Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games

Narrative design combines game design and game writing. It uses the mechanics of game design to create a dramatically compelling story to the game player. In a broader sense, narrative design is a unity of carefully selected game mechanics that would adhere the story elements in either textual or symbolic/visual form with the aim to fulfil the desired gaming experience for the players. Narrative design can be textual, visual, or aural. It is usually a tight bond of all these mediums telling the story directly through players’ senses in a form of gaming experience that was set by the game designer.</p

Exploring virtual reality mechanics in puzzle design

We explore practical implementations of various custom virtual reality mechanics, developed specifically for this study, in the context of puzzle game design with an experimental approach. These mechanics include swimming, crawling, climbing, and hiding objects in virtual spaces. Each mechanic has two different variations: realistic and game-like, and the main goal is to test which variation is more enjoyable to use.Convenience sampling is used in the study and the sample size is 22 volunteers. Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected. The data collection methods used are questionnaire and observation. The enjoyability of the mechanics is evaluated based on four different aspects: perceived realism, personal traits and abilities of the testing sample, the testing order, and perceived difficulty. A special interest is to observe whether real-life skills corresponding to the studied mechanics affect the enjoyment and performance levels in the respective mechanics. The more realistic mechanics turn out to be more enjoyable by a significant margin, suggesting that they should be utilised in the future. Additionally, the real-life diving and swimming skills, puzzle variation testing order, previous gaming experience, and testers' familiarity with the testing supervisor are identified to have a clear impact on the enjoyment levels. </p

Detecting a Colluding Subset in a Simple Two-Dimensional Game

Collusion is covert co-operation between the participants of a game. Detecting the colluding players can require discerning and understanding the player's motivation, which is often difficult task even for humans. In this paper we analyse experimental data from a simple two-dimensional game using synthetic players. We calculate information gains of the features in the data to show how well they indicate collusion. Then we examine J4.8 decision tree classifiers learned from the data and use them to detect the colluding subsets

A Comparison of Gesture and Controller-based User Interfaces for 3D Design Reviews in Virtual Reality

We present a custom virtual reality (VR) hand-tracking user interface developed in Unity, and compare it with a similar industry level application (CTRL Elements) utilising controllers. Both applications afford spawning, relocating, reorienting, and rescaling 3D-models within a virtual environment in addition to horizontal, vertical, and rotational user movement options. The interfaces are tested with Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, which is also responsible for the hand-tracking. Our main motivation is to gain an insight into whether hand-tracking UIs could provide added value to industrial design review solutions. We also pinpoint the major advantages and flaws in the controllerless approach and report which of our gesture-based controls are the most intuitive and usable

Puheentunnistusteknologian nykytilanne ja mahdollisuudet elektronisissa peleissä

Puheentunnistus on kypsynyt teknologisesti niin, ett&auml; massamarkkinoille voidaan tuoda helppok&auml;ytt&ouml;isi&auml; tuotteita. Peliteollisuus on jo aiemmin kunnostautunut ennakkoluulottomasti kokeilemaan uutta teknologiaa ja tuonut uusia innovaatioita markkinoille. Microsoftin Kinect-oheislaitteen sis&auml;lt&auml;m&auml;n valmiin puheentunnistusta tukevan ohjelmointirajapinnan my&ouml;t&auml; puheentunnistus saattaa olla seuraava merkitt&auml;v&auml; elektronisia pelej&auml; uudistava ohjauselementti. T&auml;ss&auml; katsauksessa tarkastellaan sek&auml; puheteknologian kehittymist&auml;, asiaa k&auml;sittelev&auml;&auml; tieteellist&auml; tutkimusta ett&auml; vuosien saatossa julkaistuja puheohjausta hy&ouml;dynt&auml;vi&auml; kaupallisia pelej&auml;. Lopuksi pohditaan lyhyesti tekniikan avaamia uusia mahdollisuuksia

Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games

Gamification ethics refers to the study and understanding of right and wrong conducts by or with gamified solutions. As gamification taps into the natural playfulness of human beings, ethical issues are prevalent and must be considered by the developers.</p

Validating Gameplay Activity Inventory (GAIN) for Modeling Player Profiles

In the present study, we validated Gameplay Activity Inventory (GAIN), a short and psychometrically sound instrument for measuring players' gameplay preferences and modeling player pro les. In Study 1, participants in Finland (N = 879) responded to a 52-item version of GAIN. An exploratory factor analysis was used to identify ve latent factors of gameplay activity appreciation: Aggression, Management, Exploration, Coordination, and Caretaking. In Study 2, respondents in Canada (N = 1; 322) and Japan (N = 1; 178) responded to GAIN, and the factor structure of a 15-item version was examined using a Con rmatory Factor Analysis. The results showed that the short version of GAIN has good construct validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity in Japan and in Canada. We demonstrated the usefulness of GAIN by conducting a cluster analysis to identify player types that differ inboth demographics and game choice. GAIN can be used in research as a tool for investigating player pro les. Game companies, publishers and analysts can utilize GAIN in player-centric game development and targeted marketing and in generating personalized game recommendations.</p

Videoconferencing Applications for Training Professionals on Nonverbal Communication in Online Clinical Consultations

Objectives The use of videoconferencing technologies for clinician-patient online consultations has become increasingly popular. Training on online communication competence through a videoconferencing application that integrates nonverbal communication detection with feedback is one way to prepare future clinicians to conduct effective online consultations. This case report describes and evaluates two such applications designed for healthcare professionals and students in healthcare-related fields. Methods We conducted a literature review using five databases, including the Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ACM, IEEE, and CINAHL in the spring of 2022. Results We identified seven studies on two applications, ReflectLive and EQClinic. These studies were conducted by two research groups from the USA and Australia and were published between 2016 and 2020. Both detected nonverbal communication from video and audio and provided computer-generated feedback on users’ nonverbal communication. The studies evaluated usability, effectiveness in learning communication skills, and changes in the users’ awareness of their nonverbal communication. The developed applications were deemed feasible. However, the feedback given by the applications needs improvement to be more beneficial to the user. The applications were primarily evaluated with medical students, with limited or no attention given to questions regarding ethics, information security, privacy, sustainability, and costs. Conclusions Current research on videoconferencing systems for training online consultation skills is very limited. Future research is needed to develop more user-centered solutions, focusing on a multidisciplinary group of students and professionals, and to explore the implications of these technologies from a broader perspective, including ethics, information security, privacy, sustainability, and costs