Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
Military training instructors increasingly often employ computer games to train soldiers in all sorts of skills and tactics. One\r\nof the difficulties instructors face when using games as a training tool is the creation of suitable content, including scenarios,\r\nentities, and corresponding terrain models. Terrain plays a key role in many military training games, as for example, in our case\r\ngame Tactical Air Defense. However, current manual terrain editors are both too complex and too time-consuming to be useful\r\nfor instructors; automatic terrain generation methods show a lot of potential, but still lack user control and intuitive editing\r\ncapabilities. We present a novel way for instructors to model terrain for their training games: instead of constructing a terrain\r\nmodel using complex modeling tools, instructors can declare the required properties of their terrain using an advanced sketching\r\ninterface. Our framework integrates terrain generation methods and manages dependencies between terrain features in order to\r\nautomatically create a complete 3D terrain model that matches the sketch. With our framework, instructors can easily design a\r\nlarge variety of terrain models that meet their training requirements....
This paper describes results and experiences from designing, implementing, and testing a multiplayer real-time game over mobile\nnetworks with high latency. The paper reports on network latency and bandwidth measurements from playing the game live over\nGPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and WLAN using the TCP and the UDP protocols. These measurements describe the practical constraints\nof various wireless networks and protocols when used for mobile multiplayer game purposes. Further, the paper reports on\nexperiences from implementing various approaches to minimize issues related to high latency. Specifically, the paper focuses on a\ndiscussion about how much of the game should run locally on the client versus on the server to minimize the load on the mobile\ndevice and obtain sufficient consistency in the game. The game was designed to reveal all kinds of implementation issues of mobile\nnetwork multiplayer games. The goal of the game is for a player to push other players around and into traps where they loose their\nlives. The game relies heavily on collision detection between the players and game objects. The paper presents experiences from\nexperimenting with various approaches that can be used to handle such collisions, and highlights the advantages and disadvantages\nof the various approaches....
The nature of the relationship between immersion and gameplay experience is investigated, focusing primarily on the literature\r\nrelated to flow. In particular, this paper proposes that immersion and gameplay experience are conceptually different, but\r\nempirically positively related through mechanisms related to flow. Furthermore, this study examines gamers� characteristics to\r\ndetermine the influence between immersion and gameplay experiences. The study involves 48 observations in one game setting.\r\nRegression analyses including tests for moderation and simple slope analysis are used to reveal gamers� age, experience, and\r\nunderstanding of the game, which moderate the relationship between immersion and gameplay experience. The results suggest\r\nthat immersion is more positive for gameplay experience when the gamer lacks experience and understanding of the game as well\r\nas when the gamer is relatively older. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed at length in the paper....
This paper presents a new algorithm for real time event detection using Finite State Machines with multiple Fuzzy Logic\r\nProbability Evaluators (FLPEs). A machine referee for a robot soccer game is developed and is used as the platform to test the\r\nproposed algorithm. A novel technique to detect collisions and other events in microrobot soccer game under inaccurate and\r\ninsufficient information is presented. The robots� collision is used to determine goalkeeper charging and goal score events which\r\nare crucial for the machine referee�s decisions. TheMain StateMachine (MSM) handles the schedule of event activation. The FLPE\r\ncalculates the probabilities of the true occurrence of the events. Final decisions about the occurrences of events are evaluated and\r\ncompared through threshold crisp probability values. The outputs of FLPEs can be combined to calculate the probability of an\r\nevent composed of subevents. Using multiple fuzzy logic system, the FLPE utilizes minimal number of rules and can be tuned\r\nindividually. Experimental results show the accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm....
The popularity and usage of digital games has increased in recent years, bringing further attention to their design. Some digital\r\ngames require a significant use of higher order thought processes, such as problem solving and reflective and analytical thinking.\r\nThrough the use of appropriate and interactive representations, these thought processes could be supported. A visualization of\r\nthe game�s internal structure is an example of this. However, it is unknown whether including these extra representations will\r\nhave a negative effect on gameplay. To investigate this issue, a digital maze-like game was designed with its underlying structure\r\nrepresented as a decision tree. A qualitative, exploratory study with children was performed to examine whether the tree supported\r\ntheir thought processes and what effects, if any, the tree had on gameplay. This paper reports the findings of this research and\r\ndiscusses the implications for the design of games in general....
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