scholarly journals USE: An integrative suite for temporally-precise psychophysical experiments in virtual environments for human, nonhuman, and artificially intelligent agents

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus. R. Watson ◽  
Voloh Benjamin ◽  
Thomas Christopher ◽  
Hasan Asif ◽  
Womelsdorf Thilo
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Data Streams ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Time Synchronization ◽  
Behavioral Neuroscience ◽  
State Machine ◽  
List Type ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Game Engines ◽  
And Control

1Abstract1.1BackgroundThere is a growing interest in complex, active, and immersive behavioral neuroscience tasks. However, the development and control of such tasks present unique challenges.1.2New MethodThe Unified Suite for Experiments (USE) is an integrated set of hardware and software tools for the design and control of behavioral neuroscience experiments. The software, developed using the Unity video game engine, supports both active tasks in immersive 3D environments and static 2D tasks used in more traditional visual experiments. The custom USE SyncBox hardware, based around an Arduino Mega2560 board, integrates and synchronizes multiple data streams from different pieces of experimental hardware. The suite addresses three key issues with developing cognitive neuroscience experiments in Unity: tight experimental control, accurate sub-ms timing, and accurate gaze target identification.1.3ResultsUSE is a flexible framework to realize experiments, enabling (i) nested control over complex tasks, (ii) flexible use of 3D or 2D scenes and objects, (iii) touchscreen-, button-, joystick- and gaze-based interaction, and (v) complete offline reconstruction of experiments for post-processing and temporal alignment of data streams.1.4Comparison with Existing MethodsMost existing experiment-creation tools are not designed to support the development of video-game-like tasks. Those that do use older or less popular video game engines as their base, and are not as feature-rich or enable as precise control over timing as USE.1.5ConclusionsUSE provides an integrated, open source framework for a wide variety of active behavioral neuroscience experiments using human and nonhuman participants, and artificially-intelligent agents.2GlossaryActive task: Experimental tasks which involve some combination of realistic, usually moving, stimuli, continuous opportunities for action, ecologically valid tasks, complex behaviours, etc. Here, they are contrasted with static tasks (see below)Arduino: A multi-purpose generic micro-processor, here used to control inter-device communication and time synchronization.Raycast: A game-engine method that sends a vector between two points in a virtual three-dimensional environment, and returns the first object in that environment it hits. Often used to determine if a character in a game can see or shoot another character.State Machine (also Finite State Machine): A way of conceptualizing and implementing control in software, such that at any one moment the software is in one, and only one, state. In hierarchical state machines, as used in the present software suite, these can be organized into different levels, such that each level can only be in one state, but a state can pass control to a lower level.Static task: Experimental tasks like those traditionally used in the cognitive neurosciences. Simple, usually stationary, stimuli, limited opportunities for action, simple behaviours, etc. Here, they are contrasted with active tasks (see above).Unity: One of the most popular video game engines. Freely available.Video game engine: A software development kit designed to handle many of the common issues involved in creating video games, such as interfacing with controllers, simulating physical collisions and lighting, etc.

scholarly journals Unifying Rigid and Soft Bodies Representation: The Sulfur Physics Engine

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Maggiorini ◽  
Laura Anna Ripamonti ◽  
Federico Sauro
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Unified Approach ◽  
Game Mechanics ◽  
Physics Simulation ◽  
Game Engines ◽  
Player Experience ◽  
Game Environment

Video games are (also) real-time interactive graphic simulations: hence, providing a convincing physics simulation for each specific game environment is of paramount importance in the process of achieving a satisfying player experience. While the existing game engines appropriately address many aspects of physics simulation, some others are still in need of improvements. In particular, several specific physics properties of bodies not usually involved in the main game mechanics (e.g., properties useful to represent systems composed by soft bodies), are often poorly rendered by general-purpose engines. This issue may limit game designers when imagining innovative and compelling video games and game mechanics. For this reason, we dug into the problem of appropriately representing soft bodies. Subsequently, we have extended the approach developed for soft bodies to rigid ones, proposing and developing a unified approach in a game engine: Sulfur. To test the engine, we have also designed and developed “Escape from Quaoar,” a prototypal video game whose main game mechanic exploits an elastic rope, and a level editor for the game.

scholarly journals Using the Roblox Video Game Engine for Creating Virtual tours and Learning about the Sculptural Heritage

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (20) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Cecile Meier ◽  
Jose Luis Saorín ◽  
Alejandro Bonnet de León ◽  
Alberto Guerrero Cobos
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Santa Cruz ◽  
School Students ◽  
Final Questionnaire ◽  
Game Engines ◽  
The Creation

This paper describes an experience to incorporate the realization of virtual routes about the sculptural heritage of a city in the classroom by developing a simulation of the urban environment using a video game engine. Video game engines not only allow the creation of video games but also the creation and navigation of in-teractive three-dimensional worlds. For this research, Roblox Studio has been used, a simple and intuitive program in which no previous programming skills are required. During the 2018/2019 academic year, a pilot experience was carried out with 53 secondary school students who were given the task of designing a virtual environment in which they had to include 3D models of the sculptural her-itage of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Before starting the experience, the par-ticipants answered a questionnaire to obtain a previous idea of the students' knowledge about the creation of video games. Once the activity was finished and in order to evaluate the result of the activity, the participants answered a final questionnaire. The students emphasized that after the activity they are more aware of the sculptural heritage of Santa Cruz and that they consider themselves capable of creating their own interactive worlds with Roblox.

scholarly journals Game Engine Learning from Video

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Guzdial ◽  
Boyang Li ◽  
Mark O. Riedl
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Game Playing ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Initial Test ◽  
Forward Simulation ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Simple Search

Intelligent agents need to be able to make predictions about their environment. In this work we present a novel approach to learn a forward simulation model via simple search over pixel input. We make use of a video game, Super Mario Bros., as an initial test of our approach as it represents a physics system that is significantly less complex than reality. We demonstrate the significant improvement of our approach in predicting future states compared with a baseline CNN and apply the learned model to train a game playing agent. Thus we evaluate the algorithm in terms of the accuracy and value of its output model.

scholarly journals Landmarks: A solution for spatial navigation and memory experiments in virtual reality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Starrett ◽  
Andrew S. McAvan ◽  
Derek J. Huffman ◽  
Jared D. Stokes ◽  
Colin T. Kyle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Programming Languages ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
3D Navigation ◽  
Head Mounted Displays ◽  
Integrated Development Environments ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Engines

Abstract Research into the behavioral and neural correlates of spatial cognition and navigation has benefited greatly from recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technology. Devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) and omnidirectional treadmills provide research participants with access to a more complete range of body-based cues, which facilitate the naturalistic study of learning and memory in three-dimensional (3D) spaces. One limitation to using these technologies for research applications is that they almost ubiquitously require integration with video game development platforms, also known as game engines. While powerful, game engines do not provide an intrinsic framework for experimental design and require at least a working proficiency with the software and any associated programming languages or integrated development environments (IDEs). Here, we present a new asset package, called Landmarks, for designing and building 3D navigation experiments in the Unity game engine. Landmarks combines the ease of building drag-and-drop experiments using no code, with the flexibility of allowing users to modify existing aspects, create new content, and even contribute their work to the open-source repository via GitHub, if they so choose. Landmarks is actively maintained and is supplemented by a wiki with resources for users including links, tutorials, videos, and more. We compare several alternatives to Landmarks for building navigation experiments and 3D experiments more generally, provide an overview of the package and its structure in the context of the Unity game engine, and discuss benefits relating to the ongoing and future development of Landmarks.

Relationships between video game play factors and frequency of lucid and control dreaming experiences.

Dreaming ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Sestir ◽  
Ming Tai ◽  
Jennifer Peszka
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Video Game Play ◽  
And Control

PENERAPAN FINITE STATE MACHINE UNTUK PENGENDALIAN ANIMASI PADA VIDEO GAME RPG NUSANTARA LEGACY

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mustofa Mustofa ◽  
Sidiq Sidiq ◽  
Eva Rahmawati
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Finite State Machine ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
State Machine ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Development Life Cycle ◽  
Finite State ◽  
Role Playing Game

Perkembangan dunia yang dinamis mendorong percepatan perkembangan teknologi dan informasi. Dengan dorongan tersebut komputer yang dulunya dibuat hanya untuk membantu pekerjaan manusia sekarang berkembang menjadi sarana hiburan, permainan, komunikasi dan lain sebagainya. Dalam sektor hiburan salah satu industri yang sedang menjadi pusat perhatian adalah industri video game. Begitu banyaknya produk video game asing yang masuk ke dalam negeri ini memberikan tantangan kepada bangsa ini. Tentunya video game asing yang masuk ke negara ini membawa banyak unsur kebudayaan negara lain. Ini semakin membuat kebudayaan nusantara semakin tergeserkan dengan serangan kebudayaan asing melalui berbagai media. Maka dari itu peneliti mencoba untuk menerapkan Finite State Machine dalam merancang sebuah video game RPG (Role-Playing game) yang memperkenalkan kebudayaan. Dalam perancangan video game ini peneliti menggunakan metode GDLC(Game Development Life Cycle) agar penelitian ini berjalan secara sistematis. Dalam suatu perancangan video game tedapat banyak elemen, pada penelitian ini penulis lebih fokus pada pengendalian animasi karakter yang dimainkan pada video game ini. Dari perancangan yang dilakukan, disimpulkan bahwa Finite State Machine dapat digunakan untuk pengendalian animasi yang baik pada video game RPG. Diharapkan video game ini dapat menjadi salah satu media untuk mengenalkan kebudayaan nusantara

CHROMATOGRAPHY OF THE 17-KETOGENIC STEROIDS IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND CONTROL OF CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA

1960 ◽  
Vol XXXIII (II) ◽  
pp. 230-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen E. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia ◽  
List Type ◽  
Adrenal Hyperplasia ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Paediatric Practice ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Cortisone Therapy ◽  
And Control ◽  
Clinical Problems ◽  
Stimulation Of

ABSTRACT A method for the fractionation of the urinary 17-ketogenic steroids with no oxygen grouping at C11 and those oxygenated at C11, is applied to the clinical problems of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In normal children the mean ratio of the non-oxygenated to oxygenated steroids is 0.24. In childrern with congenital adrenal hyperplasia the ratio is 2.3. The reason for this difference in ratio is discussed. The changes in ratio found under stimulation of the adrenal gland with exogenous or endogenous corticotrophin and the suppression with cortisone therapy are studied. This test can be applied to isolated samples of urine, a major advantage in paediatric practice, and can be carried out in routine laboratories. It is found to be reliable in the diagnosis and sensitive in the control of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Exploring genomes with a game engine

2014 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 443-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremiah J. Shepherd ◽  
Lingxi Zhou ◽  
William Arndt ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
W. Jim Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Linear Structure ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
3D Genome ◽  
Genome Viewer ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Visualization Techniques ◽  
Insight Into

More and more evidence indicates that the 3D conformation of eukaryotic genomes is a critical part of genome function. However, due to the lack of accurate and reliable 3D genome structural data, this information is largely ignored and most of these studies have to use information systems that view the DNA in a linear structure. Visualizing genomes in real time 3D can give researchers more insight, but this is fraught with hardware limitations since each element contains vast amounts of information that cannot be processed on the fly. Using a game engine and sophisticated video game visualization techniques enables us to construct a multi-platform real-time 3D genome viewer. The game engine-based viewer achieves much better rendering speed and can handle much larger amounts of data compared to our previous implementation using OpenGL. Combining this viewer with 3D genome models from experimental data could provide unprecedented opportunities to gain insight into the conformation–function relationships of a genome.

Game Engine Architecture and Comparative Study of Different Game Engines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitya Vohera ◽  
Heet Chheda ◽  
Dhruveel Chouhan ◽  
Ayush Desai ◽  
Vijal Jain
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Game Engines

A systematic literature review of parenting behaviours exhibited by anxious people

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 170-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Pape ◽  
M.P. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Parental Support ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
List Type ◽  
Behaviour Modification ◽  
Transgenerational Transmission ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Controlling Behaviour ◽  
And Control ◽  
Anxious Parenting ◽  
Parenting Behaviours

IntroductionResearch shows anxiety clustering within families: a greater proportion of children with anxious parents develop symptoms of anxiety than children with non-anxious parents. Anxious children often describe their parents as over-controlling and intrusive, lacking in affection and warmth, with reports of decreased parental support.Objectives(1)to identify if parenting behaviors differ between anxious and non-anxious parents,(2)to discuss if these differences in behaviors can contribute to transgenerational transmission of anxiety.AimsIdentifying whether behaviour modification could reduce familial transmission rates of anxiety.MethodA search of OvidSP Medline, Google Scholar, and PubMed was performed, covering 1999 to 2010. Search terms used were: parenting, parents, maternal, paternal, or parental; and anxiety, PTSD, OCD, panic disorder, or phobia. 14 Papers were identified.ResultsWhile most papers identified differences in parenting between anxious and control parents, the conclusions were variable. Two observed increased amounts of controlling behaviour, 5 a decrease in sensitivity, 1 witnessed exageration of behaviours, and 5 a decrease in granting of autonomy or increased protectiveness.ConclusionThe most supported differences in anxious parenting are less granting of autonomy, and lower levels of sensitivity. Whilst in isolation they cannot explain how anxiety is transmitted, and appear to be reciprocally related to child anxiety and temperament, they give grounds for further research. In particular this review identifies the need to study the above behavioral components in longitudinal studies, to observe causal effects between parent behavior and child anxiety.

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