Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2009

An experiment (

N

= 74) was conducted to investigate the impact of game difficulty and player performance on game enjoyment. Participants played a First Person Shooter game with systematically varied levels of difficulty. Satisfaction with performance and game enjoyment were assessed after playing. Results are not fully in line with predictions derived from flow and attribution theory and suggest players to (1) change their view on their own performance with its implications for enjoyment with increasing game experience and (2) to switch strategically between different sources of fun, thus maintaining a (somewhat) positive experience even when performance-based enjoyment is low.

This paper analyzes area revisitation patterns in World of Warcraft (WoW). Online-game players roam a number of in-game areas while playing the game and revisit some of them with different personal reasons. To clarify this issue, we conduct a large-scale analysis using WoW access log collected for two years consisting of more than sixty thousand characters and have discovered four main groups of area revisitation patterns. We describe also in the paper how our findings can be utilized to support both game developers and players.

In this this paper, we discuss the interest and the need to evaluate the difficulty of single player video games. We first show the importance of difficulty, drawing from semiotics to explain the link between tension-resolution cycles, and challenge with the player’s enjoyment. Then, we report related work on automatic gameplay analysis. We show through a simple experimentation that automatic video game analysis is both practicable and can lead to interesting results. We argue that automatic analysis tools are limited if they do not consider difficulty from the player point of view. The last section provides a player and Game Design oriented definition of the challenge and difficulty notions in games. As a consequence we derive the property that must fulfill a measurable definition of difficulty.

This paper proposes a system that controls and generates a humanoid robot’s dance motion in real-time using the timing of beats in musical audio signals. The system tracks changes in tempo and calculate the integration value of a decibel by analyzing audio signals in real-time. It uses the information to add changes to the robot’s dance motion. Beat intervals and the integration value of decibels are used to change the tempo and range of the robot’s dance motion respectively. We propose a method to synchronize dance motion of robot with musical beat, changing the robot’s dance motion interactively according to the input value.

An Augmented Reality (AR) book is an application that applies AR technologies to physical books for providing a new experience to users. In this paper, we propose a new marker-less tracking method for the AR book. The main goal of the tracker is not only to recognize many pages, but also to compute 6 DOF camera pose. As a result, we can augment different virtual contents according to the corresponding page. For this purpose, we use a multi-core programming approach that separates the page recognition module from the tracking module. In the page recognition module, highly distinctive Scale Invariant Features Transform (SIFT) features are used. In the tracking module, a coarse-to-fine approach is exploited for fast frame-to-frame matching. Our tracker provides more than 30 frames per second. In addition to the tracker, we explain multi-layer based data structure for maintaining the AR book. A GUI-based authoring tool is also shown to validate feasibility of the tracker and data structures. The proposed algorithm would be helpful to create various AR applications that require multiple planes tracking.

In this paper we focus on the Personal Space (PS) as a non-verbal communication concept to build a new Human Computer Interaction. The analysis of people positions with respect to their PS gives an idea on the nature of their relationship. We propose to analyze and model the PS using Computer Vision (CV), and visualize it using Computer Graphics. For this purpose, we define the PS based on four parameters: distance between people, their face orientations, age, and gender. We automatically estimate the first two parameters from image sequences using CV technology, while the two other parameters are set manually. Finally, we calculate the two-dimensional relationship of multiple persons and visualize it as 3D contours in real-time. Our method can sense and visualize invisible and unconscious PS distributions and convey the spatial relationship of users by an intuitive visual representation. The results of this paper can be used for Human Computer Interaction in public spaces.

Role-play can be a powerful educational tool, especially when dealing with social or ethical issues. However while other types of education activity have been routinely technology-enhanced for some time, the specific problems of supporting educational role-play with technology have only begun to be tackled recently. Within the eCIRCUS project we have designed a framework for technology-enhanced role-play with the aim of educating adolescents about intercultural empathy. This work was influenced by related fields such as intelligent virtual agents, interactive narrative and pervasive games. In this paper we will describe the different components of our role-play technology by means of a prototype implementation of this technology, the ORIENT showcase. Furthermore we will present some preliminary results of our first evaluation trials of ORIENT.

This paper presents a system called

MusicCommentator

that suggests possible comments on appropriate temporal positions in a musical audio clip. In an online video sharing service, many users can provide free-form text comments for temporal events occurring in clips not for entire clips. To emulate the commenting behavior of users, we propose a joint probabilistic model of audio signals and comments. The system trains the model by using existing clips and users’ comments given to those clips. Given a new clip and some of its comments, the model is used to estimate what temporal positions could be commented on and what comments could be added to those positions. It then concatenates possible words by taking language constraints into account. Our experimental results showed that using existing comments in a new clip resulted in improved accuracy for generating suitable comments to it.

We describe our new mobile media content browser called a

MiniDiver

. MiniDiving considers media browsing as a personal experience that is viewed, personalized, saved, shared and annotated. When placed on a mobile platform, such as the iPhone

TM

, consideration of the particular interface elements lead to new ways to experience media content. The MiniDiver interface elements currently supports multi-camera selection, video hyperlinks, history mechanisms and semantic and episodic video search. We compare performance of the MiniDiver on different media streams to illustrate its feasibility.

This study employed the uses and gratifications approach to examine children’s choice of gaming genres. The measure of prosocial behavioral tendency was used as an approximation of a child’s offline gratification, and this was related to the exposure to three different genres of games (violent, aggressive and prosocial). The influence of education level was also taken into consideration. Data was compiled and analyzed from a survey conducted on Singaporean schoolchildren (

N

= 2,640). Overall results supported the supplementary model of gratification seeking behavior. Children with higher prosocial scores spent significantly less time playing violent and aggressive games, whereas children of a higher education level spent more time playing games of all genres. The results are presented and discussed.

The scientific and industrial community related to the videogame (VG) research and business is ever more concerned about the need for proper evaluation and assessment of games. This paper proposes an assessment methodology based on the Personal Construct Theory (PCT). The PCT allows identifying constructs can be processed to define a space where domain-relevant items – VGs, in our case - can be positioned. The main praise of PCT is that the test-leading researcher does not supply users with a predefined set of constructs, which may bias the evaluation process. Moreover, PCT joins qualitative aspects with a quantitative evaluation of their relevance, which is particularly useful for an operational approach also to game design. In this paper, we study the application of the PCT to the particular case of the evaluation of whole typologies of VGs. Discussing the results, we draw and highlight that VGs are perceived as engaging challenges where personal abilities are continuously put to the test. This stresses the reactive nature of VGs and the fact that players like being stimulated and developing and testing their reaction capabilities.

Plot composition is examined here at a logic design level, an intermediate stage that comes next to the conceptual level wherein the intended narrative genre is specified. An abstract data structure is proposed to represent plots, together with an algebra for manipulating the data structure. Our purpose is to adapt for narratives the strategy applied to databases by Codd’s relational model. The basic operators of our Plot-Manipulation Algebra (PMA) are introduced in view of the four fundamental relations between events that we identified in a previous work. A logic programming prototype was implemented in order to run examples using the algebra.

We propose the massive action control system (MACS) for interactive narrative entertainment. MACS determines the action priorities for characters based in part on their own internal states, such as the motivation behind the action, feeling, and personality. MACS selects a behavior control module, called an episode tree, of about 1000 events, which is divided into action types based on these internal states and external situations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system with the Spilant World interactive animation contents at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Japan, and NAMCO amusement park.

In recent years, with the rapid improvement of the performance of computers, new possibilities for real-time simulation technologies are emerging. In this study, we simulated the behavior of water in real time and combined this simulation with a measurement of the user’s 3D motion to simulate the interaction between water and light, as observed in Noctiluca. Noctiluca is oceanic plankton that produces light when physically stimulated. Stirring the surface of water containing Noctiluca in a completely dark place causes the surface to glow, and an observer can gain the mystical and fantastic experience of watching the glow becoming dim with the flow of the water.

This paper describes AR-Jazz, an augmented reality application designed to visualize sound and movements in live jazz performances. The augmented scenario is achieved within the program Max MSP Jitter, with an integrated inertial sensor and a microphone. As a display, a cinema screen is used. The application was first shown at the SedaJazz Festival 2007 in Valencia (Spain). In first place, a workshop was made in order the musicians to become familiar with the application. Secondly, a live performance was shown. The experience is described in this paper.

Technical museums are goods targets for experimenting with sound immersion and soundscape authoring. This paper presents an immersive sound system emitting audio content. Experimentations were conducted with a wired, proof-of-concept prototype and two wireless devices. Our system takes into consideration the position of museum visitors as well as their orientation and visual vector. In contrast with other approaches, tracking and rendering are executed locally and in real-time by the visitor’s device.

One kind of pleasure that jam sessions bring is deciding a melody or an accompaniment while mutually predicting what the other participants are going to play. We propose a jam session system, called

BayesianBand

, which provides this kind of musical pleasure through sessions with computers. With this system, the chord progression in a session is not fixed in advance but rather is determined in real time by predicting the user’s melody. The user, while improvising, is also expected to predict the chord progression generated by the system; accordingly, a cooperative jam session based on the mutual prediction will be achieved. To build this system, we constructed a model for melody prediction and chord inference based on a Bayesian network.

This paper describes a singing design method based on morphing, the design and development of an intuitive interface to assist morphing-based singing design. The proposed interface has a function for real-time morphing, based on simple operation with a mouse, and an editor to control the singing features in detail. The user is able to enhance singing voices efficiently by using these two functions. In this paper, we discuss the requirement for an interface to assist in morphing-based singing design, and develope an interface to fulfill the requirement.

As is well-known, cultures are rooted in their unique regions, histories and languages. Communication media have been developed to circulate these cultural characteristics. As a part of our research “Cultural Computing”, which means the translation of cultures using scientific methods representing essential aspects of Japanese culture[1], an interactive Renku poem generation supporting system was developed to study the reproduction of a traditional Japanese Renku by computer. This system extended the functionality of our previous Hitch-Haiku system to the Renku based on same association method and attached more cultural characteristics on it: the Renku verse displayed on the Japanese-style color pattern which represents the same season in Renku Kigo (seasonal reference) and the generated Renku verse including the information of sightseeing place.

In this paper the authors evaluate Chevron’s Energyville, as an example of a persuasive technology, which is used to change attitudes and behaviours. The authors want to explore thissimulation in terms of it’s potential to be transplanted as a persuasive technology into the South African context, given the fact that South Africa is experiencing an energy crisis currently and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

In this paper we propose four models of unmanned blimps:

Robots

,

Pets

,

Agents

, and

Puppets,

according to whether they are autonomous or not and whether they are shown to people or not.

Robots

and

Pets

are autonomous and

Agents

and

Puppets

are not autonomous.

Robots

and

Agents

are shown to people and

Pets

and

Puppets

are not shown to people. Based on these models, we approach toward interactive blimps as puppets, which visualize performances from people to people with real time effects and motions. We implemented prototype applications where people could make performances through controls of the blimp’s light effects and flight motions with voice via mobile phones and a physical controller. We organized observations of these prototypes at a laboratory experiment and demo exhibitions. We also discuss our models based on spectators’ experience.

Creativity is an important activity in many professional and leisure domains. This article presents a first step towards a system which will provide a set of tools for enhancing the individual creative abilities of the user in a design task. We have identified aspects which are characterise individual creativity: motivation, domain knowledge, externalization, inspiration and analogies, and requirements handling. Based on these aspects we have defined requirements and suggest associated system functionalities.

TanGram, is an original music score composed by Carlos D. Perales for Percussion Quartet and Nintendo Wii Remotes used as a wireless interface for Live Electronics. This paper examines how this composition explores exiting research in interaction and communication between instruments and digital sound processing discourse to produce a unique music mixed-media score, to explore the sonic possibilities of a multi-timbrical instrument with the integration of the visual gestures of an accessible device using processes of real-time gestural mimesis.

In this paper, we present TNT (Touch ‘n’ Tangibles) - a new combination of several existing hardware technologies, which are integrated into an LC-display. TNT enables users to interact using finger touch and tangible user interfaces at the same time on an active flat panel screen, while maintaining precise identification of all interactive objects and fingers. TNT can accurately distinguish between touch and Tangible User Interfaces input by assigning different time slots to each interactive object using the same sensing technology for both methods. TNT’s tracking is not affected by objects on the screen other than fingers and active Tangibles User Interfaces, which makes it ideal for use in brainstorming applications.

A narrative game is described here which main goal is to support childrens´ free expression and socialization considering their cultural background. This game can be used at school, in which students can develop a story together under the teacher’s supervision. The idea is to support teachers to create characters and scenarios according to the students´ cultural context, expressed in their common sense knowledge, and consequently enabling them to get engaged on developing the story collaboratively. Also, teacher has the common sense’s support to conduct the story according to the facts are being narrated, to stimuli the students’ communion. This cultural sensitive RPG-like environment intends to promote a closer contact between teacher and students and among students giving them a more contextualized computer tool to be stimulated to freely express their thoughts, desires and to support them to cooperative work with teachers what is desirable for their intellectual and cognitive development.

In this paper, we propose multi-layer based authoring tool for Digilog Book. The main feature is that a user can author some properties of printed contents of a paper book. Those properties can be utilized for virtual contents authoring. The proposed authoring tool provides an interface to allocate some properties for printed contents. Those properties are utilized in manipulating virtual contents. As a result, users can author a realistic Digilog Book.

In this paper we describe short mobile video story tests that have been done by using several authors/ users as story composers in the MoViE platform, which enables users to share, communicate and compose short mobile video stories in a networked community. The starting point of our study is the possibility to create an entertaining, dramaturgically intensive and coherent story from various short mobile videos composed by several authors, if there is some structure or storyline that creates the narrative. The idea was to research how separately filmed mobile videos from the same event or experience could form a dramaturgically intensive story when they are loaded into a web based story generator (MoViE). The test hypothesis was that a community – whether virtual or non virtual – could create an entertaining experience through a video montage.

In the social network of a web-based online game, all players are not equal. Through network analysis, we show that the community of players in a online social game is an example of a scale free small world network and that the growth of the player-base obeys a power law.

The community is centred around a minority group of “hardcore” players who define the social environment for the game, and without whom the social network would collapse. Methods are discussed for identifying this critically important subset of players automatically through analysing social behaviours within the game.

Player feedback data was collected for the pervasive game “Meet Your Heartbeat Twin”, an event-type LBS (Location-Based Service) game including affective computing through the player’s live heartbeats. Correlation analysis of the data demonstrates broad client profile for pervasive games, covering age, gender and hobbies. The data also shows that Urban Games are clearly a novel experience; they are not an extension neither from video games, nor from mobile phone casual games. Surprisingly, the online sharing of the player’s very personal data, player’s location and live heart rate was not perceived as a critical issue at all. As expected, game control is crucial: to have fun, players need some adaptation time for GPS orientation and this even for a very low level complexity of mobile phone usage.

According to advancements in video technology, there are lots of needs for various special effects of videos. The conventional image-transform effects could be applied to video streams, but non-photorealistic rendering effects are not easy to apply. For example, cartoon or illustration effects have expensive costs in video transformation which makes it difficult to execute in real-time. In this paper, we suggest a video transformation system with illustration effects. It is designed to apply the illustration effects to the video stream directly and is implemented to achieve real time performances using the GPU hardware with NVIDIA’s CUDA.

Render farm is widely used in movie industry to solve the long rendering time problem. By parallel computing rendering jobs, render farm can speedup the rendering process in a scalable way. In this paper, we present an efficient design of render farm system name DRFarm in distributed environment. The most important feature of the system is the capacity aware task scheduling strategy. We first introduce the hierarchy tasks subdivision method which ensures flexible merging and dividing tasks. By carefully grouping tasks and dynamically assign them in different modes, the overall parallel rendering time can be reduced by exploiting coherence comparing to conventional methods. Furthermore, to adopt various rendering jobs from different locations, we design a general rendering service interface with unified job definition.

Strategy games constitute a significant challenge for game AI, as they involve a large number of states, agents and actions. This makes indeed the decision and learning algorithms difficult to design and implement. Many commercial strategy games use scripts in order to simulate intelligence, combined with knowledge which is in principle not accessible to human players, such as the position of the enemy base or the offensive power of its army. Nevertheless, recent research on adaptive techniques has shown promising results. The goal of this paper is to present the extension such a research methodology, named

Strada

, so that it is made applicable to the real-time strategy platform ORTS. The adaptations necessary to make

Strada

applicable to ORTS are detailed and involve the use of dynamic tactical points and specific training scenario for the learning AI. Two sets of experiments are conducted to evaluate the performances of the new method.

To increase a player’s immersion in the game world, its objects should behave as one would reasonably expect. For this, it is now becoming increasingly clear that what game objects really miss is richer semantics, not eye-catching visuals. Current games’ lack of semantics is mostly due to the difficulty of game designers to realize such complex objects. This paper proposes a solution to this problem in the form of services, characterizing classes of game objects. An example of this is the service of a vending machine, which exchanges a coin for a soda. A three-phased methodology is presented to incrementally specify and add services to game objects. This approach has been implemented and validated by means of a prototype system, which enables a simple and intuitive definition of services in an integrated environment. It is concluded that game objects aware of their services facilitate more and better object interaction, therefore improving gameplay as well.