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< Back ​ Dr Mona Jaber ​ ​ Supervisor ​ ​ Mona Jaber is a lecturer in Internet of Things (IoT) who’s research is centred at the intersection of IoT and machine learning for sustainable development goals. In particular, she is interested in harnessing IoT data to model mobility trends in a digital twin platform that allows users to test future measures in a verisimilar virtual environment. Her research is grounded in privacy-preserving measures for capturing and analysing IoT data. She is the winner of a new investigator award research grant (DASMATE £500K) in which she examines distributed acoustic sensors systems and a privacy-preserving alternative data source to model active travel. She is interested in supervising students on the topic of serious game building that engages the public in shaping their neighbourhood through interventions in the virtual environment towards sustainable 15 minutes city goals. ​ m.jaber@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon http://eecs.qmul.ac.uk/profiles/jabermona.html Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/mona-jaber/ LinkedIn Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Accessibility Applied Games Game AI - Previous Next

< Back ​ Sokol Murturi Goldsmiths ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ ​ AI for game design: learning from designers For my PhD I am investigating how AI can help developers by learning to generate content in a similar fashion to the developers themselves. I envision a framework based on reinforcement learning, where an AI can learn a design policy for some content domain (e.g., FPS maps or platformer levels) by observing human designers. The AI would learn to take particular design actions in certain kinds of content states. Recent research into reinforcement learning has shown it is a powerful framework for developing complex agent behaviours and I believe there is a lot of potential to apply this work to game design. How would a human and artificial designer interact? Assume that an AI has learned to design a specific kind of content, such as a house, by observing human designers at work. A human designer could then partially develop some new content, and ask the AI to suggest some variations on it (see figure below), with both AI and human iterating on the design in a mixed-initiative interaction. The AI could learn from feedback from both the human designer and playtesting. As human feedback may not produce enough data for effective learning, the AI could perhaps extend this with data from simulated playtests. Game design decisions are often made with an expectation of how the player will react, and I could also look at how player models could be incorporated into the AI designer. In a reinforcement learning approach, the state could represent content+player, and the AI could learn to take design actions aimed a specific types of player. Developers could use this framework to develop content targeted at an individual player's style. Moreover, if the AI has learned something about how the human designer creates content, it can then be used live during the game to modify game elements in response to player interaction. Developers could set up modular levels, giving the AI the ability to adapt certain areas with content generated specifically to match the player. ​ smurt001@gold.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back ​ Maximilian Croissant University of York ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ Available for post-PhD position I’m a psychology researcher, writer and game designer, exploring our emotional connection with games and creating games with purpose. Coming from a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in psychology and neuroscience, I’m now at the intersection of emotion research, design, and human-computer interaction and try to build design-oriented solutions for adapting game content to affective data. My project will include theoretical groundwork, investigating the emotional relationship between player and games and from there build an affective fear-focused VR horror game with specific and practical solutions in terms of emotion measurement, modelling, and adaptation. The ultimate goal is to help fill knowledge gaps that currently hold us back on making commercially viable affective games and provide tools to design games for a deep emotional impact. I’m also the Co-Founder of Vanilla Noir, a small studio working on applied games that aim to promote well-being and satisfying user experiences. For me, games are a great tool to explore psychological phenomena through interactions and the design and development of games based on applied psychology has great potential to help make the world a bit of a better place. ​ mc2230@york.ac.uk Email http://www.maximilian-croissant.de/en Mastodon https://www.vanilla-noir.com Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilian-croissant LinkedIn Twitter https://gitlab.com/MaximilianCroissant Github Supervisor(s) Dr Cade McCall Featured Publication(s): An appraisal-based chain-of-emotion architecture for affective language model game agents Emotion Design for Video Games: A Framework for Affective Interactivity Theories, methodologies, and effects of affect-adaptive games: A systematic review A data-driven approach for examining the demand for relaxation games on Steam during the COVID-19 pandemic Endocannabinoid concentrations in hair and mental health of unaccompanied refugee minors Progress in Adaptive Web Surveys: Comparing Three Standard Strategies and Selecting the Best Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Queen Mary University of London iGGi Research Collaboration Coordinator Supervisor ​ ​ Laurissa Tokarchuk is a senior lecturer and researcher working on playful ways of exploring and integrating virtual and real world space. Her primary focus is looking at engaging ways of creating and interacting with AR content in games and incorporating physical sensors for increasing playability in mobile games. Her interests also include merging AI with mobile and social sensing to detect events and behaviours in crowds and games, and the use of technology to promote learning/well-being. Her research has resulted in the widely used SensingKit framework, best poster awards, media appearances in the Guardian and BBC (Royal Institution Christmas Lectures). She is particularly interested in supervising students on the following topics: AR/VR games for learning and cognition design for promoting behaviour change understanding and designing for player behaviour and curiosity in games Research themes: Game AI Games with a Purpose Computational Creativity Player Experience ​ laurissa.tokarchuk@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~laurissa/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurissa-tokarchuk-27aa3214/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/laurissa Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Applied Games Creative Computing Game AI Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Sahar Mirhadi University of York ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ Available for post-PhD position After completing a Master's degree in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, Sahar became intrigued by the potential of games to help individuals deal with challenging times, drawing from her experience of using games to cope with burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. After joining the IGGI program is 2021, this passion has only developed in research and advocacy work, from being a student rep and conference committee between 2021-2023. In addition to her academic pursuits, Sahar is an accomplished Magic: The Gathering player. She also runs a YouTube channel called the Legacy Gambit, which provides fun and accessible content for the eternal Magic: The Gathering formats. Sahar is also a Safe In Our World Ambassador, a recipient of the Magic: The Gathering New Perspectives Grant for Marginalised Players, and a member of the Birds of Paradise collective. A description of Sahar's research: Sahar's research delves into the multifaceted role of video games in helping individuals cope with personal difficulties. Her first study examined how specific aspects of games can facilitate various coping strategies during challenging times. The findings suggested that games have unique attributes that can assist players in dealing with difficult circumstances and engaging in different coping strategies. Her subsequent research study aims to have a deeper understanding by focusing on specific games with distinct core mechanics and features to uncover more nuanced relationships between different game elements and coping strategies, and to establish how these relationships evolve over time. Her overall aim with these studies aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricate dynamics between video game aspects and coping mechanisms, shedding light on the potential benefits and limitations of video games in supporting individuals facing personal challenges. ​ sm2904@york.ac.uk Email https://linktr.ee/saharmirhadi Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/saharmirhadi/ LinkedIn https://x.com/saharmirhadi Twitter Github Supervisors: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Jo Iacovides ​ Themes Player Research Previous Next

< Back Clyde: A deep reinforcement learning doom playing agent Link ​ Author(s) D Ratcliffe, S Devlin, U Kruschwitz, L Citi Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Deep Learning for Wave Height Classification in Satellite Images for Offshore Wind Access Link ​ Author(s) RJ Spick, JA Walker Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Generating Diverse and Competitive Play-Styles for Strategy Games Link ​ Author(s) D Perez-Liebana, C Guerrero-Romero, A Dockhorn, L Xu, J Hurtado, Dominik Jeurissen Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

iGGi Partners We are excited to be collaborating with a number of industry partners. IGGI works with industry in some of the following ways: ​ Student Industry Knowledge Transfer - this can take many forms, from what looks like a traditional placement, to a short term consultancy, to an ongoing relationship between the student and their industry partner. Student Sponsorship - for some of our students, their relationship with their industry partner is reinforced by sponsorship from the company. This is an excellent demonstration of the strength of the commitment and the success of the collaborations. In Kind Contributions - IGGI industry partners can contribute by attending and/or featuring in our annual conference, offering their time to give talks and masterclasses for our students, or even taking part in our annual game jam! ​ There are many ways for our industry partners to work with IGGI. If you are interested in becoming involved, please do contact us so we can discuss what might be suitable for you. Dubit Limited

< Back Frontiers of GVGAI Planning Link ​ Author(s) DP Liebana, RD Gaina Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Autoencoding Blade Runner: Reconstructing Films with Artificial Neural Networks Link ​ Author(s) T Broad, M Grierson Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back TAG: Terraforming Mars Link ​ Author(s) RD Gaina, J Goodman, D Perez-Liebana Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link