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computer graphics

Games are up for DVFS

Jason Rutter - Sun, 14/10/2007 - 11:17
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Graphics-intensive computer games are no longer restricted to high-performance desktops, but are also available on a variety of portable devices ranging from notebooks to PDAs and mobile phones. Battery life has been a major concern in the design of both the hardware and the software for such devices. Towards this, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) has emerged as a powerful technique. However, the showcase application for DVFS algorithms so far has largely been video decoding, primarily because it is computationally expensive and its workload exhibits a high degree of variability. This paper investigates the possibility of applying DVFS to interactive computer games, which to the best of our knowledge has not been studied before. We show that the variability in the workload associated with a popular First Person Shooter game like Quake II is significantly higher than video decoding. Although this variability makes game applications an attractive candidate for DVFS, it is unclear if DVFS algorithms can be applied to games due to their interactive (and hence highly unpredictable) nature. In this paper, we show using detailed experiments that (surprisingly) interactive computer games are highly amenable to DVFS. Towards this we present a novel workload characterization of computer games, based on the game engine for Quake II. We believe that our findings might potentially lead to a number of innovative DVFS algorithms targeted towards game applications, exactly as video decoding has motivated a variety of schemes for DVFS.

Inclusive computer science education using a ready-made computer game framework

Jason Rutter - Sun, 16/09/2007 - 14:49
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Leveraging the prevailing interest in computer games among college students, both for entertainment and as a possible career path, is a major reason for the increasing prevalence of computer game design courses in computer science curricula. Because implementing a computer game requires strong programming skills, game design courses are most often restricted to more advanced computer science students, yet real game design involves a diverse and creative team. This paper reports on a ready-made game design and experimentation framework, implemented in Java, which makes game programming more widely accessible. This framework, called Labyrinth, enables students at all programming skill levels to participate in computer game design. We describe the architecture of the framework, and discuss programming projects suitable for a wide variety of computer science courses, from capstone to non-major.

The unreal editor as a web 3D authoring environment

Jason Rutter - Sat, 15/09/2007 - 15:54
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Epic Games provides a free game level editor with titles based on its Unreal engine. The editor provides a rich set of authoring tools that can be used to create fully interactive environments. This paper describes a tool that converts Unreal levels to web-ready environments in VRML and X3D, The paper also examines the similarities between first-person-shooter games and web 3D worlds, and discusses the implications of having a low-cost, fully featured virtual world authoring environment available for creating web 3D content.

Relationships between fun and the computer business

Jason Rutter - Tue, 17/07/2007 - 01:11
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Whimsy and fun are often the precursors to powerful tools that are used later for more serious applications. A project at inception might not be useful because of lack of infrastructure or incomplete refinements. Resultantly the computer game has filled a role in being the incubator for many innovations that drive the usefulness of the computer. This article describes this role, developing a set of technologies, interaction styles, and social transformation that contributes to the computer field. A brief historical discussion and a consideration to some future possibilities are given.

Using a discrete event simulator as real time graphic applications kernel

Jason Rutter - Fri, 09/03/2007 - 21:04
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Simulation is often used to solve problems in many areas in the form of problem analysis. Real time graphic applications such as videogames typically use a continuous simulation scheme. This operating scheme has disadvantages that can be avoided by using a discrete event simulator as the application kernel. This paper proposes the integration of a discrete event simulator into a real time graphic application to control the kernel simulation. Using a discrete methodology avoids disorderly event execution or the execution of cancelled events. The use of this methodology involves using events as the method of modeling the system dynamics and the interaction and behavior of the objects.

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