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< Back Andrei Iacob University of Essex iGGi Alum Identifying Immersion in games using EEG and other measures (Industry placement at Sony SIE) The project aims to identify markers for immersion in player’s EEG signals. A few steps towards it include designing an experiment that reduces data noise and helps identify time frames for immersion during gameplay, recording EEG data among other “tests” to improve the accuracy of the state localization on a timeline. This research could prove useful for the games industry in a few ways: - it can provide tools for game testing (e.g. which parts of the game are immersive, which parts lack in that aspect) – thus making it easier to improve the game experience across the board; - it could also be used in making real-time adjustments to games (increase / decrease difficulty levels, pace, etc. to enhance the player’s immersion). Although the EEG data is the main focus of the project, it is not the only one. Correlations will be analyzed between different tests and in-game behaviors that should render even more information regarding the player’s state and mindset during gameplay. This information will be just as valuable and perhaps more readily available for widespread use in the near future. Andrei is a keen programmer and gamer. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Essex. Andrei’s research interests are in the field of brain- computer interfaces and computer games. His hobbies include programming, gaming, guitar and skiing. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Matthew Whitby University of York iGGi Alum Matthew Whitby is a games designer, and player experience academic investigating how games can shape how perspectives on a small or grand scale. In particular, his work considers how we can make the development of perspective challenging processes easier for game developers. Previously, Matthew has published his undergraduate dissertation within the Games Journal, which explored the creation and design of Games Installations. Games that make full use of their surrounding space, and in fact incorporate the real world with its digital counterpart. In addition, he’s worked with Motek Medical, a rehabilitation company based in Amsterdam, where he developed socially focused multiplayer applications. More recently, he attended CHI Play 2019 to present the foundational study of his PhD titled: “One of the Baddies All Along: Perspective Challenging Moments in Games”. He continues to develop this idea forward, while developing games (both digital and table-top) in his spare time. Matthew’s work hopes to answer; how games can challenge a player’s perspective, and if this is a phenomenon that can be intentionally designed for? matt_whitby@hotmail.com Email Mastodon https://www.matt-whitby.com Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-whitby-b324ab83 LinkedIn BlueSky Github Supervisor(s): Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Jo Iacovides Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Tom Collins University of York Supervisor Tom runs the Music Computing and Psychology Lab in the Music Department at University of York, and so makes a good supervisor for game audio projects, but he has wider interests in media (e.g., podcasts) and sport (especially football), and in sport how AI can be leveraged to enhance analytics that lead to new insights into, and competitive advantages in, individual and team performance. Tom is internationally recognised for his work in automatic music generation, web systems for music, and information retrieval. His research has been featured by the BBC (BBC Click), The Times, and Financial Times among others. Tom is interested in supervising students who have a background in at least one of the following areas, and who are interested in acquiring knowledge of the others: Data science and machine learning (especially deep learning); One of music, podcasts, or sport; Software engineering (especially full-stack JavaScript development). tom.collins@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://tomcollinsresearch.net Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Esports Game AI Game Audio Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Prof. Simon Lucas Queen Mary University of London iGGi Co-Investigator Supervisor Simon Lucas is a professor of Artificial Intelligence and Head of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London where he also heads the Game AI Research Group. He holds a PhD degree (1991) in Electronics and Computer Science from the University of Southampton. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Games and co-founded the IEEE Conference on Games. His research involves developing and applying computational intelligence techniques to build better game AI, use AI to design better games, provide deep insights into the nature of intelligence and work towards Artificial General Intelligence. He is the QMUL lead for the EPSRC-funded CDT in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI). He has supervised more that 15 PhD students to completion, most of them in Game AI. Research themes: Game AI Agents (RL, Monte Carlo Tree Search, Rolling Horizon Evolution) Learning Forward Models Automated Game Design, Procedural Content Generation Game AI for real-world problem solving simon.lucas@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/profiles/lucassimon.html Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/simon-lucas Github Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back James Gardner University of York iGGi PG Researcher I am a third-year PhD student at The University of York, specialising in computer vision and machine learning for 3D scene understanding. Supervised by Dr William Smith, my research focuses on neural-based vision and language priors in inverse rendering and scene representation learning. I'm particularly interested in neural fields, generative models, 3D computer vision, differentiable rendering, geometric deep learning, multi-modal models, and 3D scene understanding in general. My research has been recognised with publications at prestigious conferences including NeurIPS and ECCV. Currently, I am working as a research fellow on the ALL.VP project, funded by BridgeAI and Dock10, developing relightable green screen performance capture using deep learning and inverse rendering techniques. This work aims to provide greater creative control to film and TV productions without requiring expensive LED volumes or post-production. I hold an MEng in Electronic Engineering from The University of York, for which I was awarded the IET Prize for outstanding performance and the Malden Owen Award for the best-graduating student on an MEng programme. A description of James' research: My research lies at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, and 3D scene understanding, with a particular focus on neural-based approaches and the integration of vision and language priors. My work spans a range of topics including neural fields, generative models, differentiable rendering, and geometric deep learning. A key theme in my research is the use of 3D inductive biases for inverse rendering, addressing challenges such as illumination estimation, albedo/geometry disentanglement, and shadow handling in complex outdoor scenes. I've made contributions in creating a rotation-equivariant neural illumination model and spherical neural models for sky visibility estimation in outdoor inverse rendering. Additionally, my work extends to learning rotation-equivariant latent representations of the world from 360-degree videos, aimed at advancing the field of 3D scene understanding and developing models with an understanding of core physical principles such as object permanence. Through my research, I aim to build computer systems capable of deeply comprehending the 3D world, utilising self-supervised, generative, and non-generative approaches to push the boundaries of what's possible in computer vision and scene representation learning. james.gardner@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/jadgardner/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://jadgardner.github.io/ Github Featured Publication(s): The Sky's the Limit: Relightable Outdoor Scenes via a Sky-Pixel Constrained Illumination Prior and Outside-In Visibility Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Tom Wells University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Tom has an interest in niche alternative and indie games which evoke strong emotions and are narratively immersive. He studied Experimental Psychology as an undergraduate in Oxford, specialising in conscious brightness perception in specific optical pigments. His Masters was in Computational Neuroscience, Cognition and AI from Nottingham, and focused on Computer Vision (specifically facial recognition) and Visual Attention. He enjoys heavy metal, strength sports and literature. A description of Tom's research: With the rise of digital art, Uncanny Valley has emerged from an esoteric robotics concept into an infectious memetic phenomenon, with specific memes such as 'Uncanny/Canny Mr. Incredible', or more generally uncanny faces being used as reaction images for humor. Critics and players will now refer to specific media being 'Uncanny' rather than using more general words as 'off-putting', demonstrating uncanniness cementing itself in the public consciousness as examples increasingly abound; ergo digital artists should be aware of evoking the uncanny even with modern rendering technology, as audiences become increasingly discerning of the Uncanny. This is most pertinent in videogames, where rendering is performed in real-time, meaning rendering constraints must be implemented. This potentially confines characters to the Uncanny Valley, as it may not be possible to increase graphical fidelity, thus artists may be left to either accept the uncanny or demaster their work (both undesirable options). This project aims to learn about the Uncanny Valley pertaining to modern skin rendering techniques, using artificial intelligence (specifically GANs) to directly map skin rendering parameters onto user assessments of uncanniness and realism. This can then be reverse engineered to provide automated tools for generatively rendering realistic non-uncanny skin, and predicting audience responses to skin realism, expediting QA testing. The primary experimental stage is to generate a face database with photorealistic skin to be assessed using psychometrics by participants. This is additionally one of few studies looking into the novel phenomena of training AI's to generate human-oriented psychologically salient content. tw1700@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes - Previous Next

< Back Dr Anna Bramwell-Dicks University of York Supervisor Anna Bramwell-Dicks has an interdisciplinary background which started in Electronics and Music Technology before taking a sideways move to the field of Human-Computer Interaction research. She likes to combine her underlying interest in sound and music with applied psychology and creativity. She is very interested in research involving multimodal interaction (e.g. using audio, haptics, smell and/or proprioception as well as visuals within interfaces) particularly where audio is used to affect user’s behaviour or experiences. She is also very interested in accessibility research and any research in the application area of mental health and mental illness. As a lecturer in Web Development and Interactive Media, based in TFTI, Anna is always interested in work that involves designing and evaluating novel and interesting user experiences, particularly where that leads to the option to create fun, engaging, accessible experiences. She likes to work across a range of application areas ranging from learning environments to e-commerce to escape rooms and cultural exhibits! Anna is keen to work with students who want to design and develop gamified systems to support people with disabilities, physical or mental illness. Or, those who are also interested in multimodal experiences. Research themes: Accessibility Multimodal and multisensory systems Research methods anna.bramwell-dicks@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-bramwell-dicks-2b941a28/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Accessibility Applied Games Design & Development Game Audio Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Jozef Kulik University of York iGGi Alum Jozef’s first study has focused on developing a better understanding of the challenges and barriers to making accessible games. This identified a vast array of personal, organisational, and external factors which contribute to the difficulties that developers experience when seeking to make their games more accessible, and also identifies avenues which might be helpful. One key finding in this research was that one of the biggest challenges that developers experience relates to a lack of lived experience with disability, or knowledge of the player experience with disabilities. My most recent research is focused on how to effectively extract that knowledge from players with disabilities, then insert it into a large studio within the UK. This research takes a multi-pronged approach to assisting developers in making more accessible games. First by directly assisting a studio with knowledge about their games, second generating potentially transferable knowledge on accessibility issues and player experience for the rest of the industry, and exploring how research methods such as diary study methodology can be valuable in extracting data from natural play environments with people with disabilities. joe.kulik@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/jozef-kulik-a62516140/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Supervisors: Prof. Paul Cairns Dr Jen Beeston Featured Publication(s): A Qualitative Investigation of Real World Accessible Design Experiences within a Large Scale Commercial Game Development Studio Grounded theory of accessible game development What makes icons appealing? The role of processing fluency in predicting icon appeal in different task contexts Themes Accessibility Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Prof. Matthew Purver Queen Mary University of London Supervisor Matthew Purver is Professor of Computational Linguistics, and leader of QMUL’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory. His research has covered many aspects of natural language processing (NLP), with a £4m grant portfolio including projects on fundamental techniques like cross-lingual processing and incremental language understanding, and applications to news media, social media analysis and mental health diagnosis. His work has been covered by the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, LA Times, NBC and Scientific American, among others. He is also a senior researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, and in 2011 he co-founded the company Chatterbox Labs Ltd. He is interested in supervising students with a background in NLP, linguistics or machine learning and an interest in analysis or generation of natural language. Research themes: Language in Games Game AI Computational Creativity m.purver@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~mpurver/ Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Creative Computing Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dr Laura Helsby University of York iGGi Alum Laura Helsby is a HCI researcher with a background in psychology, currently examining how features of games might be beneficial to wellbeing and mood. She is particularly interested in how people with persistent low mood play and experience games, and what this might mean for their wellbeing. So far, she has conducted one interview study asking people with low mood what they play and why, and one diary study investigating the 'in the moment' effects and motivations for gaming. Future plans involve making more direct measures of the impact of particular games on wellbeing, as well as looking further into the FPS and simulation genres to unpack what about these games might make them appealing to people with persistent low mood. Laura has achieved an MSc in Foundations in Clinical Psychology from Newcastle University and a BSc in Psychology from the University of York. In her spare time, Laura enjoys denying she is a computer scientist at all. Her hobbies include reviewing books professionally, board game nights and of course, playing video games. laura.helsby@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn https://bsky.app/profile/laurahelsby.bsky.social BlueSky Github Supervisors: Prof. Paul Cairns Dr Jo Iacovides Featured Publication(s): "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews Do People Use Games to Compensate for Psychological Needs During Crises? A Mixed-Methods Study of Gaming During COVID-19 Lockdowns Themes Applied Games Player Research - Previous 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 laurissa.tokarchuk@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~laurissa/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurissa-tokarchuk-27aa3214/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Applied Games Creative Computing Game AI Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Toby Best Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Toby has always held video games as an integral part of his livelihood, ever since catching his first Pokémon on the Game Boy Color. The ever-developing evolution of technology, from the humble NES and R.O.B. preventing the video game market crash in 1983, to the Wii’s motion controls, to augmented and virtual reality today, has been a key inspiration, and one of the reasons why he studied Mathematical Computation at University College London. He also has a keen interest in tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. His research interests involve the potential of combining roleplaying games' collective storytelling and interactive narrative with the power of artificial intelligence and deep learning. A description of Toby's research: Artificial Intelligence is the field of creating digital agents capable of decision-making and rational thought to fulfil a core goal or aspect. For tabletop and video games, an implemented AI would attempt to ‘solve’ the game by finding optimal winning strategies. However, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are driven by the power of collective storytelling and interactive narrative, as opposed to set rules, and therefore have a more open-ended goal - maximising player enjoyment for all participants. This involves a Game Master (GM) player as both narrator and referee, controlling the non-playable characters (NPCs) and the campaign behind the screen, whereas players usually control one player character (PC) each to interact with the world. There is no ‘failure’ state compared to traditional games, as campaigns can continue until players lose interest or the narrative is ‘complete’; even all PCs dying (known as a total party kill) can drive the narrative in a new direction. This project aims to study and piece together the different elements that would go into a Game Master AI, building on current state-of-the-art game-playing AI, such as Director AIs in games such as Valve’s ‘Left 4 Dead’, and studying the implications of such developments for players and game designers alike. For example, whether it could replicate the playing experiences of a human GM as a replacement, or enhance the experience by working with a human GM. t.j.best@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://l0rdr0b.github.io/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/toby-best-776336136/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/L0RDR0B Github Supervisors: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Raluca Gaina Prof. Simon Lucas Featured Publication(s): "Journeys in the Dark"-Towards Game Master AI in Complex Board Games Why Choose You?-Exploring Attitudes Towards Starter Pokémon Themes Design & Development Game AI Player Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYRhQ-w5yPA Previous Next