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< Back Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence at Develop:Brighton 12-14 July Want to improve the relationship between your game AI and your players? Or polish your VR character’s social interaction skills? Or discuss the latest academic research in the metaverse? Or just chance a flirt with Amy Smith ’s @artbhot? We are super excited to announce that @iggiphd will be attending @developconf in full force with 3 talks and over 20 researchers. This is our first big event since the pandemic and we are stoked! Who else is coming? We would love to meet you all at our stand! Click here for more information. ​ Previous 2 Jul 2022 Next

< Back ​ Dr Agnieszka Lyons Queen Mary University of London ​ Supervisor ​ ​ Agnieszka Lyons is a linguist and discourse analyst specialising in digitally mediated communication and multimodal communication, particularly across geographic distance. She explores the ways in which users of digital media construct their digitally mediated personae, particularly from the perspective of performance of the embodied selves, entering intersubjective spaces through verbal and non-verbal discourse and creating the feeling of physical and social presence across geographical distance. This can include multimedia sharing, avatar design, textual representation of nonverbal content, and others. She is particularly interested in supervising students with a communication, HCI, social and behavioural sciences background on the following topics: Player experience Player in-game interaction Construction of alternative personae Performance of player identities ​ a.lyons@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://agnieszkalyons.wordpress.com/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/agnieszka-lyons-3831592/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/agnieszkalyons Twitter Github ​ ​ Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Phoebe Hesketh University of York ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ Phoebe's PhD explored how people learn to play games through gameplay, online media, and community interaction. At the University of York, Phoebe worked on her skills as a researcher by exploring multiple methodologies and disciplines. She built upon her quantitative research skills from Bristol with qualitative research during their PhD including grounded theory and thematic analysis. She took courses in user-centred design and evaluation and designing for accessible player experiences (through AbleGamers). She participated in game jams and game development courses for experience and technical design. She also gave a talk at DEVELOP 2021 communicating and sharing her research and expertise in how players learn to play games to help designers with their onboarding for their games. She originally studied Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol which focused on systems and mathematical modelling and simulation, the mathematics and implementation of AI and Machine Learning systems, programming in object-oriented programming languages such as C++ and Java, and developed ray tracers in computer graphics courses. She also worked on projects in linguistics, logistics, computer vision, and physics. Once completing her PhD, Phoebe moved into the games industry as an AI programmer for several years before looking to return to games and player research. She has set up her own company, Take A Mo, that focuses on helping developers analyse their systems and internal systems to maximise access for players in usability, onboarding, accessibility, and representation. She is a currently carving her niche in the industry. ​ phoebe@takeamo.co.uk Email Mastodon http://www.takeamo.co.uk Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoebe-hesketh/ LinkedIn Twitter Github Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Jeremy Gow Featured Publication(s): How Players Learn Team-versus-Team Esports: First Results from A Grounded Theory Study Themes Esports Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Cameron Johnston Queen Mary University of London ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ Available for placement Cameron graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MPhys in Theoretical Physics, where he researched into the usage of wastewater based epidemiology in the localised detection of COVID-19 in an urban population. For this, he created simulations of both infectious diseases and fluids over networks to model large scale population dynamics. His interest in procedural content generation stems from his first large coding project -- a real-time interactive Newtonian simulation of the inner planets of the solar system. Since then, he has been fascinated in the usage of physics in real-time simulations. ​ cameron.johnston@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-r-johnston/ LinkedIn Twitter Github Supervisor: Dr Josh Reiss ​ Themes Creative Computing Design & Development - Previous Next

< Back Accessibility How might we design and make games playable and inclusive to as wide a range of people as possible, regardless of background or ability? Project areas include: Using alternative controllers and machine learning to enhance game accessibility << Previous Theme page Next Theme page >> iGGi >>> People <<< relevant to this Theme: Dr Jen Beeston iGGi Alum + Supervisor ​ Accessibility Read More Steph Carter iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Applied Games, Design & Development, Player Research, Accessibility, Game Data Read More Dr Catherine Flick Supervisor ​ Accessibility, Applied Games, Player Research Read More Dr Jozef Kulik iGGi Alum ​ Accessibility, Player Research Read More Dr Anna Bramwell-Dicks Supervisor ​ Game Audio, Player Research, Design & Development, Applied Games, Accessibility Read More Prof. Simon Colton Supervisor ​ Game AI, Game Audio, Creative Computing, Accessibility, Player Research Read More Dr Mona Jaber Supervisor ​ Applied Games, Game AI, Accessibility Read More Nicole Levermore iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Design & Development, Immersive Technology, Accessibility, Player Research Read More Prof. Paul Cairns Supervisor ​ Applied Games, Player Research, Accessibility, Game Data Read More Callum Deery iGGi Alum ​ Design & Development, Player Research, Accessibility Read More Dr Gavin Kearney Supervisor ​ Accessibility, Applied Games, Game AI, Game Audio Read More Prakriti Nayak iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Applied Games, Accessibility, Player Research Read More Load More iGGi People working in this Theme iGGi >>> Publications <<< relevant to this Theme: A Qualitative Investigation of Real World Accessible Design Experiences within a Large Scale Commercial Game Development Studio J Kulik, P Cairns 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 1-8, 2023 Dr Jozef Kulik View Details Grounded theory of accessible game development J Kulik, J Beeston, P Cairns The 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG …, 2021 Dr Jozef Kulik View Details What makes icons appealing? The role of processing fluency in predicting icon appeal in different task contexts S McDougall, I Reppa, J Kulik, A Taylor Applied ergonomics 55, 156-172, 2016 Dr Jozef Kulik View Details Load More iGGi Publications for this Theme Previous Next

< Back ​ Toby Best Queen Mary University of London ​ iGGi PG Researcher ​ Available for placement Toby has always held video games as an integral part of his livelihood, ever since catching his first Pokémon on the Game Boy Color. The ever-developing evolution of technology, from the humble NES and R.O.B. preventing the video game market crash in 1983, to the Wii’s motion controls, to augmented and virtual reality today, has been a key inspiration, and one of the reasons why he studied Mathematical Computation at University College London. He also has a keen interest in tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. His research interests involve the potential of combining roleplaying games' collective storytelling and interactive narrative with the power of artificial intelligence and deep learning. A description of Toby's research: Artificial Intelligence is the field of creating digital agents capable of decision-making and rational thought to fulfil a core goal or aspect. For tabletop and video games, an implemented AI would attempt to ‘solve’ the game by finding optimal winning strategies. However, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are driven by the power of collective storytelling and interactive narrative, as opposed to set rules, and therefore have a more open-ended goal - maximising player enjoyment for all participants. This involves a Game Master (GM) player as both narrator and referee, controlling the non-playable characters (NPCs) and the campaign behind the screen, whereas players usually control one player character (PC) each to interact with the world. There is no ‘failure’ state compared to traditional games, as campaigns can continue until players lose interest or the narrative is ‘complete’; even all PCs dying (known as a total party kill) can drive the narrative in a new direction. This project aims to study and piece together the different elements that would go into a Game Master AI, building on current state-of-the-art game-playing AI, such as Director AIs in games such as Valve’s ‘Left 4 Dead’, and studying the implications of such developments for players and game designers alike. For example, whether it could replicate the playing experiences of a human GM as a replacement, or enhance the experience by working with a human GM. ​ t.j.best@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/toby-best-776336136/ LinkedIn Twitter https://github.com/L0RDR0B Github Supervisors: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Raluca Gaina Prof. Simon Lucas ​ Why Choose You?-Exploring Attitudes Towards Starter Pokémon Themes Design & Development Game AI Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Mihail Morosan University of Essex ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ Computational Intelligence and Game Balance. (Industry placement at MindArk) Game design has been a staple of human ingenuity and innovation for as long as games have been around. From sports, such as football, to applying game mechanics to the real world, such as reward schemes in shops, games have impacted the world in surprising ways. This process can, and should, be aided by automated systems, as machines have proven to be capable of finding innovative ways to complement human intuition and inventiveness. When man and machine cooperate, better products are created and the world has only to benefit. My research seeks to find, test and assess methods to apply computational intelligence to human-led game balance. Early research has proven that AI can successfully aid game designers in analysing the viability of various game rules and I intend to document this and polish the techniques that will result from my work. To achieve this, I am making use of cutting edge algorithms, powerful AI techniques and novel methods. Most of the current work done involves the use of evolutionary algorithms, as well as statistical analysis and evaluation of intelligent agents in various video games. Programmer (with a focus on optimisation and quick deliverables, mostly due to competitive experience), gamer (games are fun, relaxing and a great social experience), technology consumer (comes with the programmer bit) and all around happy guy stumbling through the world. Once ended up in a management internship at a bank thinking the application was for a programming position. And another time told an interviewer that "buying and eating a burger to solve hunger" is a legitimate problem-solving skill. Somehow received an invitation to the next interview stage. ​ me@morosanmihail.com Email Mastodon Other links Website https://uk.linkedin.com/in/morosanmihail LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/@MorosanMihail Twitter Github ​ Featured Publication(s): Automating game-design and game-agent balancing through computational intelligence Lessons from testing an evolutionary automated game balancer in industry Genetic optimisation of BCI systems for identifying games related cognitive states Online-Trained Fitness Approximators for Real-World Game Balancing Evolving a designer-balanced neural network for Ms PacMan Speeding up genetic algorithm-based game balancing using fitness predictors Automated game balancing in Ms PacMan and StarCraft using evolutionary algorithms Themes Design & Development Game AI Player Research - Previous Next

< Back ​ Dr Cristina Guerrero-Romero Queen Mary University of London ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ Cris is a versatile Software Engineer with four years of experience in web development across different areas of the tech stack. She studied Software and Computer Engineering at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) and is currently completing her PhD at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL); during which she has done two internships at Google. Her research ‘Beyond Playing to Win: Broadening the Study and Use of Gameplaying Agents when Provided with Distinct Behaviours’ is focused on expanding the research on game-playing agents beyond the objective of winning at them. She looks at 1) broadening the scope by diversifying agents goals and heuristics; 2) broadening the vision by proposing a team of agents to assist game development; 3) broadening the usage by eliciting diverse automated gameplay, and 4) broadening the horizon by analysing the strengths of the agents from a Player Experience perspective instead of their performance. Cris is passionate about solving problems and learning. Outside of her work, she enjoys playing video games and TTRPGs. Random facts are that Portal and TLOU are two of her favourite game series and her chosen superpower would be teleportation. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress ​ Email Mastodon http://kisenshi.github.io/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/cguerreromero/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/kisenshi Twitter https://github.com/kisenshi Github ​ Featured Publication(s): Beyond Playing to Win: Elicit General Gameplaying Agents with Distinct Behaviours to Assist Game Development and Testing Beyond Playing to Win: Creating a Team of Agents with Distinct Behaviours for Automated Gameplay MAP-Elites to Generate a Team of Agents that Elicits Diverse Automated Gameplay Generating Diverse and Competitive Play-Styles for Strategy Games Studying General Agents in Video Games from the Perspective of Player Experience Ensemble Decision Systems for General Video Game Playing Using a Team of General AI Algorithms to Assist Game Design and Testing Beyond playing to win: Diversifying heuristics for GVGAI Themes Design & Development Game AI - Previous Next

< Back The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data Telemetry Link ​ Author(s) D Zendle, C Flick, D Halgarth, N Ballou, J Cutting, A Drachen Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back ​ Dr Daniel Berio Goldsmiths ​ iGGi Alum ​ ​ AutoGraff: A Procedural Model of Graffiti Form. (Industry placement at Media Molecule) The purpose of this study is to investigate techniques for the procedural and interactive generation of synthetic instances of graffiti art. Considering graffiti as a special case of the calligraphic tradition, I propose a "movement centric" alternative to traditional curve generation techniques, in which a curve is defined through a physiologically plausible simulation of a (human) movement underlying its production rather than by an explicit definition of its geometry. In my thesis, I consider both single traces left by a brush (in a series of strokes) and the extension to 2D shapes (representing deformed letters in a large variety of artistic styles). I demonstrate how this approach is useful in a number of settings including computer aided design (CAD), procedural content generation for virtual environments in games and movies, computer animation as well as for the smooth control of robotic drawing devices. Daniel Berio is a researcher and artist from Florence, Italy. Since a young age Daniel was actively involved in the international graffiti art scene. In parallel he developed a professional career initially as a graphic designer and later as a graphics programmer in video games, multimedia and audio-visual software. In 2013 he obtained a Master degree from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (Netherlands), where he developed drawing machines and installations materializing graffiti-inspired procedural forms. Today Daniel is continuing his research in the procedural generation of graffiti within the IGGI (Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence) PhD program at Goldsmiths, University of London. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress ​ Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/@colormotor Twitter Github ​ Featured Publication(s): Optimality Principles in the Procedural Generation of Graffiti Style SURFACE: Xbox Controlled Hot-wire Foam Cutter The role of image characteristics and embodiment in the evaluation of graffiti Emergence in the Expressive Machine The CyberAnthill: A Computational Sculpture Sketch-Based Modeling of Parametric Shapes Artistic Sketching for Expressive Coding Calligraphic stylisation learning with a physiologically plausible model of movement and recurrent neural networks Sequence generation with a physiologically plausible model of handwriting and Recurrent Mixture Density Networks AutoGraff: Towards a computational understanding of graffiti writing and related art forms Kinematics reconstruction of static calligraphic traces from curvilinear shape features Interactive generation of calligraphic trajectories from Gaussian mixtures Sketching and Layering Graffiti Primitives. Kinematic Reconstruction of Calligraphic Traces from Shape Features Expressive curve editing with the sigma lognormal model Dynamic graffiti stylisation with stochastic optimal control Computer aided design of handwriting trajectories with the kinematic theory of rapid human movements Generating calligraphic trajectories with model predictive control Learning dynamic graffiti strokes with a compliant robot Computational models for the analysis and synthesis of graffiti tag strokes Towards human-robot gesture recognition using point-based medialness Transhuman Expression Human-Machine Interaction as a Neutral Base for a New Artistic and Creative Practice Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dissociating haptic feedback from physical assistance does not improve motor performance Link ​ Author(s) E Ivanova, N Pena-Perez, J Eden, Y Yip, E Burdet Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link

< Back Theories, methodologies, and effects of affect-adaptive games: A systematic review Link ​ Author(s) M Croissant, G Schofield, C McCall Abstract ​ More info TBA ​ Link