Physiological-Based Difficulty Assessment for Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Games

Funding Information: This work is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), under HEI-Lab R&D Unit (UIDB/05380/2020) and Project PlayersAll: media agency and empowerment (EXPL/COM-OUT/088 2/2021). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Owner/Author.This paper proposes an empirical framework that aims to classify difficulty according to the player's physiological response. As part of the experimental protocol, a simple puzzle-based Virtual Reality (VR) videogame with three levels of difficulty was developed, each targeting a distinct region of the valence-arousal space. A study involving 32 participants was conducted, during which physiological responses (EDA, ECG, Respiration), were measured alongside emotional ratings, which were self-assessed using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) during gameplay. Statistical analysis of the self-reports verified the effectiveness of the three levels in eliciting different emotions. Furthermore, classification using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) was performed to predict difficulty considering the physiological responses associated with each level. Results report an overall F1-score of 74.05% in detecting the three levels of difficulty, which validates the adopted methodology and encourages further research with a larger dataset.publishe

Modelling affect for horror soundscapes

The feeling of horror within movies or games relies on the audience’s perception of a tense atmosphere — often achieved through sound accompanied by the on-screen drama — guiding its emotional experience throughout the scene or game-play sequence. These progressions are often crafted through an a priori knowledge of how a scene or game-play sequence will playout, and the intended emotional patterns a game director wants to transmit. The appropriate design of sound becomes even more challenging once the scenery and the general context is autonomously generated by an algorithm. Towards realizing sound-based affective interaction in games this paper explores the creation of computational models capable of ranking short audio pieces based on crowdsourced annotations of tension, arousal and valence. Affect models are trained via preference learning on over a thousand annotations with the use of support vector machines, whose inputs are low-level features extracted from the audio assets of a comprehensive sound library. The models constructed in this work are able to predict the tension, arousal and valence elicited by sound, respectively, with an accuracy of approximately 65%, 66% and 72%.peer-reviewe

Exploring Horror VR Game Interaction and its Influence on Anxiety

Funding Information: This work is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), under Project PlayersAll: media agency and empowerment (EXPL/COM-OUT/088 2/2021). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Owner/Author.Video games are increasingly present and are currently a dominant vehicle not only for entertainment, but also for information. This position has generated a rapid growth and consequent increase in competitiveness in the game development industry, which has required the exploration of new techniques to engage users. Considering the crucial role of emotions in this domain, an increasingly appreciated approach is the integration of psychophysiology in this context. This project is thus included in the field of psychophysiological analysis, framed within the branch of video games, and consists of the study of different actions and how they can influence emotional intensity. To understand the emotional reactions of players, two versions of a horror game in virtual reality were created, which differ in the way users interact with doors along a virtual scenario. The objective of this work is to understand if more intricate interactions can increase the intensity of human bodily reactions. Thus, to observe this potential phenomenon physiological data was acquired: electrodermal activity, electrocardiogram and respiration; in addition to self-reported questionnaires. Results showed that the version that had a more positive global evaluation by the participants was also the one that presented a higher variation in some physiological indicators, such as heart rate and respiratory signal amplitude. Despite this, no significant differences were observed between both versions, indicating that further study is necessary for any in-depth conclusions.publishersversionpublishe

Can computers foster human users' creativity? Theory and praxis of mixed-initiative co-creativity

This article discusses the impact of artificially intelligent computers to the process of design, play and educational activities. A computational process which has the necessary intelligence and creativity to take a proactive role in such activities can not only support human creativity but also foster it and prompt lateral thinking. The argument is made both from the perspective of human creativity, where the computational input is treated as an external stimulus which triggers re-framing of humans’ routines and mental associations, but also from the perspective of computational creativity where human input and initiative constrains the search space of the algorithm, enabling it to focus on specific possible solutions to a problem rather than globally search for the optimal. The article reviews four mixed-initiative tools (for design and educational play) based on how they contribute to human-machine co-creativity. These paradigms serve different purposes, afford different human interaction methods and incorporate different computationally creative processes. Assessing how co-creativity is facilitated on a per-paradigm basis strengthens the theoretical argument and provides an initial seed for future work in the burgeoning domain of mixed-initiative interaction.peer-reviewe

Hybrid Manufacturing: Integrating Direct Write and Stereolithography

A commercial stereolithography (SL) machine was modified to integrate fluid dispensing or direct-write (DW) technology with SL in an integrated manufacturing environment for automated and efficient hybrid manufacturing of complex electrical devices, combining threedimensional (3D) electrical circuitry with SL-manufactured parts. The modified SL system operates similarly to a commercially available machine, although build interrupts were used to stop and start the SL build while depositing fluid using the DW system. An additional linear encoder was attached to the SL platform z-stage and used to maintain accurate part registration during the SL and DW build processes. Individual STL files were required as part of the manufacturing process plan. The DW system employed a three-axis translation mechanism that was integrated with the commercial SL machine. Registration between the SL part, SL laser and the DW nozzle was maintained through the use of 0.025-inch diameter cylindrical reference holes manufactured in the part during SL. After depositing conductive ink using DW, the SL laser was commanded to trace the profile until the ink was cured. The current system allows for easy exchange between SL and DW in order to manufacture fully functional 3D electrical circuits and structures in a semi-automated environment. To demonstrate the manufacturing capabilities, the hybrid SL/DW setup was used to make a simple multi-layer SL part with embedded circuitry. This hybrid system is not intended to function as a commercial system, it is intended for experimental demonstration only. This hybrid SL/DW system has the potential for manufacturing fully functional electromechanical devices that are more compact, less expensive, and more reliable than their conventional predecessors, and work is ongoing in order to fully automate the current system.Mechanical Engineerin

Can computers foster human users' creativity? Theory and praxis of mixed-initiative co-creativity

This article discusses the impact of artificially intelligent computers to the process of design, play and educational activities. A computational process which has the necessary intelligence and creativity to take a proactive role in such activities can not only support human creativity but also foster it and prompt lateral thinking. The argument is made both from the perspective of human creativity, where the computational input is treated as an external stimulus which triggers re-framing of humans’ routines and mental associations, but also from the perspective of computational creativity where human input and initiative constrains the search space of the algorithm, enabling it to focus on specific possible solutions to a problem rather than globally search for the optimal. The article reviews four mixed-initiative tools (for design and educational play) based on how they contribute to human-machine co-creativity. These paradigms serve different purposes, afford different human interaction methods and incorporate different computationally creative processes. Assessing how co-creativity is facilitated on a per-paradigm basis strengthens the theoretical argument and provides an initial seed for future work in the burgeoning domain of mixed-initiative interaction.peer-reviewe

Framing tension for game generation

Emotional progression in narratives is carefully structured by human authors to create unexpected and exciting situations, often culminating in a climactic moment. This paper explores how an autonomous computational designer can create frames of tension which guide the procedural creation of levels and their soundscapes in a digital horror game. Using narrative concepts, the autonomous designer can describe an intended experience that the automated level generator must adhere to. The level generator interprets this intent, bound by the possibilities and constraints of the game. The tension of the generated level guides the allocation of sounds in the level, using a crowdsourced model of tension.peer-reviewe

Sonancia : sonification of procedurally generated game levels

How can creative elements brought from level design effectively be coupled with audio in order to create tense and engaging player experiences? In this paper the above question is posed through the sonification of procedurally generated digital game levels. The paper details some initial approaches and methodologies for achieving this core aim.The research is supported, in part, by the FP7 ICT project C2Learn (project no: 318480) and the FP7 Marie Curie CIG project AutoGameDesign (project no: 630665).peer-reviewe

Sonancia : a multi-faceted generator for horror

Fear and tension are the primary emotions elicited by the genre of horror, a peculiar characteristic for media whose sole purpose is to entertain. The audience is often lead into tense and fearful situations, meticulously crafted by the authors using a narrative progression and a combination of visual and auditory stimuli. This paper presents a playable demonstration of the Sonancia system, a multi-faceted content generator for 3D horror games, with the capability of generating levels and their corresponding soundscapes. Designers can also guide the level generation process, by defining an intended progression of tension, which the level generator and sonification will adhere to.peer-reviewe

Investigating collaborative creativity via machine-mediated game blending

Can the creativity of humans be enhanced through mutual cooperation, or is it a detriment to their own individual creativity? Although most artists are known for their artistic individuality, some of the best creative works were achieved through mutual collaborative efforts. This paper proposes the study of a game blending system capable of combining user- And machine-generated content from multiple users and creativity facets (e.g., audio, visuals, narrative) for the creation of complete games. Supported by mixed-initiative design tools and human computation (crowdsourcing), users create facet- specific content, while getting stimulated by other creations on different facets by other users. Our research will investigate the ability for machine input into the collaborative process to yield games of higher novelty and quality for players.peer-reviewe