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Game Engines

Film Live: An Excursion into Machinima

Curtis Conkey - Mon, 31/12/2007 - 20:49
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Machinima is a technique that relies on the use of 3D game engines to generate a recorded performance in virtual worlds. It is rooted in the gaming community and the interactive access that is part of games’ nature but it also applies cinematic language. Technically, it can be realized as a linear video, a recorded event-world, or a ‘live performance,’ with each form offering different possibilities and limitations. All three forms are interconnected and share some key elements. Four of these elements are the remediation of cinematic effects and of the underlying game engine that leads to a form of virtual puppetry and hyperrealism. These features describe a wide range of expressions – especially concerning the rich visual stylization – as well as severe limitations – particularly in the actors’ controls and animations. They position Machinima in a rough framework of expressive features. Offering the highest level of interactive functionality, the ‘live performance’ Machinima has the most potential for interactive storytelling. Three main examples from different fields exemplify this potential. It is here that Machinima offers access to new forms that combine cinematic visualization and live performance.

Information Visualisation Utilising 3D Computer Game Engines Case Study: a source code comprehension tool

Curtis Conkey - Sun, 21/10/2007 - 17:42
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Information visualisation applications have been facing ever-increasing demands as the amount of available information has increased exponentially. With this, the number and complexity of visualisation tools for analysing and exploring data has also increased dramatically, making development and evolution of these systems difficult. We describe an investigation into reusing technology developed for computer games to create collaborative information visualisation tools. A framework for using game engines for information visualisation is presented together with an analysis of how the capabilities and constraints of a game engine influence the mapping of data into graphical representations and the interaction with it. Based on this research a source code comprehension tool was implemented using the Quake 3 computer game engine. It was found that game engines can be a good basis for an information visualisation tool, provided that the visualisations and interactions required meet certain criteria, mainly that the visualisation can be represented in terms of a limited number of discrete, interactive, and physical entities placed in a static 3-dimensional world of limited size.

Using the Crytek Game Engine in the Dublin Institute of Technology

Curtis Conkey - Mon, 15/10/2007 - 11:13
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

It is envisaged that within the next 10 years. the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Ireland’s largest third level university, will move to a new campus in Grangegorman, located in the north inner city of Dublin This site is currently being used as a hospital. It has twelve listed buildings and is located in a densely populated urban community. This paper describes how the Crytek 3D Game engine is being used to create a game MOD (modification) of the current hospital site, how it will be used in the construction and public consultation process of the new campus and how students in the DIT are learning computer science in an new way.

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