Author: aucadmin

Joel Bennett & Chris Carter Part of CW17

Performance Capture (PCap) is the process of capturing a continuous recording of an actor’s movements and emotions using motion capture technology, typically in a 3D virtual world. This presents a somewhat unique situation for the actor in that they are challenged to imagine their virtual counterparts and a completely abstract, computer-generated world whilst delivering their performance. Central to this paper is the identification of the various implications that affect the actor’s abilities during a performance by investigating professionals’ experiences when using performance capture and through the exploration of the implications of performance capture in the creation of a short experimental animation.

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Jacob Olander Part of CW17

Over the past 60 years, there has been much research into the field of algorithmic composition. Techniques have been refined, and processes developed to suit a variety of needs. Recently however, focus has been turned to algorithmic composition for more emotive purposes. Affective Algorithmic Composition (AAC), the product of this research is a rapidly developing field, with many potential applications. In particular, AAC has the potential to solve one of the most prevalent issues in game audio. This research described in this paper covers the implementation of an Affective Algorithmic Composition system into a computer game. The methodology used is based upon Design Science Principles and is has a pragmatist theoretical perspective. Using Lindenmayer Systems and Markov chain theory, a fully functional system will be developed.

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Andy Aubun & Ross McLennan Part of CW17

Mobile devices have not only changed the way we purchase and listen to music, but are changing the way song writers, composers and producers create. Mobile applications and laptop computers allow composers the freedom to make music anywhere, implementing a myriad of music making apps, software programs and plug-ins designed to simplify and, therefore, democratise music creation. The previously vast and complex arts of music composition and production are now accessible to everyone and accordingly, traditional methods of music composition and production are no longer standard practice. This paper explores these new standard methods of composition and production through the creation of a commercial song. Using iPhone applications for conceptualising and refining the song, computer-based methods for recording and production using a Macbook Pro laptop, and the Internet for automated mastering, this paper illuminates and catalogues a new standard in creative practice, and redefines traditional roles such as music composer, music producer and sound engineer.

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Christopher Osmond & Reza Ryan Part of CW17

Using Artificial Intelligence and Non-Player Characters in games has begun to increase rapidly. This is due to both player expectations and availability of new hardware and software technology (Dragert et al, 2012). Artificial Intelligence can increase a player’s immersion and experience with a game as the player see realistic and dynamically reacts to occurrences. However, there is a lack of generic design and implementation of Artificial Intelligence systems that employ more complex algorithms that can be easily integrated and scaled. A common example of a scenario that needs a generic Artificial Intelligence system is an ecosystem of autonomous artificial animals. This research aims to design and implement this system for a simulated virtual forest environment that resembles forest wildlife. This system will employ the Utility AI theory and dynamic considerations to create an ecosystem of autonomous artificial animals. The generic structure makes us enable to scale up our system easily by adding more species in the forest with minimum changes. This design for this system will be shown as well as a walkthrough of the implementation of the system in Unity3D.

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Michael Drew & Ross McLennan Part of CW17

Traditional table-top roleplaying games offer a more agile, imaginative and physical experience than video games. The table-top roleplaying game, Dungeons and Dragons, has been popular since its creation in 1974 by American game designers, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game involves players roleplaying characters while the Dungeon Master (or DM) describes the game’s world, its narrative and controls destiny with a set of many-sided di. In recent years, DM’s have been attempting to seamlessly integrate sound effects and music into the gameplay to create a more cinematic experience for the character players. This paper explores the efficacy of these attempts and suggests an improved method for the creation and control of interactive music to enhance cinematic-style immersion during gameplay. Utilising Apple’s Logic Pro software to explore conventions of film and game music composition and Audiokinetic’s WWise audio middleware for integration into game engines like Unity and Unreal, a final prototype iPhone app will be demonstrated. This prototype has the potential to greatly enhance the Dungeons and Dragons game experience, but also has the capacity to be incorporated into myriad other table-top roleplaying games that exist on the market.

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Shanice Hayes & Justin Carter Part of CW17

Virtual reality (VR) systems are increasingly utilised as a medium in which to experience video games. These systems incorporate technology that is designed to offer the user an experience of a simulated physical presence within a virtual environment. The acceptance of VR as a platform for gaming has given rise to many new challenges for designers of games. These new challenges represent a disruption in the craft of game design on a scale not experienced since the transition from 2D to 3D graphics. This paper offers insight into the challenges for designers of VR games through the examination of existing strategies and design principles. These principles are then applied in the construction of a creative work that further expounds techniques for practitioners creating VR games.

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Elizabeth Reed & Dominique Falla Part of CW17

An auto-ethnographic perspective on using technology-based devices to boost motivation when lettering by hand. To learn or to improve skills surrounding cursive handwriting, one needs to practice the letterforms. To produce these letterforms we need to build muscle memory, and the best way to do this is using repetition. The standard method of repetition is to repeat the same letterform over and over again—for example repeating a page of A’s and B’s and so on. This method of learning, although useful, has the potential to lose the interest of the learner. By using multiple sensory activities and project-based learning, one can be motivated to complete, the otherwise mundane act of repetition. Practice and repetition are necessary if one is seeking to improve skills when writing by hand. There are many areas, both digital and non-digital, that can be explored to improve the process of handwriting practice. No matter what the activity, if the focus is on learning the movement and the strokes of the letterforms, we can start to play and experiment with a range of different techniques. Emerging technologies using creative apps in virtual reality are an exciting development. There is something engaging about writing with ink-filled nibs across paper fibres, then switching over to virtual reality and writing the same letters on a much larger scale.

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Peter Mills & Justin Carter Part of CW17

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly growing field, disrupting many industries, such as video games, engineering, architecture, and medical visualization. Designing VR experiences involves the use of digital technology and rendered 3D graphics to create immersive virtual environments. While traditional user interfaces require users to view and interact with a screen, VR places the user inside a virtual environment through the use of a head mounted display (HMD). This form of user interface has implications on how rendered graphics are perceived and interpreted. One rendering technique used extensively in design and construction of virtual environments is Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR). NPR is primarily concerned with providing opportunity for a wide variety of expressive rendering styles such as toon, hatching and outline shaders.

This paper examines Non-Photorealistic Rendering techniques for virtual reality experiences, specifically focusing on strategies applied to achieve characteristics of toon, hatching and outline shaders, in virtual reality contexts. Through first identifying the common features traditionally used for NPR and then reconstructing these features in a virtual reality context the project illuminates unique considerations for practitioners implementing NPR effects in VR.

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Lachlan Bunker & Reza Ryan Part of CW17

Previous research has identified several cooperative design patterns used to facilitate cooperation in games. The effect that these patterns have on player experience individually had been researched, and it has been found that closely-coupled cooperative design patterns have the greatest effect on player experience. However, no research has yet been done into the effect that combining these patterns can have on player experience. Therefore, this research investigates if combining closely-coupled design patterns can improve player experience. Three patterns were chosen to combine: limited resources, interaction with the same object, and complementarity. A prototype game was made for each combination and participants were asked to play the games, and provide feedback on their experience. The combinations were complementarity and interaction, complementarity and limited resources, interaction and limited resources. Based on the games used in the experiment, the results of combining patterns has shown no effect on player experience.

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Liam Potter & Reza Ryan Part of CW17

Video game worlds are growing rapidly, creating a large amount of content that digital artists need to produce. To cope with this amount of content, game development companies would have to hire more artists and content creators, which is not economical. Therefore, Procedural content generation (PCG) techniques have quickly become a key area in the development of video game worlds. These techniques can be applied to generate a wide variety of things, from entire forests to the individual leaves on a tree. Simulated real-time virtual forests are one of the more common and complex virtual environments in contemporary video games that have to be generated procedurally. In this research, we developed a system that integrates different PCG techniques to automatically generate and simulate a virtual forest in real-time. These techniques include Height Generation, Terrain Texture Generation, Detail Generation, Point Generation, Shadow Map Generation, Life Cycle Simulation and Day/Night Simulation. The implemented day/night system accurately calculate angle of the sun through the time of day to simulate life cycles of all flora in the environment in real-time. The optimized developed system can be easily integrated with any real-time game that requires a forest environment.

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