< Back Dr Claudio Guarnera University of York Supervisor You can get more out of your site elements by making them dynamic. To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Once connected, you can update it anytime without affecting your design or updating elements by hand. Add any type of content to your collection, such as rich text, images, videos and more, or upload it via CSV file. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Email claudio.guarnera@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Creative Computing - Previous Next

< Back iGGi at the UK Games Expo 2026 Due to last year's success, iGGi decided to run its own stand at the UK Games Expo (UKGE) again this year, and we have no regrets! Since a steady amount of iGGi PGRs has involvement with board games (e.g., by creating automated playtesting agents and frameworks, by using the tabletop format for games with an educational or societal purpose, by investigating aspects of game design which are applicable across digital and analogue game mechanics), it has become very relevant for iGGi to engage with the UK's tabletop community and industry. iGGi's presence at the UKGE was a step towards completing this mission, and a range of new connections were created. As last year, iGGi shared its stand with the Tabletop R&D - a spinoff company started by iGGi Co-Investigators Raluca Gaina and Diego Pérez-Liébana Worth mentioning is that the University of York featured with another stand on the expo: the PLaY Group York , who had an equally successful time. Previous 1 Jun 2026 Next

< Back iGGi Studentships at QMUL - with Creative Assembly Thinking about doing a PhD in digital games? The deadline to apply to one of our 2 advertised studentships has just been extended to Monday 13 June 2022! The positions are fully funded and full-time for four years starting September 2022 (PhD fees plus a tax-free stipend to cover living costs). The PhD researchers will be based at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) The studentships on offer are in collaboration with our partner Creative Assembly , one of the UK’s largest games studios which has been established for 34 years and is the author of the Total War games series. You will need to form a proposal based on one of the projects proposed by Creative Assembly: https://www.iggi-phd.org/ca-projects-industry/High Precision Battle Simulation for Strategy Games Modelling Player Behaviour in Total-War Games We strongly suggest that potential applicants contact the supervisor(s) of their chosen project to develop a proposal as soon as possible via the email address given in the respective project description . Your proposal should be developed via (email) discussion with the prospective supervisor(s). Please also make sure that the proposal you submit sits within iGGi's scope. To apply please follow the instructions on our Apply page . Submit your full application by Monday 13 June, 12:00 noon BST. Previous 16 May 2022 Next

< Back Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Queen Mary University of London iGGi Research Collaboration Coordinator Supervisor Laurissa Tokarchuk is a senior lecturer and researcher working on playful ways of exploring and integrating virtual and real world space. Her primary focus is looking at engaging ways of creating and interacting with AR content in games and incorporating physical sensors for increasing playability in mobile games. Her interests also include merging AI with mobile and social sensing to detect events and behaviours in crowds and games, and the use of technology to promote learning/well-being. Her research has resulted in the widely used SensingKit framework, best poster awards, media appearances in the Guardian and BBC (Royal Institution Christmas Lectures). She is particularly interested in supervising students on the following topics: AR/VR games for learning and cognition design for promoting behaviour change understanding and designing for player behaviour and curiosity in games Research themes: Game AI Games with a Purpose Computational Creativity Player Experience Email laurissa.tokarchuk@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Creative Computing Game AI Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back iGGi Research Retreat "Unconference" Group Outcomes Trust and Freedom in Transformative Games The "Problem" Generating a sense of trust is important in order to communicate in a way that can have a transformative effect. The group discussed how games build or break trust and the factors involved in creating tustworthy games. What we did The group discussed different gaming experiences that had built or broken trust and the gameplay involved. We discussed the importance of trust and also a sense of freedom for players to feel secure in their user journey through a game. Finally, we discussed how we could outline a model for game development for developers aiming to create transformative games. The "Outcome" The group agreed that most gaming experiences can benefit from ensuring that players can take a break during the game in order to either reflect or emotionally process the experience. This should be easy to do, and not hidden inside complex menus, so that the player feels they have the freedom to escape from the experience at any time. It will help to build trust as it will help players feel more secure. Building a sense of trust is important for games that have the intention of delivering transformative experiences, but not as much for other gaming experiences. Games primarily created to entertain can trick and scare players in order to generate suspense and interest. However, such effects are likely to lessen the learning for the player. The less the player feels in charge, the less likely the game is of providing the context for a personal learning experience. At the same time, transformative games need to be motivating and many also use more shocking effects to bring their point across. Players can be tricked into doing immoral acts, either gradually building towards such a point or as a sudden surprise. While such situations can feel very manipulative and potentially trust-breaking, they can be very effective if the player feels that the gaming experience as a whole is trustworthy and relevant. Games like Lucas Pope's "Papers, Please", Brenda Romero's "Train" and 11Bit Studio's "This War of Mine" are relevant examples. This example underlines how trust-generation for transformative games is about creating a relationship between the creator and the player - a "player contract" - that is solid enough to allow also for surprises and player manipulation without breaking the overall sense of participating in a gaming experience that invites personal reflection. The group then discussed how to design a model that helps creators of transformative games to develop games that invite player trust and offer a sense of safety and freedom. Previous Next Previous Next

< Back Lauren Winter University of York iGGi PG Researcher Lauren was introduced to gaming from an early age when they received a PlayStation One as a gift. From there, video games became a huge part of their life, exploring new worlds through the eyes of a vast array of characters. Following their undergraduate degree in Psychology with Sociology, they completed their MSc in Psychology Research Methods at the University of Nottingham. A fascination with looking for trends in data and creating complex spreadsheets in Excel led them to a job analysing student information in a school, where they also ran four Esports teams competing across three games. Their research interests primarily focus on player research in team-based PVP games and looking at players’ awareness of each other in these environments. A description of Lauren's research: Lauren’s work investigates the player experience in team-versus-team games such as League of Legends. This is achieved through the lens of social presence: the awareness of others in a digital environment. The social experience has been found to be one that is related, but separate to the more commonly explored facets of player experience. Through measuring player experiences in popular team-verus-team games, validating a purpose-designed questionnaire, and developing a bespoke game in Unity, Laurens’ work explores how the ‘social’ in these social games is built between and within teams, and how all of the players contribute to this shared experience. Email lauren.winter@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Prof. Paul Cairns Featured Publication(s): "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews Better Dead than a Damsel: Gender Representation and Player Churn Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back iGGi at Develop:North As most of you will be aware, the Develop conference has launched a new location this year in the shape of " Develop:North ". Develop:North took place at The Spine in Liverpool on 14 November 2024. Five of our iGGi PG Researchers attended, and here's a summary of the event from one of them - Ross Fifield: "Develop: North was great. The venue was excellent and Tandem did a superb job organising it as always. Registration was easy and there were no issues as far as I can tell. There was a good mix of talks. It was significantly smaller than Brighton, but not unexpectedly so, given that this was their first go. While a couple of the talks were really quite thought provoking, I personally found the networking opportunities particularly helpful. I'm speculating that the organisers will run Develop:North at a slightly larger scale than this year, but regardless of that, I would recommend this conference to all iGGi PGRs and anyone in the UK who is working in games and adjacent fields." iGGi PGRs at Develop:North in Liverpool, 14 November 2024 Previous 15 Nov 2024 Next

< Back 2020 Cohort Mini-Conference The recent 2020 cohort Mini-Conference was a great success! It was held in York and focused on highlighting the work being submitted and published by the iGGi PGRs at this stage in their projects. The cohort members had a chance to meet one another (as due to the pandemic, some still had not ever met before!) and to take a deep dive in to each-other's work, sharing knowledge in a simultaneously bonding and educational trip. The meet certainly fostered ideas for some collaborations between students, so watch this space! Previous 20 Apr 2022 Next

< Back George Long Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement George is an iGGi PhD student interested in AI assisted game design, specifically the process of game balancing. After graduating with a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Essex, he joined iGGi in 2021. His research focuses on how AI can be used to balance games, in particular games with asymmetric elements. He has most recently been working on using agentic Large Language Models to theorycraft optimal strategies in games. A description of George's research: "My research focuses on balancing games through identifying overpowered or unfair rules, which can then be accounted for: My previous work identified how we can estimate unit point costs in miniature wargames. These wargames are played by forming armies comprised of units, the sum of each unit's point costs must be within the total army budget. Therefore it is crucial that these point costs accurately represent how useful the unit is in combat. We used Linear Regression and Linear Programming to estimate these point costs and improve the balance of an example game. Currently, I am investigating how we can use Large Language Models to theorycraft optimal strategies in games.I used an agentic approach where an agent comes up with an initial theory, tests in out in games, and uses the results of the game to create an iterative feedback loop to improve the strategy." Email g.e.m.long@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Dr Diego Pérez-Liébana Featured Publication(s): PyTAG: Challenges and Opportunities for Reinforcement Learning in Tabletop Games Themes Design & Development Game AI Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Joe Cutting University of York iGGi Alum + Supervisor Dr Joe Cutting is a Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, UK. He has a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Cognitive Science from the University of Birmingham and completed an IGGI PhD at the University of York in 2019. Much of his research is in the area of the effects of playing video games on outcomes such as learning, cognitive abilities, wellbeing and behaviour change. This includes new psychological theories of how learning happens in video games and how game play can affect mental health, as well as studies on how game play can prevent cognitive decline in older people. He is also creating applied games to address current issues in education such as student wellbeing and teacher recruitment. Before becoming an academic, Joe enjoyed a varied career which included working as an interactive producer for the London Science Museum and founding his own digital startup company in the area of applied games. Email joe.cutting@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. Paul Cairns Featured Publication(s): 01 01V Difficulty-skill balance does not affect engagement and enjoyment: a pre-registered study using artificial intelligence-controlled difficulty Higher working memory capacity and distraction-resistance associated with strategy (not action) game playing in younger adults, but puzzle game playing in older adults Objective difficulty-skill balance impacts perceived balance but not behaviour: A test of flow and self-determination theory predictions The task-attention theory of game learning: a theory and research agenda The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data Telemetry Four grand challenges for video game effects scholars: How digital trace data can improve the way we study games Measuring the experience of playing self-paced games Measuring game experience using visual distractors Four dilemmas for video game effects scholars: How digital trace data can improve the way we study games The many faces of monetisation: Understanding the diversity and extremity of player spending in mobile games via massive-scale transactional analysis Busy doing nothing? What do players do in idle games? Understanding whether lockdowns lead to increases in the heaviness of gaming using massive-scale data telemetry: An analysis of 251 billion hours of playtime Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Erin Robinson University of York iGGi PG Researcher Erin Robinson is a multimedia artist, experimental musician and PhD Researcher from London. Her work primarily involves the design of interactive installations, where she takes a participatory approach to evolving visual-scapes, but also takes form in fixed media, sound art, free improvisation, live visuals and immersive experiences. Her work critically engages with the concepts of posthumanism and postmodernism, exploring notions of authenticity and existence in the digital anthropocene by blurring lines between organic and non-organic entities, reality and virtuality, self and otherness. She is a founding member of SubPhonics, an experimental music and sound art collective based in London. Recent works include ‘Flora_Synthetica’, shown at Peckham Digital 2024, and ‘Pluriversal Perspectives: Moss’, shown at the South London Botanical Institute and Conference for Designing Interactive Systems (Copenhagen) 2024. A description of Erin's research: "My research adopts a practice-based approach to exploring participant-contributed materials, a technique positioned at the intersection of participatory and new media arts. This interactive technique enables participants to contribute aesthetic and semiotic materials to new media artworks through open forms of interaction, including but not limited to, text input, drawing, and video feed. Although both participatory and new media artistic practices involve audience engagement, traditional interactive media often impose restrictive computational frameworks. In contrast, participatory practices, typically conducted in person, allow participants greater freedom, resulting in deeper engagement and more diverse, unexpected outcomes that reflect the audience's perspectives and behaviours. This research underscores the potential of digital artworks to provide more expansive and identity-reflecting experiences by incorporating participant-contributed materials. By using strengths of participatory practices, digital artworks can achieve a richer and more personalised form of interaction, and meaningful engagement with audiences." Email erin.robinson@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. Sebastian Deterding Themes Design & Development Immersive Technology - Previous Next

< Back Dr Thryn Henderson University of York iGGi Alum Thryn’s phd explored the practices of personal vignette games, with a particular interest in the vignette game’s approaches to digital persona, their roots in approachable DIY culture, and their importance to marginalised creators. Publications from their work can be found in the Digra 2020 archive and Persona Studies Volume 6, Issue 2 . Thryn’s interest in gaming grows from a delight in telling stories. They endeavour to find the spaces where play incorporates and encourages collaborative narrative, poetry, theatre, activism, subversion, surprise and expression. Most of Thryn’s work in playful media can be found in zines, cardboard installations, paper games, hidden screens, or roaming through the woods around the UK. They are a co-founder of the playful design co-operative Furtive Shambles, currently producing experimental live and tabletop game experiences. Email thrynhenderson@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Design & Development - Previous Next