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< 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. oliver.roughton@york.ac.uk Email https://www.instagram.com/klaus.the.magnificent/ Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn Twitter Github Themes Previous Next

< Back Pilar Zhang Qiu Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Pilar is a researcher with a background in Design Engineering. She has a keen interest in user experience and interaction, wearables and the use of cyber-physical systems in the medical field. Her PhD centres around the creation of play assessments for neuromotor conditions in children with cerebral palsy. This gravitates around the idea that better and more objective clinical data can be obtained through gamification of common assessments. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Mastodon https://www.pilarzhangqiu.com/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilar-zhang-qiu/ LinkedIn Twitter https://github.com/pili-zhangqiu Github Themes Applied Games - Previous Next

< Back Prof. William Latham Goldsmiths iGGi Co-Investigator Supervisor William Latham is well known for his pioneering organic computer art created in the 80s and early 90s whilst a Research Fellow at IBM in Winchester. In 1993 he moved into Rave Music setting up a small studio in Soho, creating album covers, stage designs and videos for bands including The Shamen for three years. He then worked for ten years as Creative Director and CEO of a large computer games development company, with studios in London and Brighton, creating PC and console games published by Vivendi Universal, SONY and Warner Bros. Among the games he has produced were Evolva for Virgin Interactive, and the hit game The Thing for Vivendi Universal for Xbox, PlayStation, PC. based on the famous John Carpenter horror movie set in Antarctica. In 2007, he became a Professor in Computing at Goldsmiths, where he works on research projects with Imperial College, York University, and the Oxford Weatherall Institute. His recent "Mutator VR" Sci-Fi art experience developed at Goldsmiths for the HTC Vive has been exhibited to much acclaim in galleries and museums Shanghai, Venice, Kyoto, Dusseldorf and St. Petersburg. William was an undergraduate student at Christchurch College, Oxford University, and a postgraduate student at The Royal College of Art. His book on interactive evolutionary design, “Evolutionary Art and Computers” is cited as a leading publication in this domain. He is Director of SoftV Ltd, a company which develops Neuroscience Patient mobile Games Apps for the NHS in Unity, and is a co-founder of London Geometry Ltd. w.latham@gold.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.mutatorvr.co.uk Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-latham-757326/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/WilliamLatham1 Twitter Github Themes Creative Computing Immersive Technology - Previous Next

< Back Sam Hughes University of York iGGi Alum Affect and Emotion using Immersive Sound in Intelligent Games. (On Industrial Placement with Remedy Entertainment) Recent advances in high definition video displays and 3-D headsets, coupled with motion tracking and biosensor technologies, have enabled video games to reach unprecedented levels of visual immersion and interaction. There is little research however on how the aural feedback of the player, which can help assess their emotional state, can be used to inform the game intelligence and affect the emotive impact of the game. Furthermore, improvements in domestic surround sound and binaural technology are paving the way for fully enveloping and realistic soundtracks that extend the gameplay beyond the visual and can significantly enhance the emotive experience. This research project therefore addresses how current sensor and tracking technologies can be enhanced through analysis of player aural reactions such that the game intelligence can in turn provoke a conditional response via the reproduced soundtrack. In other words, how can the emotional impact of a spatial soundtrack during gameplay be enhanced by the user aural response alongside other physiological detections such as heartbeat and movement? Sam is a sound designer and voice actor who founded the audio journalism site, The Sound Architect™. Sam was selected as one of the first to ever receive the Prince William Scholarship from both BAFTA & Warner Bros. to study MSc Post Production with Sound Design at The University of York where he graduated with a Distinction and a Departmental Award for achieving the Highest Overall Average Grade. Sam has been highly active in the community for years including writing for BAFTA Guru, sitting on the BAFTA Youth Board, running Game Audio North and being an active member of BAFTA Crew Games. Most recently Sam has worked regularly with game audio company Sweet Justice on a variety of titles that include mobile and AAA. Sam’s recent credits include Injustice 2 and Madden NFL 2017. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Mastodon Other links Website https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thesoundarchitect LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/@samhughes88 Twitter Github Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Prof. Anders Drachen Supervisor Anders Drachen, PhD, (born 1976) is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science, with Digital Creativity Labs and Weavr at the University of York (UK). His work in games research is focused on user behavior, user experience and audience engagement and the application of data science, information systems modelling, business intelligence, design and Human-Computer Interaction in these domains. His research and professional work are carried out in collaboration with companies across the Creative Industries, from big publishers to indies. He is recognized as one of the most influential people in his domains of work and have authored over a hundred publications with international colleagues across industry and academia. Having lived and worked on four different continents, Anders Drachen has had the mixed pleasure of fending off three shark attacks in Africa and Australia. He is also the youngest Dane in history to publish a cooking book – dedicated to ice cream. Research themes: Data Science, Analytics, Machine Learning in Interactive Media Big Data, behavior- and social media analytics in the Creative Industries Data Mining and Business Informatics in the Creative Industries Data-Driven Storytelling and Audience Engagement Games User Research and User Experience in Games Data-Driven Design and Development Human-Computer Interaction Esports and Sports Analytics Behavioral/Market Analytics and Business Intelligence Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies anders.drachen@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.andersdrachen.com Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/drachen/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/andersdrachen Twitter Github Themes Design & Development Esports Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Timea Farkas Goldsmiths iGGi Alum Timea is a researcher striving to understand how people engage with technologies—broadly defined—in their everyday lives, and how new technologies can enhance people's experiences of play, creative expression, and beyond. She has always been drawn to learning new things, with a background ranging from creative arts through games to science, which allows her to apply an interdisciplinary outlook towards research. She holds an MA in Sonic Arts from the University of Sheffield and has graduated with a First Class (Hons) degree in music composition and technology with a special award for outstanding achievement and collaboration. A description of Timea's research: This research project centres around understanding board game players' relationship with the immersive capabilities of hybrid board games - board games with a digital component - through finding novel interactions which strengthen the sensory elements of tabletop games. By focusing on physical board game pieces as alternative input devices to touch screens, the goal is to explore the design space of analogue-digital hybrids with a player-centric approach. farkasmarimba@gmail.com Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/timeafarkas/ LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/zen_barista Twitter Github Featured Publication(s): Exploring the Design Space of Analogue-Digital Hybrid Boardgames Using a Player-Centric Approach How Boardgame Players Imagine Interacting With Technology The Effects of a Soundtrack on Board Game Player Experience A Grounded Analysis of Player-Described Board Game Immersion Themes Creative Computing Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Steph Carter University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Steph is a York graduate in psycholinguistics with extensive experience in language teaching. They specialise in second language acquisition, human-computer interaction, and gamification. Their research interests also include accessibility in games, disability representation, and games with a purpose. Additionally, Steph has experience designing games for children and young people, as well as in esport analytics. When not immersed in research, Steph enjoys participating in game jams, creating art and obsessively playing rhythm games. They also love spending time with their two cats, Nano and Pixel. Steph's project explores how game design can improve the way we study people who are learning a second language. While games and gamification have become popular tools in education, especially for learning new languages, traditional research methods often overlook the fun and engaging aspects of games. This can make studies less interesting for participants, leading to higher dropout rates and less reliable results. By incorporating game elements into psycholinguistic studies—research that looks at how we understand and produce language—Steph aims to make these studies more engaging. Using this approach, they investigate how gamified experiments help keep participants interested and whether they provide more accurate data. The findings can then be used to develop better tools for language learning and cognitive research, benefiting both researchers and the game development industry. steph.carter@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://linktr.ee/steph_carter Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-carter-742891123/ LinkedIn Twitter Github Supervisor(s): Dr Abi Evans Themes Accessibility Applied Games Design & Development Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Alan Pedrassoli Chitayat University of York iGGi Alum Available for post-PhD position Alan is a researcher that focuses on audience experience within esport broadcast. His Machine Learning background allows him to extract complex patterns from game and game related data in order to derive meaningful insights that can be utilised in broadcast. Having worked in the esport industry, both as a software engineer as well as researcher, Alan has experience with both technical and research problems. His research aims to explore the factors that improve the audience experience within esports. This is catered to esport broadcast of all levels, from highly produced professional tournaments to regular streams by content creators and it could be in the form of: Measuring and representing different forms of audience engagement. Exploring the different ways to visualise and utilise Machine Learning to enhance and integrate existing broadcast pipelines. Investigating how community-led narratives can be generated through data. alan.pchitayat@york.ac.uk Email https://linktr.ee/alanpchitayat Mastodon https://alanpchitayat.com/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-pchitayat/ LinkedIn Twitter Github Supervisors: Dr James Walker Prof. Anders Drachen Featured Publication(s): How Could They Win? An Exploration of Win Condition for Esports Narratives Applying and Visualising Complex Models in Esport Broadcast Coverage From Passive Viewer to Active Fan: Towards the Design and Large-Scale Evaluation of Interactive Audience Experiences in Esports and Beyond Beyond the Meta: Leveraging Game Design Parameters for Patch-Agnostic Esport Analitics Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Metagaming and metagames in Esports What are you looking at? Team fight prediction through player camera Echo Suite of Software (Showcase Brochure) Automatic Generation of Text for Match Recaps using Esport Caster Commentaries WARDS: Modelling the Worth of Vision in MOBA's DAX: Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Themes Design & Development Esports Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Mihail Morosan University of Essex iGGi Alum Computational Intelligence and Game Balance. (Industry placement at MindArk) Game design has been a staple of human ingenuity and innovation for as long as games have been around. From sports, such as football, to applying game mechanics to the real world, such as reward schemes in shops, games have impacted the world in surprising ways. This process can, and should, be aided by automated systems, as machines have proven to be capable of finding innovative ways to complement human intuition and inventiveness. When man and machine cooperate, better products are created and the world has only to benefit. My research seeks to find, test and assess methods to apply computational intelligence to human-led game balance. Early research has proven that AI can successfully aid game designers in analysing the viability of various game rules and I intend to document this and polish the techniques that will result from my work. To achieve this, I am making use of cutting edge algorithms, powerful AI techniques and novel methods. Most of the current work done involves the use of evolutionary algorithms, as well as statistical analysis and evaluation of intelligent agents in various video games. Programmer (with a focus on optimisation and quick deliverables, mostly due to competitive experience), gamer (games are fun, relaxing and a great social experience), technology consumer (comes with the programmer bit) and all around happy guy stumbling through the world. Once ended up in a management internship at a bank thinking the application was for a programming position. And another time told an interviewer that "buying and eating a burger to solve hunger" is a legitimate problem-solving skill. Somehow received an invitation to the next interview stage. me@morosanmihail.com Email Mastodon Other links Website https://uk.linkedin.com/in/morosanmihail LinkedIn https://www.twitter.com/@MorosanMihail Twitter Github Featured Publication(s): Automating game-design and game-agent balancing through computational intelligence Lessons from testing an evolutionary automated game balancer in industry Genetic optimisation of BCI systems for identifying games related cognitive states Online-Trained Fitness Approximators for Real-World Game Balancing Evolving a designer-balanced neural network for Ms PacMan Speeding up genetic algorithm-based game balancing using fitness predictors Automated game balancing in Ms PacMan and StarCraft using evolutionary algorithms Themes Design & Development Game AI Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Debbie Maxwell University of York iGGi Research Collaboration Coordinator Supervisor Debbie is a lecturer in User Experience Design and Interactive Media at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television. Her background spans computing, HCI and Design and she currently teaches user experience (UX) design and design methods and critical design on the BSc Interactive Media programme. Her research focuses on the roles of traditional storytelling and engagement in digital contexts. I’m interested in the ways that people interact with and reshape technology through stories, as both method and artefacts, and across media. She is particularly focuses on applying design and stories across health and wellbeing and environmental design drawing on speculative design processes and approaches. Debbie uses interdisciplinary approaches that draw on a range of fields including Human Computer Interaction (HCI), ethnography, interaction design, social anthropology, and service design. Her research always involves working with communities using participatory methods. She is particularly interested in supervising students with a design or HCI background on the following topics: design of applied games for environmental education or knowledge exchange design and application of serious games to mental health and wellbeing contexts design and application of serious games to outdoor spaces, particularly cultural heritage settings Research themes: Games with a Purpose User experience design Design methods and ethnography Speculative design debbie.maxwell@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn https://twitter.com/@deb_max Twitter Github Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Susanne Binder Queen Mary University of London iGGi Manager iGGi Admin iGGi Manager @ QMUL ; alongside David Hull (iGGi Manager @ UoY) , and supported by Shopna Begum , Helen Tilbrook and Oliver Roughton, she's mostly in charge of making things run at iGGi with particular focus on iGGi-QMUL-specific admin iGGi-QMUL-specific student concerns PR, website and social media industry liaison s.binder@qmul.ac.uk Email https://dizl.de/@sus4nn3b1nd3r/ Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanne-binder-b1184647/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/sus4nn3b1nd3r Twitter Github Themes - Previous Next

< Back Dr Jon Hook University of York Supervisor Jon Hook is a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to an Associate Professor) in Interactive Media in the Department of Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media at the University of York. His research is situated in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and explores the design and development of new interactive media content forms and tools to support their creation. This research combines his deep interest in new forms of interactive technology and media with empirical, theoretical and methodological perspectives, in the human-centred design of novel interfaces and interaction techniques for a broad range of artistic and everyday creative practices. His current research is focused on the design and development of new forms of responsive and immersive media content, with a particular interest in data-driven storytelling. He was recently the principal investigator of the EPSRC funded Perspective Media: Personalised Video Storytelling for Data Engagement project. He also a co-investigator of the InnovateUK WEAVR: Pioneering Fully Integrated Cross-Reality Spectator Experiences in Esports and Beyond immersive experiences demonstrator and the Digital Creativity Labs – a £4m EPSRC, AHRC and InnovateUK funded research centre exploring impact-driven research in the creative industries. He was also previously Co-I of the AHRC Within the walls of York Gaol: Memory, Place and the Immersive Museum the AHRC Digital Creativity for Regional Museums: Immersive Experiences Smart Commissioning Toolkit. He is especially interested in supervising students who’d like to do HCI research that involves making and evaluating new interactive media experiences. Some example topic areas that he might be the right supervisor for include, but aren’t limited to: Games to support broader data engagement and literacy Data-driven storytelling in, and about, games The intersection between games and interactive documentary film Responsive and interactive video storytelling in games The space where theatre and games converge Cultural heritage engagement using games Research themes: Game Design Games with a Purpose E-Sports Player Experience jonathan.hook@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.jonhook.co.uk Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-hook-641b597/ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/jonathanhook Twitter https://github.com/jonathanhook Github Themes Applied Games Esports Player Research - Previous Next