based player guidance on the perceived game experience, performance, and challenge in a first-person exploration game. In contrast to existing research, the proposed approach takes the game context into account by providing players not only with guidance but also granting them an engaging game experience with a focus on exploration. This is achieved by incorporating gaze-sensitive areas that indicate the location of relevant game objects. A comparative study was carried out to validate our concept and to examine if a game supported with a gaze guidance feature triggers a more immersive game experience in comparison to a crosshair guidance version and a solution without any guidance support. In general, our study findings reveal a more positive impact of the gaze-based guidance approach on the experience and performance in comparison to the other two conditions. However, subjects had a similar impression concerning the game challenge in all conditions

Full Body Acting Rehearsal in a Networked Virtual Environment-A Case Study

In order to rehearse for a play or a scene from a movie, it is generally required that the actors are physically present at the same time in the same place. In this paper we present an example and experience of a full body motion shared virtual environment (SVE) for rehearsal. The system allows actors and directors to meet in an SVE in order to rehearse scenes for a play or a movie, that is, to perform some dialogue and blocking (positions, movements, and displacements of actors in the scene) rehearsal through a full body interactive virtual reality (VR) system. The system combines immersive VR rendering techniques as well as network capabilities together with full body tracking. Two actors and a director rehearsed from separate locations. One actor and the director were in London (located in separate rooms) while the second actor was in Barcelona. The Barcelona actor used a wide field-of-view head-tracked head-mounted display, and wore a body suit for real-time motion capture and display. The London actor was in a Cave system, with head and partial body tracking. Each actor was presented to the other as an avatar in the shared virtual environment, and the director could see the whole scenario on a desktop display, and intervene by voice commands. A video stream in a window displayed in the virtual environment also represented the director. The London participant was a professional actor, who afterward commented on the utility of the system for acting rehearsal. It was concluded that full body tracking and corresponding real-time display of all the actors' movements would be a critical requirement, and that blocking was possible down to the level of detail of gestures. Details of the implementation, actors, and director experiences are provided

Expert evaluation of aspects related to virtual reality systems and suggestions for future studies

Abstract. In this bachelor’s thesis, we review existing quantitative and qualitative research on virtual reality systems. We then present suggestions for performing a future study to combine the objective and subjective measurements of virtual reality experience. Additionally, we adapted an existing heuristics-based expert evaluation method to suit evaluating virtual reality systems. Using our method, we performed the expert evaluation on a selection of five modern consumer virtual reality systems to understand the connections between the subjective experience and the physical variables related to the virtual reality system. From this evaluation, we present findings that are used to construct discussion and to draw conclusions on these said connections. We found the most prominent conclusion to be that the experience of virtual reality is highly subjective and dependent on the content being viewed in virtual reality. Additionally, we concluded that some of the most important aspects in need of improvement are display resolution, lens design, user ergonomics, and lack of wirelessness. Finally, we state that two optimization problems are present; the first one being the optimization required to design a virtual reality system and the second one being the act of choosing a system to match a consumer’s preferred content.Tiivistelmä. Tässä kandidaatin tutkielmassa käymme läpi aiempaa kvantitatiivista ja kvalitatiivista tutkimusta virtuaalitodellisuusjärjestelmistä. Esitämme myös ehdotuksia myöhempää tutkimusta varten virtuaalitodellisuuteen liittyvien objektiivisten ja subjektiivisten mittausten yhdistämiseksi. Tämän lisäksi adaptoimme aiemman heuristiikkapohjaisen asiantuntija-arvioinnin sopimaan virtuaalitodellisuusjärjestelmien arviointiin. Käyttäen metodiamme toteutimme asiantuntija-arvioinnin viidellä modernilla kuluttajakäyttöön tarkoitetulla virtuaalitodellisuusjärjestelmällä ymmärtääksemme yhteyksiä subjektiivisen kokemuksen ja niiden fysikaalisten muuttujien välillä, jotka liittyvät virtuaalitodellisuusjärjestelmiin. Esitämme tämän asiantuntija-arvioinnin löydöksiä, ja luomme niiden avulla keskustelua, jonka avulla teemme mainittuihin yhteyksiin liittyviä johtopäätöksiä. Tärkein johtopäätöksemme oli se, että virtuaalitodellisuuden kokemus on erittäin subjektiivinen ja riippuvainen siitä sisällöstä, jota virtuaalitodellisuudessa koetaan. Aiemman lisäksi toteamme, että merkittävimpiä kehitystä kaipaavia osa-alueita ovat näytön resoluutio, linssien suunnittelu, käyttäjäergonomia ja langattomuuden puute. Viimeisenä totesimme, että virtuaalitodellisuusjärjestelmiin liittyy kaksi optimointiongelmaa; ensimmäinen liittyy järjestelmän suunnittelussa tapahtuvaan optimointiin, ja toinen liittyy sellaisen järjestelmän valitsemiseen, joka sopii kunkin kuluttajan suosimaan tarkoitukseen

Devising the ludoclip: a video ludic approach to the cinematography and rhythm of the music video

Treball final de Grau en Disseny i Desenvolupament de Videojocs. Codi: VJ1241. Curs acadèmic: 2021/2022This document presents the technical report of the Final Degree Project "Devising the ludoclip: a video ludic approach to the cinematography and rhythm of the music video", which focuses on the exploration of the commercial, artistic and ludic possibilities of the interactive music video, as well as on the limits of the application of video game development methodologies to the cinematographic field and vice versa. For this purpose, and according to specific rules and needs, the work conceives a new type of audiovisual work, halfway between the music video and the musical game, which is studied as an additional, complementary, or substitute part of the audiovisual medium, and specifically of its effective and satisfactory implementation in a universal, volatile, and "McDonalized" [1] context such as that of the music industry. In order to meet these requirements, the work is based on the development of a four-minute three-dimensional proposal, which takes the structure and rhythm of the contemporary music video to offer a music video game of similar characteristics, but which finds in its interactive nature new excuses to emotionally involve the player with the message, the sound and the lyrics of the song, making use of several resources of the audiovisual language (transitions, photography, symbolisms), and building a concrete interactive experience in its duration and message but in constant change whose mechanics mutate and adapt progressively to what it wants to convey

Staging and production : a proposal to develop a computer software program for opera and theatre directors

"The production of a play, musical or opera can be compared to the manufacture of any complicated process or product. At present, there is no standard method of accumulating the data necessary for staging a play, musical, or opera, even though the production process is similar for all three. Theatrical productions have stage managers, directors, and assistants responsible for collecting forms, reports, and design-plans in various formats. This data is taken by hand, on personal laptops, or on software programs such as AutoCAD (Computer Assisted Design) or WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). Software programs currently in use are not particularly linked or compatible. This lack of a cohesive data retrieval system is frustrating, time consuming, and expensive. The focus of this study is to propose and describe one possible solution. Existing technologies could be developed into a software system, henceforward called Artisterene´, that gathers, stores, and organizes theatrical production data. This software system functions as a virtual prompt script with three major components that work in tandem. The first component is an interactive, three-dimensional animation program for blocking (movement on stage). The second module is a secure online subscription service of theatrical databases (stage dimensions, technical capabilities, scores or scripts, contacts, etc.). The third component synchronizes cues extracted from master lists submitted by each production team (lighting, sound, and set design). These color-coded cues are superimposed on the U¨berscript (master script or score) for the current production. This system manages the production process from beginning to end. Management can remotely edit production data by using hand-held devices. The production data is then added to a show-specific repository with online access by authorized personnel. Database subscriptions and software sales of Artisterene´ will target opera and theatre companies, and educational institutions. This software system will standardize the production process and greatly reduce planning and rehearsal time. Artisterene´ could emerge as the universal format for sharing production data, and could become a definitive teaching tool used to train directors and stage managers."--Abstract from author supplied metadata