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About iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. About iGGi Your Future in Games Research The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (iGGi) is the world's largest PhD research programme focused on games research. Our mission is to unlock the full potential of games research to contribute to wellbeing, prosperity, and science by training the next generation of leading researchers, designers and developers in games. Based at the University of York, Queen Mary, Goldsmiths, and Essex, iGGi students undertake a four year PhD in impact-oriented games research, working closely with more than 80 partner organisations in the games industry and society. iGGi students advance games with research, software, patents, algorithms, data analytic techniques and creative works across a wide range of areas , from game AI and analytics to player experience and game design to games and play for health, education, or research. Game Research that Matters iGGi embraces a diversity of research approaches and topics: from humanistic studies of how autobiographical games convey meaning or designerly work on using stage magic in game design to rigorous trials of games for mental health or creative play with machine learning and advancing AI techniques for real-time MOBA play. At the heart of iGGi's approach to research are two principles: fostering dialogue between research and practice: we engage game creators, players, and other stakeholders throughout our research to ensure our work is inclusive, responsible, and makes a positive impact on the real needs of people and organisations fostering dialogue between engineering and human sciences: we believe innovative and responsible game research happens in interdisciplinary work that brings together perspectives from engineering (AI, data science, game-making) and humanities and behavioural sciences (HCI, psychology, design, game studies) While we welcome work across many themes, iGGi particularly focuses on two lines of work: Intelligent Games: Unlocking the value of research for the entertainment games industry, creating new engaging gameplay agents as well as new data- and AI-assisted tools and methods for making games and studying players Game Intelligence: Unlocking the value of games for wellbeing, learning, and science by advancing the design of applied or ‘serious’ games and gamification, the use of game data to understand the human condition, and our understanding of the positive and negative uses and effects of games. Game AI Player Research Applied Games Game Audio Design & Development Accessibility Creative Computing Esports Immersive Technology Game Data iGGi THEMES A Unique Community and Network PhD research is often solitary. Not so in iGGi : PhD students can collaborate with more than 70 other current PhD students and 60 leading academics all working on games. iGGi's past and present closely linked networks include the Digital Creativity Labs , XR Stories , WEAVR , and the Arena Research Cluster at the University of York, cutting-edge research and development centres for games, immersive storytelling, and esports, and the Game AI Research Group at QMUL, one of the largest research groups for technical games research world-wide. PhD students form a lasting cohort with everyone joining the programme in the same year, from joint training to working together in shared offices, and iGGi runs regular local and remote events to connect students further across sites and cohorts. The iGGi Con Every year, students co-organise the iGGi conference showcasing their research to academia and industry, and participate in the Global Game Jam. Students also travel to major industry and academic conferences like Develop, CoG, CHI, CHI Play, or FDG to network and disseminate their work. Finally, students co-organise research workshops on joint topics of interest with leading researchers and practitioners, and can conduct research visits with iGGi's academic partners abroad. iGGi Con info Meet the Team Meet The Team PG Researchers Meet our iGGi PGRs Supervisors/Staff Meet our Supervisors and other Staff Management Team Meet our iGGi Management Team Alumni Meet our iGGi Alumni Engaging Industry and Society To foster dialogue between research and practice, iGGi draws on a network of more than 80 partner organisations, spanning industry bodies (UKIE, TIGA, BGI, IGDA), developer studios (e.g. Sony Interactive Entertainment, Bossa Studios, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Revolution Software), industry suppliers (e.g. deltaDNA, Spirit AI, Player Research), advocacy groups (e.g. Women in Games, AbleGamers, BAME in Games, SafeInOurWorld), research centres at other universities and organizations (e.g. Microsoft Research, Nokia Bell Labs, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, GeorgiaTech, Utrecht University, Monash University, NC State University, University of Waterloo, Tampere University), and media organisations (e.g. Screen Yorkshire, BBC). iGGi students spend at least eight weeks working with one or more of our partners to understand the realities and challenges of applying research in practice, tackle real-world problems, and make a positive difference. Beyond the members of our partner network, iGGi students have also worked with e.g. Splash Damage, Media Molecule, Google DeepMind, Prowler, Sue Ryder, BT, and many others, and iGGi is always looking for new partners to join our network. iGGi Partners Show all iGGi Partners A Rigorous Training Programme Over their four years of study, iGGi students receive a full year's worth of training to prepare them to do excellent and impactful research. In their first year, students take four 'core' training modules: Game Design: Students learn how to conceive, design, prototype and playtest their own games, be it for entertainment or a 'serious' purpose like health, education, or research. Game Research & Data: Students learn various methods for empirically studying games and players, including standard HCI methods and data science techniques for gaining insights from big data sets. Game Development & AI: Students learn how to develop game prototypes using standard industry game engines, explore novel interaction techniques and interfaces, and the state of AI applications in games, like AI opponents and collaborators, procedural content generation, or player modelling. Impact & Engagement: Students learn how to engage industry, players, and other societal stakeholders early on in their research, how to conduct responsible research and innovation that is overall beneficial to human wellbeing, and how to present their work online, to the media, and industry. These formal training modules are complemented by regular events and workshops, academic and industry knowledge exchange, and a wide range of optional modules depending on each students’ needs. See info on iGGi Training An Inclusive and Responsible Environment iGGi wants to be a positive agent of change for more inclusive, diverse, and responsible games and research communities. We especially welcome students from underserved communities, celebrate diversity in our events, and work with e.g. Women in Games and BAME in Games to reach out to students from diverse backgrounds. We work hard to increase the intellectual, ethnic, and gender diversity of our supervisor pool so students can find the right fit for them. We support flexible training and work arrangements to fit students’ family and health situations. We work with leading figures in responsible innovation and rigorous, open science media effects research to ensure our training and research critically engages with the potential positive and negative impacts of games and research innovations. Please note that iGGi CDT is now closed for recruitment: the last iGGi intake is September 2023. A Word from Peter Cowling, iGGi Director Word from iGGi Director General Note Please note: iGGi is funded via a grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) / Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) . This means that studentships awarded by iGGi are subject to UKRI/EPSRC regulation as well as terms and conditons of the grant agreement. iGGi CDT is now closed for recruitment: the last iGGi intake is September 2023.

< Back iGGi Con 2023 - Get Ready! Preparations for the next iGGi conference are underway! Better mark the date: iGGi Con 2023 13. + 14. September 2023 Queen Mary University of London This year's event will be packed with talks, workshops, panels, posters and more. For the first time ever, we will also run a Mini Expo with Industry stands. iGGi Con 2023 is a showcase for iGGi PGRs and friends, and iGGi Industry Partners as well as a networking platform for everyone interested/involved in the games industry and games research. So, don't miss out and REGISTER HERE TODAY !! Spaces are limited. Previous 3 Apr 2023 Next

< Back iGGi Open Evening at QMUL iGGi QMUL is spontaneously running an Open Evening event on 15 December 2021 at 6pm Empire House (Whitechapel Campus) https://goo.gl/maps/dquCpQHtSuTN7YD9A We will showcase some of the ongoing research of the QMUL Game AI research group the iGGi Centre for Doctoral Training the AIM Centre for Doctoral Training which are all part of QMUL's School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. It will be a great opportunity to speak face-to-face to some of the Researchers and Staff relevant to iGGi (and you can also consider our "competitor" AIM who offer fully funded scholarships in a similar way to iGGi). There will also be pizza and drinks! If you can/want to attend: Fill in this form: https://forms.gle/mGmWeoGUtH4sZmz86 Note that you will be required to wear a face mask for the duration of the event, and you will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative covid test taken within the last 48h of event start. We look forward to seeing you there! Previous 8 Dec 2021 Next

< Back LAST EVER iGGi Cohort – Sep 2023 Start iGGi is proud to announce that we have now successfully recruited a total of 120 PhD researchers over its two funding runs (i.e., “IGGI 1” and “IGGI 2” which each granted funding for 5 years of new intake), resulting in a total of 10 cohorts of 12 new researchers on average per year. While this is sad news for those who were hoping to apply to the programme in future as there won’t be any further recruitment, we are excited about the high quality of work that iGGis on the programme have so far achieved and about what is still to come. Our last ever intake comprises a total of 16 new researchers who are about to start the programme officially at the beginning of this October (2023). We’ve seen teasers of their research projects during the “Year 1 Buzz” session of last week’s iGGi conference, and, diverse though they were in their topic areas, they all looked very promising. – We can’t wait to hear more of it!! If you are a new iGGi Year 1 and happen to read this: Here’s a warm welcome to you from the iGGi Community - to many years of shared work and fun! Previous 18 Sept 2023 Next

< Back iGGi Seminar - Alexander Swords Alexander Swords is visiting us at Empire House to speak about: Narrative Design of Totem Teller Wednesday, 22 June 2022 @ 16:00-17:30 Abstract Alexander Swords is the writer and narrative designer on the transmedia video game experience Totem Teller as well as the creator of The Forest Paths Method For Narrative Design. In this talk he’ll cover how the Method has been indispensable in the development of the game, bringing together the more tangible requirements of game development and the transcendental form on which the game is based. It will include a behind the scenes look at the narrative design patterns used in development, as well as footage of gameplay yet to be made public. Bio Alexander Swords is a writer and narrative designer working across emotional games, games for change, the adaptation and evolution of stories moving to new mediums, and advocating for the power of interactive narrative and the need for diverse future storytellers. With 20 years experience working with stories, creators, and their audiences, he’s currently wielding this experience as a writer and narrative design director on Totem Teller and Anytown: Garage Sale Monsters. He’s also the creator of the Forest Paths Method for Narrative Design; a structuralist approach to understanding story in an approachable and collaborative way. Moderated by Timea Farkas (iGGi PhD) For further info and/or if you are an iGGi-external who would like to attend, please contact s.binder@qmul.ac.uk Previous 15 Jun 2022 Next

< Back iGGi Game Jam 2023 The iGGi Game Jam has kicked off on 11 January 2023 and this year’s theme was TRANSFERENCE - check out what the jammers came up with! Here’s a quick summary of the submitted games (in no particular order): Prison of the Endless by James Goodman, Prasad Sandbhor, George Long Agony Haunt by Callum Deery, Sahar Mirhadi, Amy Smith, Florence Smith Nicholls, Sunny Thaicharoen Pseudo Judo by Toby Best, Bobby Khaleque, Dimitris Menexopoulos, Oliver Withington Trip to the Moon by Charline Foch, FrancescaFoffano, Carlos Gonzalez Diaz Outbalance by Yu-Jhen Hsu, Peyman Hosseini, Nirit Binyamini Ben-Meir, Dominik Jeurissen Move The Groove by Dan Cooke, Nathan John-McDougall Pitch ‘it by Michael Saiger Nick Cage's Face Off 2 by Adrián Barahona-Ríos, Matt Whitby Mind Shift by Remo Sasso, Michelangelo Conserva, James Gardner *hacker voice* I’M IN. –– A Hacking Mechanic Supplement by Younès Rabii I know that person by Madeleine Frister, Maximilian Croissant Harlan by Luke Farrar, Tom Wells, Lauren Winter, Evgenii Kashin General audio support to various games was lent by Erin Robinson. And links to all of these games can of course be found via the iGGi GAMES page here or alternatively also via this page on itch: https://itch.io/jam/iggi23/entries There even was a Mini Contest on the last jam day!! Prizes went to the following teams and categories: Agony Haunt won MUCH WOW Nick Cage's Face Off 2 won BUT… WHY? Harlan won LESS IS MORE Outbalance won GIT GUD Pseudo Judo won IT’S A FEATURE Many Congrats to the winners! Yet, it needs to be said: With so many little game gems, it’s nigh impossible to pick favourites! The Game Jam wrapped on Friday afternoon - see twitter thread: Previous 13 Jan 2023 Next

< Back GAIG Meetup The recent Game AI Meetup took place on 01 March 2023. Talks and presentation included: Jakob Foerster (University of Oxford, UK): Opponent-Shaping and Interference in General-Sum Games Original talk abstract: In general-sum games, the interaction of self-interested learning agents commonly leads to collectively worst-case outcomes, such as defect-defect in the iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD). To overcome this, some methods, such as Learning with Opponent-Learning Awareness (LOLA), shape their opponents' learning process. However, these methods are myopic since only a small number of steps can be anticipated, are asymmetric since they treat other agents as naive learners, and require the use of higher-order derivatives, which are calculated through white-box access to an opponent's differentiable learning algorithm. In this talk I will first introduce Model-Free Opponent Shaping (M-FOS), which overcomes all of these limitations. M-FOS learns in a meta-game in which each meta-step is an episode of the underlying (``inner'') game. The meta-state consists of the inner policies, and the meta-policy produces a new inner policy to be used in the next episode. M-FOS then uses generic model-free optimisation methods to learn meta-policies that accomplish long-horizon opponent shaping. I will finish off the talk with our recent results for adversarial (or cooperative) cheap-talk: How can agents interfere with (or support) the learning process of other agents without being able to act in the environment? Vanessa Volz ( modl.ai ): Establishing Trust in AI-based Tools for Game Development Original talk abstract: AI-based tools to support the game development process have long been a topic in Game AI research, with popular publications in testing, churn prediction, asset, level and even game generation. However, the adaptation of these techniques from the games industry has been hesitant at best: The small-scale and simplified examples researchers use to demonstrate their work understandably only seldom convince the industry to risk investing in AI tools. In this talk, I will speak about my experience establishing trust in AI-based tools to support creative processes in game development. Having worked on this topic in both industry and academia, I will address issues ranging from establishing a common language and explaining AI behaviour to issuing performance guarantees via benchmarking and theoretical analysis. Mike Preuss (Leiden University, The Netherlands): In the eye of the storm? Where are we going with game AI? Original talk abstract: Looking back at the last 10 years of research in Game AI we find that Big Tech research has shaken up things quite a lot. A number of challenges were resolved in record time (Go, StarCraft, etc) and AI algorithm development is probably still increasing in speed. However, it seems that the use of AI in game-making has not changed that much, and academic research often opts for "smaller problems", slowly turning towards Human-Centered AI as possibly most important general research direction. How can we approach the next leap predicted by Alex Champandard 10 years ago of really intelligent game AI? And where would we want that? Mike presents some inconclusive thoughts and ideas on future developments. The Game AI Meetup takes place several times a year. To sign up and receive updates, please register/join here: https://www.meetup.com/game-ai-meetup-gaim-of-london/ Previous 1 Mar 2023 Next

Publications (All) iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. iGGi Publications Filter by iGGi Theme Accessibility Applied Games Creative Computing Design & Development Esports Game AI Game Audio Game Data Games Business Immersive Technology Player Research Filter by iGGi Author Select iGGi Author Filter by Publication Year Select year Filter by Publication Type Select Publication Type World and human action models towards gameplay ideation A Kanervisto, D Bignell, LY Wen, M Grayson, R Georgescu, ... Nature 638 (8051), 656-663, 2025 Marko Tot View Details Cost-Effective Attention Mechanisms for Low Resource Settings: Necessity & Sufficiency of Linear Transformations P Hosseini, M Hosseini, I Castro, M Purver arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.01643, 2025 Peyman Hosseini View Details Claims for no evidence also need evidence VM Karhulahti, N Huntington-Klein, N Ballou OSF, 2025 Dr Nick Ballou View Details Towards an Ontology of Wargame Design L Ouriques, CE Barbosa, J Kritz, G Xexéo IEEE Access, vol. 13 Joshua Kritz View Details From social media to artificial intelligence: improving research on digital harms in youth KL Mansfield, S Ghai, T Hakman, N Ballou, M Vuorre, AK Przybylski The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Volume 9, Issue 3p194-204, 2025 Dr Nick Ballou View Details When 1+ 1 does not equal 2: Synergy in games Joshua Kritz, Raluca Gaina arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.10304 Joshua Kritz View Details Scaling Analysis of Creative Activity Traces via Fuzzy Linkography A Smith, BR Anderson, JT Otto, I Karth, Y Sun, JJY Chung, M Roemmele, .. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Amy Smith View Details "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews L Winter, L Helsby, D Zendle CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Article No.: 1036, Pages 1 - 16 Lauren Winter Laura Helsby View Details UKRN Local Network Lead Guidebook UKR Network, SJ Westwood, DL Hird, N Ballou, M Belyk, C Bokhove, ... OSF Preprints, 2025 Dr Nick Ballou View Details XAIxArts Manifesto: Explainable AI for the Arts N Bryan-Kinns, SJ Zheng, F Castro, M Lewis, JR Chang, G Vigliensoni, ... arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.21220, 2025 Dr Terence Broad View Details Archaeological Gameworld Affordances: A Grounded Theory of How Players Interpret Environmental Storytelling F Smith Nicholls, M Cook CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, Article no 465, p. 1 - 20 Florence Smith Nicholls View Details Reliving 10 years old: Descriptive Insights into Retro Gaming N Ballou, N Bowman, T Hakman, AK Przybylski OSF, 2025 Dr Nick Ballou View Details Seeding for Success: Skill and Stochasticity in Tabletop Games J Goodman, D Perez-Liebana, S Lucas IEEE Transactions on Games, 2025 James Goodman View Details Efficient solutions for an intriguing failure of llms: Long context window does not mean LLMs can analyze long sequences flawlessly Peyman Hosseini, Ignacio Castro, Iacopo Ghinassi, Matthew Purver 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING) Peyman Hosseini View Details Fuzzy Linkography: Automatic Graphical Summarization of Creative Activity Traces A Smith, BR Anderson, JT Otto, I Karth, Y Sun, JJY Chung, M Roemmele, ... arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.04599 Amy Smith View Details Formal Constraints and Creativity: Connecting Game Jams, Dogma ’95, the Demo Scene, OuBaPo, and Renga poets G Lai, I Vecchi Games and Culture, 2024 Gorm Lai View Details Using Virtual Reality to Investigate the Influence of Sleep Deprivation on In-the-Moment Arousal During Exposure to Prolonged Threats E Sullivan, C McCall, LM Henderson, M Croissant, G Schofield, S Cairney JOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH 33, 2024 Dr Maximilian Croissant View Details Playing NetHack with LLMs: Potential & Limitations as Zero-Shot Agents D Jeurissen, D Perez-Liebana, J Gow, D Cakmak, J Kwan arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.00690, 2024 Dominik Jeurissen View Details Climate Club: A Group-based Game to Support Sensemaking of Climate Actions P Sandbhor, J Hook FDG '24: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, Article No.: 32, Pages 1 - 12, 2024 Prasad Sandbhor Prasad Sandbhor View Details GeoPos: A Minimal Positional Encoding for Enhanced Fine-Grained Details in Image Synthesis Using Convolutional Neural Networks M Hosseini, P Hosseini arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.01951, 2024 Peyman Hosseini View Details An appraisal-based chain-of-emotion architecture for affective language model game agents M Croissant, M Frister, G Schofield, C McCall Plos one 19 (5), e0301033, 2024 Dr Maximilian Croissant Dr Madeleine Frister View Details Use of Technology in Brief Interventions L Gega, MJ Saiger Brief CBT and Science-Based Tailoring for Children, Adolescents, and Young Adolescents, and Young Adults, Springer, pp 293-309, 2024 Michael John Saiger View Details Contextual design requirements for decision-support tools involved in weaning patients from mechanical ventilation in intensive care units N Hughes, Y Jia, M Sujan, T Lawton, I Habli, J McDermid Applied Ergonomics 118, 104275, 2024 Dr Nathan Hughes View Details Affective Systems: Progressing Emotional Human-Computer Interactivity with Adaptive and Intelligent Game Systems M Croissant University of York, 2024 Dr Maximilian Croissant View Details VDSC: Enhancing Exploration Timing with Value Discrepancy and State Counts M Captari, R Sasso, M Sabatelli arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.17542, 2024 Remo Sasso View Details View More

News (All) iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. iGGi News 7 May 2025 iGGi Con 2025 - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! We're excited to share that registrations for the upcoming iGGi Conference are now open! This year's iGGi Con takes place at the University of York, 10-11 September 2025. Read on for links and more info. Read More 13 Jan 2025 iGGi Game Jam 2025 and Awards! iGGi successfully concluded its 11th Game Jam on Friday, and it’s been EPIC! Read More 13 Sept 2024 iGGi Con 2024 - It's A Wrap The iGGi Con 2024 successfully concluded on Thursday, 12 September. Read More 7 May 2025 iGGi/AIM/C4DM Spring Writing Retreat 2025 Every year, iGGi runs at least one Writing Retreat to facilitate focused writing on research and projects away from home in a tranquil environment. Read on for this time's story.. Read More 22 Nov 2024 iGGi Wins "Best Game Related Research Award"!!! We're proud to announce that, for the 2nd year running, iGGi CDT wins the Game Republic Award for "Best Game Related Research"!! [click to read on] Read More 12 Jul 2024 iGGi @ Develop:Brighton 2024 iGGi Talk by Dominik Jeurissen, side events, and our as yet most successful iGGi stand at the Develop:Brighton Expo! >>> Read this article for more info Read More 2 Apr 2025 iGGi @ GDC 2025 Six iGGis flew to California this March to attend the GDC... Six iGGis, six Blogs. Read More 15 Nov 2024 iGGi at Develop:North Develop:North took place at The Spine in Liverpool on 14 November 2024. Five of our iGGi PG Researchers attended.. Read More 11 Jul 2024 iGGi Talk at Develop:Brighton - Dominik Jeurissen Dominik Jeurissen talks about "LLM Agents for QA - Potential & Limitations" Read More Load More