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< Back Dr Yizhao Jin Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Currently a student at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), I have delved deep into the realms of artificial intelligence and game design. With a passion for understanding the complexities behind real-time strategy (RTS) games and their dynamic, unpredictable nature, I have committed myself to contribute novel insights to this domain. Research: My primary research area is Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) for Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. RTS games, known for their intricate mechanics and vast decision spaces, present a formidable challenge for traditional AI approaches. By employing HRL, I aim to develop agents that can not only understand the multi-layered tactics and strategies of these games but also learn to adapt to ever-changing game scenarios efficiently. The main objectives of my research are: Better Generalization: To create agents that can seamlessly transition between different RTS games or various maps within the same game without extensive retraining. This involves understanding common strategic threads across multiple game domains. Efficient Training: RTS games are inherently time-consuming due to their vast decision spaces and prolonged gameplay. My research seeks ways to optimize the training process, ensuring that AI agents can learn faster and with fewer computational resources. acw596@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/decatt Github Supervisors: Prof. Greg Slabaugh Prof. Simon Lucas Themes Game AI Previous Next

< Back What Is a Game Jam? Link Author(s) G Lai, F Khosmood Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back Dr Thryn Henderson University of York iGGi Alum Thryn’s phd explored the practices of personal vignette games, with a particular interest in the vignette game’s approaches to digital persona, their roots in approachable DIY culture, and their importance to marginalised creators. Publications from their work can be found in the Digra 2020 archive and Persona Studies Volume 6, Issue 2 . Thryn’s interest in gaming grows from a delight in telling stories. They endeavour to find the spaces where play incorporates and encourages collaborative narrative, poetry, theatre, activism, subversion, surprise and expression. Most of Thryn’s work in playful media can be found in zines, cardboard installations, paper games, hidden screens, or roaming through the woods around the UK. They are a co-founder of the playful design co-operative Furtive Shambles, currently producing experimental live and tabletop game experiences. thrynhenderson@gmail.com Email Mastodon https://furtiveshambles.com Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Design & Development - Previous Next

< Back How virtual and mechanical coupling impact bimanual tracking Link Author(s) N Pena-Perez, J Eden, E Ivanova, I Farkhatdinov, E Burdet Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back "Moments to Talk About": Designing for the Eudaimonic Gameplay Experience Link Author(s) T Cole Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back Quartz Crystal Resonator for Real-Time Characterization of Nanoscale Phenomena Relevant for Biomedical Applications Link Author(s) LA Carvajal Ahumada, OL Herrera Sandoval, N Pena-Perez, ... Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back Learnings from the case Maple Refugee: A dystopian story of free-to-play, probability, and gamer consumer activism. Link Author(s) S Park, LY Xiao, M Denoo, E Grosemans, E Petrovskaya, N Ballou Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back Luiza Gossian Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Luiza is a multidisciplinary researcher, game designer and developer interested in translating real world concepts into engaging game mechanics. She is passionate about creating games that can encourage an understanding of ourselves and the socially connected world we live in. Luiza is also an experienced painter, graphic designer and photographer and uses her visual skills and psychology background to prototype experimental game designs, design game documentation and craft atmospheric experiences. A description of Luiza's research: How can a subject as serious as genocide be successfully and respectfully translated into a casual game? Difficult subjects are often implemented with polar opposite approaches in games: either they are made to be highly emotional, socially conscious games that portray the gravity of a situation, yet are only played by those already informed and aware; or they are pure entertainment games that turn these subjects into wild amusement parks that appeal to broader gamer audiences yet do nothing to appropriately address the themes they glorify. Within this polarity there exists the potential to create games that tackle more serious subjects yet do so in a way that is more lighthearted and entertaining, and therefore more likely to reach the audiences who stand to gain the most. In her research, Luiza is exploring how to design games about genocide that break away from traditional approaches and embrace the ludic potential of games. Drawing on theories of intergroup and cultural psychology, as well as her own experiences, she is exploring how these difficult themes can be explored in engaging, effective and informative ways. Currently, she is developing a hypercasual game that abstracts the ten stages of genocide to be used as an educational primer, a Tetris-esq game that uses social media and government sources to present the realities of refugees fleeing their homes, and a cosy mystery-adventure game which enables players to uncover historical crimes in a far away land. l.gossian@outlook.com Email Mastodon http://www.gossianblurs.com/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/lu-goss/ LinkedIn https://bsky.app/profile/lugossian.bsky.social BlueSky Github Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Anne Hsu Themes Applied Games Design & Development - Previous Next

< Back Rinascimento: using event-value functions for playing Splendor Link Author(s) I Bravi, SM Lucas Abstract More info TBA Link

< Back Gorm Lai Goldsmiths iGGi PG Researcher Inspired by the works of Karl Sims and William Latham as well games such as a Spore and No Man's Sky, Gorm's main work is focused on using artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate creatures for use in video games. Combining this with his background as a virtual reality pioneer, his full doctorate is looking into how mixed-initiative co-creative interfaces in vr can assist in creating procedural generated creatures for use in video games. As a stalwart of the game development community, Gorm ran the Danish chapter of the International Game Developer Association (IGDA) for 5 years, started the London Indie Game Developers meetup group which currently features almost 3000 members, co-founded the Nordic Game Jam, as well as the Global Game Jam. The Global Game Jam has been recorded into the Guinness Book of World Records, and has more participating countries than the Winter Olympics. Gorm is a games industry veteran who has worked on 17 commercial video games since 2004, and has spoken at numerous games industry conferences such as GDC, Nordic Game & Develop Brighton. Gorm is a student at Goldsmiths, University of London, where is he is supervised by William Latham and Frederic Fol Leymarie. lai.gorm@gmail.com Email Mastodon https://gormlai.github.io Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/gormlai/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/gormlai Github Supervisor(s): Prof. William Latham Featured Publication(s): Formal Constraints and Creativity: Connecting Game Jams, Dogma ’95, the Demo Scene, OuBaPo, and Renga poets What Is a Game Jam? The Dark Side of Game Jams On Mixed-Initiative Content Creation for Video Games Two decades of game jams Virtual Creature Morphology‐A Review Towards Friendly Mixed Initiative Procedural Content Generation: Three Pillars of Industry Introducing: the game jam license Trends in organizing philosophies of game jams and game hackathons The global game jam for teaching and learning Gplayer A compression method for spectral photon map rendering Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Amy Smith Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher Available for post-PhD position After completing a BA in Fine Art, at Bath School of Art and Design, Amy spent some years as a tattoo artist travelling and creating artworks. An interest in learning to code then led her to complete a conversion Masters degree in Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. Keen to preserve her interests in both a creative practice as well as a new interest in generative deep learning, Amy joined the IGGI program to explore these interests further under the guidance of Dr. Mike Cook, Dr. James Walker and Prof. Simon Colton. Amy's research is currently focused on the intersection between 'imaginative play', computational creativity and generative deep learning. This project explores whether the kind of novel text, image and video media produced by generative deep learning algorithms can be used to provoke and stimulate the imaginative, ideation and visualisation capabilities of the user as they interact with this cutting edge technology. To date, her work has been accepted to several conferences, including the International Conference on Computational Social Science, AAAI, the International Conference on Computational Creativity, and EvoMusArt. Amy hopes to further encourage and explore the fruits of a close collaboration between human creativity and creative AI. amyelizabethsmith01@gmail.com Email Mastodon http://aialchemy.media.mit.edu Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-smith-791784173 LinkedIn BlueSky Github Supervisors: Dr Mike Cook Prof. Simon Colton Dr James Walker Featured Publication(s): Scaling Analysis of Creative Activity Traces via Fuzzy Linkography Fuzzy Linkography: Automatic Graphical Summarization of Creative Activity Traces AI-Generated Imagery: A New Era for the 'Readymade' The @artbhot Text-To-Image Twitter Bot. Trash to Treasure: Using text-to-image models to inform the design of physical artefacts Clip-guided gan image generation: An artistic explorationClip-guided gan image generation: An artistic exploration Art and the science of generative AI Generative Search Engines: Initial Experiments Themes Creative Computing Player Research - Previous Next

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. CBT Clinics