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< Back iGGi Con 2024 - It's A Wrap Now in its 11th iteration, the iGGi Con once again proved to be a full success. Each year, the iGGi Con showcases latest advancements in games research and offers a networking platform where games industry members and academics working in games and adjacent fields can connect. The iGGi Con 2024 was held at the University of York in the Law and Sociology Building of Campus East and spanned over two days. Totaling 11 talks, 3 keynotes, 2 panels, 3 workshops, 3 buzz talk sessions and 28 posters. It hosted l 160 attendees from industry and academia. The iGGi Expo ran in parallel during the afternoon of conference day 1 and afforded conference attendees the opportunity to chat 1:1 with participating iGGi industry partners: a big thank you to everyone who took part! We were also excited to welcome a number of iGGi Alumni who joined the event and who were able to share stories and anecdotes from their time with as well as after iGGi, and we loved the insights and tips they offered! And of course, we're back next year, again at the University of York , so, make sure you SAFE THE DATE >>> 10-11 September 2025 <<< The galleries below show impressions of the two days. iGGi Talks iGGi Keynotes iGGi Posters iGGi Panels More impressions ​ Previous 13 Sept 2024 Next

< Back ​ Sam Hughes University of York ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ Affect and Emotion using Immersive Sound in Intelligent Games. (On Industrial Placement with Remedy Entertainment) Recent advances in high definition video displays and 3-D headsets, coupled with motion tracking and biosensor technologies, have enabled video games to reach unprecedented levels of visual immersion and interaction. There is little research however on how the aural feedback of the player, which can help assess their emotional state, can be used to inform the game intelligence and affect the emotive impact of the game. Furthermore, improvements in domestic surround sound and binaural technology are paving the way for fully enveloping and realistic soundtracks that extend the gameplay beyond the visual and can significantly enhance the emotive experience. This research project therefore addresses how current sensor and tracking technologies can be enhanced through analysis of player aural reactions such that the game intelligence can in turn provoke a conditional response via the reproduced soundtrack. In other words, how can the emotional impact of a spatial soundtrack during gameplay be enhanced by the user aural response alongside other physiological detections such as heartbeat and movement? Sam is a sound designer and voice actor who founded the audio journalism site, The Sound Architect™. Sam was selected as one of the first to ever receive the Prince William Scholarship from both BAFTA & Warner Bros. to study MSc Post Production with Sound Design at The University of York where he graduated with a Distinction and a Departmental Award for achieving the Highest Overall Average Grade. Sam has been highly active in the community for years including writing for BAFTA Guru, sitting on the BAFTA Youth Board, running Game Audio North and being an active member of BAFTA Crew Games. Most recently Sam has worked regularly with game audio company Sweet Justice on a variety of titles that include mobile and AAA. Sam’s recent credits include Injustice 2 and Madden NFL 2017. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress ​ Email Mastodon Other links Website https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thesoundarchitect LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/@samhughes88 Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Mathieu Barthet Queen Mary University of London ​ Supervisor ​ ​ Dr Mathieu Barthet is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). He is the Programme Coordinator of the MSc in Media and Arts Technology by Research and oversees Industry Partnerships for the Centre for Doctoral Training in AI & Music. He received an MSc degree in Electronics and Computer Science in 2003 (Paris VI University/Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal), and an MSc degree in Acoustics in 2004 (Aix-Marseille II University/Ecole Centrale Marseille). He was awarded a PhD in Acoustics, Signal Processing and Computer Science applied to Music from Aix-Marseille II University and CNRS-LMA in 2008, and joined the Centre for Digital Music at QMUL in 2009. Mathieu conducts research in the fields of Music Information Research, New Interfaces for Musical Expression and Music Perception, in which he published over 100 peer-reviewed academic papers. His research interests include music and emotions, audio-visual interfaces and extended reality, AI-based musical interfaces, music recommendation, and musical timbre. He is particularly interested in supervising students with an HCI and/or AI background combined with musical skills or a sensitivity to music, to investigate how games can be used for musical education and production, or how game audio can be enhanced using AI and new interfaces. Research themes: Game Audio and Music Games for Music Education or Production Audio in Sports Games ​ m.barthet@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/profiles/barthetmathieu.html Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieu-barthet-9519ab17/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/matdiffusion Twitter https://github.com/mabara Github ​ ​ Themes Game AI Game Audio - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Gavin Kearney University of York ​ Supervisor ​ ​ Dr Gavin Kearney is a highly experienced researcher, lecturer and content creator specialising in spatial audio and surround sound. He joined the University of York as Lecturer in Sound Design in January 2011 and was appointed Associate Professor in Audio and Music Technology in 2016. He has written over 60 research articles and patents on different facets of immersive and interactive audio, including real-time audio signal processing, Ambisonics, virtual and augmented reality and recording and audio post-production technique development. He has undertaken innovative projects in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix, BBC, Dolby, Huawei, Abbey Road and Google amongst others. With the latter, he helped define the Google spatial audio pipeline through development of the SADIE binaural filters and decoders used worldwide. He is also an active sound engineer and producer of immersive audio experiences, working to develop new techniques and workflows for immersive music production in collaboration with Abbey Road Studios. He is Vice-Chair of the AES Audio for Games Technical Committee and was Co-Chair of the 2019 AES Immersive and Interactive Audio Conference at York. Gavin is particularly interested in supervising students with an audio background who wish to explore the following areas relating to audio for games Intelligent sound design Virtual Acoustics Spatial Audio Binaural sound Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality Immersive audio experiences for next gen mobile platforms Ambisonics and spherical acoustics Using audio to enhance player emotional state (as well as projects on health and well-being) Game Audio for therapy Accessibility through Game Audio ​ gavin.kearney@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.audiolab.york.ac.uk Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-p-kearney LinkedIn https://twitter.com/GPKSound Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Accessibility Applied Games Game AI Game Audio - Previous Next

< Back ​ Michael John Saiger University of York ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ Available for post-PhD position Michael is a game design researcher investigating how we engage players (particularly young people) in the design and development of applied games. He has facilitated co-design workshops across health and education research, designing solutions to research problems. Most recently, he was employed as a game design researcher on an ESRC funded project to design and evaluate a game for teacher recruitment. A description of Michael's research: Michael's research involves the facilitation and involvement of children and young people in the design of mental health games. Through their research, they have co-designed mental health prototypes and explored the factors to impact participation and engagement. Their research has highlighted how there are facilitation barriers and shifts in participant preferences towards how young people want to interact during co-design. ​ michael.saiger@york.ac.uk Email https://linktr.ee/MichaelJohnSaiger Mastodon https://micia1592.wixsite.com/mikethingsbetter Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjsaiger/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/MJSaiger Twitter Github Supervisors: Dr Joe Cutting Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Lina Gega Featured Publication(s): Use of Technology in Brief Interventions How Do We Engage Children and Young People in the Design and Development Of Mental Health Games Children and Young People's Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review What Factors Do Players Perceive as Methods of Retention in Battle Royale Games? Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Reforms to improve reproducibility and quality must be coordinated across the research ecosystem: the view from the UKRN Local Network Leads Link ​ Author(s) SLK Stewart, CR Pennington, GR da Silva, N Ballou, J Butler, Z Dienes, ... Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Time to die: Death prediction in dota 2 using deep learning Link ​ Author(s) A Katona, R Spick, VJ Hodge, S Demediuk, F Block, A Drachen, ... Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Brain Drain Optimization (BRADO) Algorithm to Solve Multi-Objective Expert Team Formation Problem in Social Networks Link ​ Author(s) A Basiri, E Masehian, F Taghiyareh, P Hosseini Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Pinpointing the problem: Providing page numbers for citations as a crucial part of open science Link ​ Author(s) LY Xiao, N Ballou Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back ​ Dr Tara Collingwoode-Williams Goldsmiths ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ Tara is an IGGI PhD student from Goldsmiths University taking her Mphil/PhD in Intelligent Games/Game intelligence with a focus on Avatar Embodiment and Interaction within Virtual Reality. Before this she graduated with a Bsc in Creative Computing. Over the years, her interdisciplinary profile has enabled her to work as a Technical Support and Researcher with many organisations in relation to her research, such as UCL, Great Ormond Street Hospital, George Mason Serious Games Institute in the United States where she also co-lectured a XR Games Module and, more recently as an Associate Lecturer in Goldsmiths University teaching Unity based XR experience development. Currently, she is contracting for USTech as an Assistant UX researcher at Facebook whilst completing her PhD program. With this rise in demand for Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), so is the need to create Embodied Shared Virtual Environments (ESVE) where users may experience authentic social interactions. Tara’s research presents an exploratory examination of Embodiment - meaning the subjective feeling of owning a virtual representation in VR, and specifically Consistency in Embodiment - relating to how we prioritize and syncronise objective attributes of embodiment (i.e avatar representation) in order to create ESVEs which supports more intuitive social interaction. The goal is to understand how different technical setups could have a psychological impact on participants' experiences in ESVE. This research hopes to inform development of successful social interaction in a variety of applications in VR, ranging from training to gaming. Tara presently holds a position as Lekturer in VR at Goldsmiths, Universtiy of London. ​ tc.williams@gold.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-collingwoode-williams-81141776/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/T_VReality Twitter Github ​ Featured Publication(s): Delivering Bad News: VR Embodiment of Self Evaluation in Medical Communication Training The impact of self-representation and consistency in collaborative virtual environments G487 (P) Is clinician gaze and body language associated with their ability to identify safeguarding cues? Evaluating virtual reality experiences through participant choices A discussion of the use of virtual reality for training healthcare practitioners to recognize child protection issues A study of professional awareness using immersive virtual reality: the responses of general practitioners to child safeguarding concerns The effect of lip and arm synchronization on embodiment: a pilot study Themes Applied Games Player Research - Previous Next

< 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: Luiza’s research centres on how video games might be designed as interventions for prejudice reduction between conflicting groups and draws on theories of intergroup and cultural psychology, as well as persuasive game design. She is currently exploring how different game designs might impact player’s perceptions of their own and others’ group memberships with an aim to increase understanding and reduce prejudice between those groups. So far she has developed a casual game that abstracts the ten stages of genocide to be used as an educational primer, an experiential game that depicts the realities of refugees evicting their homes, and is currently working on a multiplayer game based on the principles of the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, which is the leading methodology for reducing prejudice levels between conflicting groups. ​ l.gossian@outlook.com Email Mastodon http://www.gossianblurs.com/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/lu-goss/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/LuGossian Twitter Github Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Anne Hsu ​ Themes Applied Games Design & Development - Previous Next

< Back Designing Games to Collect Human-Subject Data Link ​ Author(s) DE Gundry Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link