< 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 Prof. Alex Wade University of York Supervisor Alex Wade is a psychologist working in the field of human cognitive neuroscience. He uses a combination of structural and functional brain imaging, electrophysiology, psychophysics and big data analysis to ask how we see, solve problems and make decisions. His most recent work in the domain of video games focuses on what we can learn about global cognitive health and player personality from the analysis of large MOBA datasets in collaboration with Riot games (League of Legends). He is particularly interested in supervising students with a psychology or neuroscience background in the areas of: Using commercial video games to measure cognition and personality How the brain responds to solo- and group gameplay Can we use video games to monitor and modify real-world cognition, behaviour and mental health Research themes: Game Analytics Games with a Purpose Computational Creativity E-Sports Player Experience The neuroscience of gaming Email alex.wade@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Creative Computing Esports Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Carlos Gonzalez Diaz University of York iGGi Alum Carlos is finishing his PhD at the University of York. He holds an MSc in Serious Games at the University of Skövde (Sweden) and a BSc in Software Engineering (Spain). He is been closely connected with industry throughout his PhD, having worked in the last years for Microsoft Research, Sony Interactive Entertainment R&D, Musemio Ltd R&D and Goldsmiths, UoL; as well as done consulting for tech companies such as Unity Technologies. A description of Carlos' research: The purpose of my PhD research is to advance game technologies by democratising the use of ML techniques among non-experts through innovative tools and plugins for game engines. I developed ML specific visual scritping languages and used mixed-methods research approaches to understand how to better support developers in creating VR interactions and the challenges behind human-AI interaction. I had several technical jobs throughout my PhD, as my expertise is highly applicable in both industry and academia. Thanks to the broad range of expertise that I gathered through many years of industrial work and academic study, I can tackle the challenges emerging from the inter-disciplinary nature of modern work: where user psychology, immersive technology and artificial intelligence intersect. Please refer to my website for completely up-to-date information regarding publications. Feel free to reach out if you want more information or want to chat about my/your work. I am looking for positions starting on February 2023 onwards. Email carlos.gonzalezdiaz@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. Sebastian Deterding Featured Publication(s): Prototyping by Moving for Virtual Reality Embodied, in-medium design of VR game motion controls using interactive supervised learning Automatic Game Tuning for Strategic Diversity Programming by Moving: Interactive Machine Learning for Embodied Interaction Design InteractML: Node Based Tool to Empower Artists and Dancers in using Interactive Machine Learning for Designing Movement Interaction Movement interaction design for immersive media using interactive machine learning Using Machine Learning to Design Movement Interaction in Virtual Reality Interactive machine learning for more expressive game interactions Making Space for Social Time: Supporting Conversational Transitions Before, During, and After Video Meetings InteractML: Making machine learning accessible for creative practitioners working with movement interaction in immersive media Interactive Machine Learning for Embodied Interaction Design: A tool and methodology Bodystorming in SocialVR to Support Collaborative Embodied Ideation Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Game AI Immersive Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taVry9IQUjE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkKU3MyBspM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHiPav2l5gA Previous Next

< Back Dr Ivan Bravi Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Ivan Bravi has obtained his B.Sc and M.Sc in Engineering of Computer Systems at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. From January to July 2016 he was Visiting Scholar at the NYU’s Game Innovation Lab in New York, under the supervision of Prof. Julian Togelius. Since October 2017 he's an IGGI PhD student at Queen Mary University of London under the supervision of Simon Lucas. Ivan has published several workshop and conference papers in different venues such as IJCAI, Evostar, CIG, FDG, AAAI and CoG. Automatic playtesting of games can significantly streamline the process of designing, developing and releasing a game. It is also a possible application of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): having a set of flexible algorithms that can play games regardless of their type decouples the two problems (playtesting and developing AGI algorithms) advancing both independently. When it comes to developing new AGI algorithms for game-playing a crucial characteristic is the ability of expressing different behaviours. Most of the research has focused on peak performance game-playing agents, this research project instead focuses on producing agents that are able to show different playing styles (behaviours) with no explicit domain information embedded in the algorithm. Behavioural expressivity arises from the parameterisable components of an algorithm. In classical Statistical Forward Planning (SFP) it is very straightforward to adjust these, e.g. how far ahead it's planning. A very important component of SFP algorithms is the heuristic function used to evaluate the quality of game states. Being able to define heuristics in a game-agnostic manner is a key element in maintaining the algorithms generally. Email i.bravi@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Dr Diego Pérez-Liébana Prof. Simon Lucas Featured Publication(s): Program Committee and Subreviewers Evaluating and Enhancing Gameplay Behavioural Expressivity of Planning-Playing Artificial Intelligence for Automatic Playtesting Self-adaptive MCTS for General Video Game Playing Rinascimento: Playing Splendor-Like Games With Event-Value Functions Rinascimento: searching the behaviour space of Splendor Rinascimento: using event-value functions for playing Splendor Learning local forward models on unforgiving games Rinascimento: Optimising statistical forward planning agents for playing splendor A local approach to forward model learning: Results on the game of life game Game AI hyperparameter tuning in rinascimento Efficient evolutionary methods for game agent optimisation: Model-based is best Shallow decision-making analysis in general video game playing Evolving UCT alternatives for general video game playing Evolving game-specific UCB alternatives for general video game playing Themes Game AI Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Oliver Roughton University of York iGGi Administrator iGGi Admin Based in York alongside Tracy and Helen I act as a Point of contact for iGGi PGRs and provide administrative support in the implementation of iGGi procedures. iGGi PGRs are most likely to hear from me in relation to conference/kit funding and travel bookings for the taught modules and other iGGi events. As well as my admin work I am a part-time PhD student (not with iGGi) and spend much of my free time knitting. Email oliver.roughton@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Previous Next

< Back Gorm Lai Goldsmiths iGGi PG Researcher Inspired by the works of Karl Sims and William Latham as well games such as a Spore and No Man's Sky, Gorm's main work is focused on using artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate creatures for use in video games. Combining this with his background as a virtual reality pioneer, his full doctorate is looking into how mixed-initiative co-creative interfaces in vr can assist in creating procedural generated creatures for use in video games. As a stalwart of the game development community, Gorm ran the Danish chapter of the International Game Developer Association (IGDA) for 5 years, started the London Indie Game Developers meetup group which currently features almost 3000 members, co-founded the Nordic Game Jam, as well as the Global Game Jam. The Global Game Jam has been recorded into the Guinness Book of World Records, and has more participating countries than the Winter Olympics. Gorm is a games industry veteran who has worked on 17 commercial video games since 2004, and has spoken at numerous games industry conferences such as GDC, Nordic Game & Develop Brighton. Gorm is a student at Goldsmiths, University of London, where is he is supervised by William Latham and Frederic Fol Leymarie. Email lai.gorm@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. William Latham Featured Publication(s): Formal Constraints and Creativity: Connecting Game Jams, Dogma ’95, the Demo Scene, OuBaPo, and Renga poets What Is a Game Jam? The Dark Side of Game Jams On Mixed-Initiative Content Creation for Video Games Two decades of game jams Virtual Creature Morphology‐A Review Towards Friendly Mixed Initiative Procedural Content Generation: Three Pillars of Industry Introducing: the game jam license Trends in organizing philosophies of game jams and game hackathons The global game jam for teaching and learning Gplayer A compression method for spectral photon map rendering Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Alex Flint University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Alex has an academic background in Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction. Their Master’s dissertation comparing measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games was published at CHI 2023. Alex has previously worked on the Research Operations team at PlaytestCloud and as a freelance Games User Researcher. They are also a Student Video Games Ambassador for UKIE, and regularly volunteer at conferences such as CHI Play and the GamesUR Summit. When they aren’t at their desk, you can find Alex figure skating, playing roller derby, or DJing 80’s rock. Alex’s research focuses on levelling up the narrative testing practices of indie video game developers. Narrative testing is a specialised games user research (GUR) practice that requires resources and knowledge not easily accessible to indie developers, meaning they are often disadvantaged compared to their larger AAA counterparts. Thus, Alex's work proposes the direct study of indie developers to level the playing field by democratising narrative testing best practices and empowering non-research team members to conduct GUR activities. Alex aims to achieve this goal by: 1) Defining narrative testing best practices. 2) Identifying key challenges indie developers face when evaluating narrative. 3) Co-designing and evaluating narrative testing prototype(s). 4) Assessing methods for disseminating GUR knowledge. The successful completion of this work will impact how indie studios conduct narrative testing, ultimately leading to the creation of better games. Email alex.flint@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Jon Hook Featured Publication(s): Comparing Measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games: Exploring the conceptual dimensions of CORGIS and VGDS Faking handedness: Individual differences in ability to fake handedness, social cognitions of the handedness of others, and a forensic application using Bayes’ theorem Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Phoebe Hesketh University of York iGGi Alum Phoebe's PhD explored how people learn to play games through gameplay, online media, and community interaction. At the University of York, Phoebe worked on her skills as a researcher by exploring multiple methodologies and disciplines. She built upon her quantitative research skills from Bristol with qualitative research during their PhD including grounded theory and thematic analysis. She took courses in user-centred design and evaluation and designing for accessible player experiences (through AbleGamers). She participated in game jams and game development courses for experience and technical design. She also gave a talk at DEVELOP 2021 communicating and sharing her research and expertise in how players learn to play games to help designers with their onboarding for their games. She originally studied Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol which focused on systems and mathematical modelling and simulation, the mathematics and implementation of AI and Machine Learning systems, programming in object-oriented programming languages such as C++ and Java, and developed ray tracers in computer graphics courses. She also worked on projects in linguistics, logistics, computer vision, and physics. Once completing her PhD, Phoebe moved into the games industry as an AI programmer for several years before looking to return to games and player research. She has set up her own company, Take A Mo, that focuses on helping developers analyse their systems and internal systems to maximise access for players in usability, onboarding, accessibility, and representation. She is a currently carving her niche in the industry. Email phoebe@takeamo.co.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Jeremy Gow Featured Publication(s): How Players Learn Team-versus-Team Esports: First Results from A Grounded Theory Study Themes Esports Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Sarah Masters University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for post-PhD position Sarah is an artist, game developer and researcher. They have an MA in Indie Game Development from Falmouth University (Distinction). They are an active part of the games community taking part in game jams and running their own commercially focused game studio working on the debut title Moth Terra. A description of Sarah's research: Sarah’s work takes a research-through-design approach focused on exploring meaning in games and ecogames. Alongside a portfolio of games, their previous work includes running a workshop on Solarpunk vs Grimdark concepts, presenting the Cute Ecologies talk Moth Magic, and contributing to the development of Treescapes: A NERC-Funded Mobile Game exploring the social, cultural, and emotional values of trees. Their work also explores sustainable design approaches to games and interactive experiences. Email sarah.masters@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Prof. Paul Cairns Featured Publication(s): Radical Alternate Futurescoping: Solarpunk versus Grimdark Better Dead than a Damsel: Gender Representation and Player Churn Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research Eudaimonia: A solarpunk city-building choice and consequence game - Save the world in eight years!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zKcgFluR24 Fatalis - a witchy gardening game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR_OMidgk14 Previous Next

< Back Callum Deery University of York iGGi Alum Callum is a researcher and game developer investigating how real-time player experience measurement can be used to drive adaptive games. Aiming to embed player experience questionnaires into games in a way that doesn’t break immersion and presence, his PhD is focussed on leveraging the wide range of existing player experience questionnaires to improve games ability to adapt to players. This will involve exploring the states of immersion and presence: What is necessary to maintain them? What experiences can players reflect on without breaking immersion? How do we embed a questionnaire into an in-development game without disrupting the player experience? Email callum.deery@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Dr James Walker Dr Anna Bramwell-Dicks Themes Accessibility Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Lizzie Vialls University of York iGGi Alum Discrete Models and Algorithms to create a more satisfying and strategic opponents For many 4x and Grand Strategy computer games (e.g. Civilisation, Europa Universalis), the player will be playing against one or more AI opponents. For many games, the AI is not clever enough to stand up to a player without being given the ability to "cheat" - ability to spawn in resources, see what the player is doing, etc. This creates an unsatisfactory opponent for a player, as it gives them opponents that fight through "cheating" over strategy or out-manoeuvring the player. The aim for my PhD is to look into the potential uses of SAT and similar to create a more satisfying and strategic opponent for players to play against in these styles of computer games. To this end, I’ll be identifying potential for improvement regarding my proposal, and once I’ve narrowed down the specifics - be it related to improving how SAT solvers can handle problems, or how better to encode AI into SAT - I will be working on ways to improve AI for turn based strategic games. Lizzie Vialls is a recent Computer Science graduate of University of Leicester, having graduated with a 2:1 and a prize for best third year project, which was the project that fueled her interest in SAT. When not searching for an errant semicolon in her code she can be found working with various online gaming communities, hunched over many a tabletop game, or attempting to make friends with the local feline populace. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dan Cooke University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for post-PhD position I have a keen interest in the world of finance and regulation and controls for prevention of crime in video games and wider financial marketplaces. I am interested in how criminals seek to exploit systems to transfer and disguise proceeds of crime or for the use of further crime. I have a background in accounting and finance and graduated with a MA in Applied Accounting from De Montfort University in 2019. Outside of my professional interests I play MMO's daily and am involved in the community for Old School Runescape and Runescape. My research interests include money laundering, secondary marketplaces in video games and user experience. A description of Dan’s research: The focus of my research is on detecting money laundering in video games using outlier detection methods to assess the risk of outliers relative to the data population. I aim to have identified money laundering risk and scale within the steam marketplace data i am working with and identify whether certain games or items have higher risk of being exploited for the purpose of money laundering purposes. My current research is looking at using anomaly scores (how severe of an outlier a data point is) to assess the risk of laundering within certain groups using a multi level grouping analysis. This aims to assess different risk levels per item and game and challenge the assumption that the whole marketplace behaves the same and identify risk variance between groups. Email dan.cooke@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Dr David Zendle Featured Publication(s): Money laundering through video games, a criminals' playground Themes Esports Game Data Player Research - Previous Next