Generation of Educational 3D Maze Games for Carpet Handicraft in Bulgaria

Generation of

Educational 3D Maze Games

for Carpet Handicraft in Bulgaria

(invited talk given at 9.IX.2017)

Boyan Bontchev with Radina Panayotova

Department of Software Engineering

Fac. of Math. and Informatics,

Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria

DIPP'2017September 9, Burgas, Bulgaria

Audio record is available at

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx4W_

8u_HGFDTnpveEVMcXpYRWs

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx4W_8u_HGFDTnpveEVMcXpYRWs

AGENDA

Introduction

Types of computer video games

Serious games for cultural heritage

Problems with serious games

Need of open/free platforms for game construction

The MAZE BUILDER platform for game generation

A generated video game for carpet handicraft in Bulgaria

Case study results

Conclusions

September 9, Burgas, Bulgaria 2DIPP'2017

PLAYING versus GAMING


BUT WHAT IS A GAME?

AND WHERE ARE THE GAMES?

I found the answer

when I was a little boy…

… together with my friends,

while playing in the street

… a war game!


GAMES ARE “AT EVERY MILESTONE” (FOUND THANKS TO BALKANTON, 9.IX.1970)


A game is a type of play activity, conducted in the context of a pretended reality,in which the participant(s) try to achieve at least one arbitrary, non-trivial goal by acting in accordance with rules.

(Source: Adams, E. Fundamentals of Game Design, 2010)

COMPUTER GAMES AS A NEW MEDIA


Credits:

Hitbox Team

COMPUTER VIDEO GAMES

Computer

games

Video

games

Text

games

Audio

games

COMPUTER

VIDEO

GAMES

Tablet

games

TV/Console

games

Web

games

Handheld

games


For 2017, see at athttp://www.techradar.com/news/best-games-2017:

the best Xbox One games

the best PS4 (Sony PlayStation 4) games

the best Nintendo 3DS games

the best PC games

the best indie games a video game created without the financial support of a

publisher;

rely on:

Innovation

digital distribution.

the best iPhone games

the best Android games

ENTERTAINMENT GAMES

8

DIPP'2017 September 9, Burgas, Bulgaria

http://www.techradar.com/news/best-games-2017

September 9, Burgas, Bulgaria9

SERIOUS GAMES (SG)

Digital interactive applications that allow users to make specific experiences that promote active and experiential paths of learning in various domain of human existence,

through virtual/augmented simulations

through ludic and playing formats

“A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment” (Abt, 1970)

“A serious game is a digital game in which education is the

primary goal, rather than entertainment” (Micheal & Chen, 2006)

SG enable self-controlled, active and playfully learning

9

DIPP'2017


DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENTERTAINMENT

GAMES AND SG

Criterion\Games

Serious games Entertainment

games

Task vs. rich experience

Problem solving in focusRich experiences preferred

Focus Important elements of learning

To have fun

SimulationsAssumptions necessaryfor workable simulations

Simplified simulationprocesses

CommunicationShould reflect natural

(non-perfect) communication

Communication is oftenperfect


Source: Susi, Johannesson and Backlund, 2007.

VIDEO GAMES FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

All video games do always reflect somehow human culture because they are "objects produced and played within culture at large", however, "not all games manifest transformative cultural play to actually transform culture“ (source: Salen and Zimmerman, 2007)

Unlike other traditional media, video games are capable to make deeper our understanding and feelings of cultural heritage (both tangible and intangible) in a very interactive and immersive way (source: Bontchev, 2015)

September 9, Burgas, BulgariaDIPP'2017 11

TYPES OF VIDEO GAMES FOR CULTURAL

HERITAGE

1. Entertainment documentary games

2. 3D role-playing adventure games

3. Interactive virtual museums

4. Prototypes and demonstrators

5. Social tagging and knowledge acquisition SG

(Bontchev, DIPP’2015)

September 9, Burgas, BulgariaDIPP'2017 12

TYPE 1. ENTERTAINMENT DOCUMENTARY GAMES

‘History Line: 1914-1918’ (Blue Byte, 1992) ‘Great Battles of Rome’ (Slitherine Strategies, 2007) ‘Napoleon: Total War’ (Creative Assembly, 2010)


TYPE 2. 3D ROLE-PLAYING ADVENTURE GAMES

‘Red Dead Redemption’ (Rockstar San Diego, 2010) ‘Assassin’s Creed II’ (Ubisoft Montreal, 2009)


TYPE 3. INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL MUSEUMS

use gaming technology for both entertaining and educating visitors usually by incorporating some exploration and reassembling tasks and quizzes

examples - ‘Virtual Egyptian Temple’, ‘Olympic Pottery Puzzle’, ‘Walk through Ancient Olympia’ and ‘ThIATRO’


(Froschauer et al, Design and Evaluation

of ThIATRO, 2012)

TYPE 4. PROTOTYPES AND DEMONSTRATORS

games based on 3D virtual reconstruction 3D and geo-referenced modeling of ancient historical sites

provide not only realistic archaeological exploration with historical accuracy but also political, religious and artistic walkthrough with crowd restauration of ancient characters with procedurally generated NPC

examples - ‘Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius’ edutainment SG and ‘Roma Nova’ brain-controlled SG


TYPE 5. SOCIAL TAGGING AND KNOWLEDGE

ACQUISITION SG

SG for encouraging players to submit accurate information about cultural artifacts embedded into the games for further knowledge verification and mining

Examples - ‘One-Up’ is a multi-round mobile crowdsourcing metadata tagging game fostering players to propose high-quality metadata and rewarding them based on metadata (Flanagan et al, 2013)


SERIOUS PROBLEMS OF SERIOUS GAMES

Higher development cost

Lower attractiveness compared to entertainment games

Transition between instructional design and actual game design implementation - how Game Mechanics impact and interact with the Learning Mechanics

Assessment - effectively tracking and analysing of the right parameters related to learners’ progress (knowledge gain, reflection and application)

How psychological theories should be used in the design of realistic and convincing NPCs?

How different pedagogical paradigms relate to SG and SG mechanics - reference framework needed!


D1.6 GALA Roadmap 2, Nov. 2011

THE GREATER CHALLENGE:

Higher development cost …

and, on the other side,

… lack of enough free and customizable

platforms for automatic creation of serious

games!


EXISTING PLATFORMS FOR AUTOMATIC

CREATION OF SERIOUS GAMES


Criteria/Solution Quandary Qedoc Quiz

Maker ADAPTIMES Maze Builder

Distribution Web Desktop Desktop Desktop/Web/Mobile/Console

Type 2D 2D 3D 3D

Game platform None None None Unity 3D

Programming language None None Python C#

Learning resources

slides, test questions

slides, test questions,

learning games

slides, test questions, arranging images

slides, test questions,

arranging 3D objects, hidden

3D objects

Customizationimages, music,

video, font

images, font, sound effects

Textures, rooms

Textures, images, music

Open code No No Yes YesPrice Free Free Licensed Free

OUR GOAL: TO PROVIDE A FREE AND OPEN

SOLUTION BASED ON A POPULAR GAME ENGINECriterion \

Game Engine

Unreal

engine 4 CryEngine Ogre 3D Blender Godot Unity3d

Distribution Windows,

Linux, Mac

OS X,

Xbox One,

PlayStation

4, HTML5,

iOS and

Android

Windows,

Linux,

PlayStation 3,

PlayStation 4,

Wii U, Xbox

360, Xbox

One, iOS and

Android

Windows,

Linux,

Mac OS X

Windows,

Linux,

Mac OS

X

Windows,

OSX, Linux,

HTML5,

iOS,

Android,

BB10

Windows, OSX,

Linux, Windows

Phone, iOS,

Android,

BlackBerry 10,

Tizen, Xbox 360,

Xbox One, Wii U,

PlayStation 3/4,

PlayStation Vita,

Nintendo Switch,

WebGL

Supported

languages

C++,

Blueprints

C++, C#, Lua C++ Python C++,

GDscript

C#, JavaScrtipt

Community and

documentation

Big Big Little Big Little Very big

Price Free $9.90/month Free Free Free Free

Requirements for

developer PC

High High Low Medium Medium Medium

Graphic quality Very high Very high Medium Medium Medium High

Extensibility Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes YesSeptember 9, Burgas, Bulgaria 21DIPP'2017

CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE MAZE BUILDER


Unity 3D

Game Platform

Maze Builder

Custom

PackageXML Maze

Description

Game Assets(text, images,

audio)

3D

Maze

3D Maze

Game

Read

Import

Generate

Build

Import

Arrange

4min

2weeks

5min

4days

2s

20s

4h

12min

Guess the timing

for creating a six

room maze game?

RESTRICTIONS TO THE MAZE CONSTRUCTION 1/2

Each node (i.e., room) can have maximum four doors

The maze connectivity graph must be planar

Cycles are possible within the maze graph

A par of incoming and outgoing doors is shown as a lack of door

Each door can be unlocked by correct answering a question

Each question may have text and raster graphic

Walls have maximum one door per wall

Walls have maximum two slides per wall

Each slide may have text and/or raster graphic in JPG, PNG, TIFF or BMP format


RESTRICTIONS TO THE MAZE CONSTRUCTION 2/2

Each room can have a game with balls, circles and/or rings (explained further in the thesis)

Each room can have zero or N hidden objects.

Each room can have textures for the walls, ceiling and the floor

Each room can have no more than one map laid over the floor

Each room can have no more than one audio file for playing while the player is inside it (one or in repeating mode)

The maze should have one starting room


MAZE BUIDER DATA MODEL


BASIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE MAZE BUILDER


Prefabs

Labyrinth

class

MazeBuilder

class

Deserialize XML

Return Labyrinth

object

Room HiddenObject

BallBoard

CircleBoard

TorusBoard

GameManager

GlobalGameManagerOpen scene

Instantiate

prefabs

Set properties,

Position in 3D space

IMPORTING THE MAZE BUILDER PACKAGE IN

UNITY


AFTER THE IMPORT: CUSTOM PANEL OF THE

MAZE BUILDER PLATFORM IN THE UNITY EDITOR


A SAMPLE XML MAZE DESCRIPTION


THE MAZE IS GENERATED JUST AFTER THE XML

IMPORT


PERFORMANCE

The performance testing of the Maze Builder was performed on a developer laptop with Windows 10:

Importing of Maze Builder unity package – 4 minutes

Importing of 4 audio files with total volume 28MB -176 seconds

Importing of 86 images with total volume of 212MB –65 seconds

Importing of a XML document describing a 6 room maze and generation of the maze - 12 seconds

Building a desktop standalone (executable) – 3 minutes 20 sec

Building a WebGL game distribution - 12 minutes


CASE STUDY: Educational 3D Maze Games

for Carpet Handicraft in Bulgaria

Target: vocational training and education in Bulgarian

ethnography.

Focus: the game is dedicated to the fabrication of carpets in

Bulgaria since 17th century to the present times.

Maze connectivity graph: six rooms interconnected by doors


RoomCenter

Intro

RoomNorthWest

Tciprovtzi - 2

RoomWest

Tciprovtzi - 1

RoomEast

Kotel - 1

RoomNorth

Sliven

RoomNorthEast

Kotel 2DoorE

DoorE

DoorW

DoorW

DoorS

DoorNDoorN

RoomCenter

Intro

RoomNorthW

est

Tciprovtzi - 2

RoomWest

Tciprovtzi - 1

RoomEast

Kotel - 1

RoomNorth

Sliven

RoomNorthE

ast

Kotel 2

DoorE

DoorE

DoorW

DoorW

DoorS

DoorNDoorN

THE MAZE FROM TOP CAMERA VIEW IN UNITY


A SCREENSHOT OF THE INITIAL VIEW OF THE

GAME (THE CENTRAL ROOM)


ANSWERING THE QUESTION FOR UNLOCKING

THE DOOR TO THE WEST ROOM


ROLLING A BALL TO THE LOCATION OF THE

TOWN OF TSIPROVTCI


A GAME TASK FOR ROLLING THREE BALLS (RIGHT) TO THEIR

CORRESPONDENT RINGS (LEFT), WITH A SEMITRANSPARENT

HIDDEN OBJECT HANGING FROM THE TOP


PRACTICAL EXPERIMENT

WITH TWO GROUPS OF USERS

Educators - passed though a demonstration of generation of

a maze game and arrangements of didactic objects

embedded into it and watched a video about the maze

creational process. Next, they filled in a questionnaire about

platform usability and game playability

Students – learners through the generated serious game

available online at http://adaptimes.eu/carpetgame/ and who

played the game

either online by a Firefox browser with Unity Web Player Plugin

installed from https://unity3d.com/webplayer,

or offline by downloading the desktop version of the game from

this Web page.

Next, they filled in a questionnaire about game playability


http://adaptimes.eu/carpetgame/

https://unity3d.com/webplayer

VIEW OF THE WEB PAGE WITH THE GENERATED

GAME (HTTP://ADAPTIMES.EU/CARPETGAME/)


http://adaptimes.eu/carpetgame/

VIDEOS

A video about the maze creational process available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IBqYooKwQg (2:39 min.)

A video containing a demonstration of a game session with the generated game is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLH4F6gq9Gs (3:21 min.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IBqYooKwQg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLH4F6gq9Gs

RESULTS FOR THE QUESTION “DO YOU THINK THAT

EDUCATIONAL VIDEO MAZE GAMES ARE AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

FACILITATING EDUCATION?”


0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

definitely no more likely no I can't say more likely yes definitely yes

RESULTS FOR “THE IDEA TO USE TEXT IN XML FORMAT FOR

DESCRIBING VIDEO MAZE GAMES IS VERY GOOD AND HAS FUTURE”


0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%


RESULTS FOR “THE UTILIZED LEARNING TASKS, ANSWERING

TEST QUESTIONS FOR UNLOCKING DOORS AND FINDING HIDDEN

OBJECTS, ARE VERY APPROPRIATE FOR EDUCATIONAL GAMES”


0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%


RESULTS FOR THE QUESTION “THE TIME SPENT ON GAME AND

AMUSEMENT OBTAINED IS GREAT”


0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%


CURRENT AND FUTURE WORKS

New extensions of the platform: JavaScrips for controlling texts over pictures

Other embedded mini-games – e.g. a puzzle game for unlocking a door

More prefab objects – e.g torches instead lamps, stony doors instead wooden doors, etc.

More than one question for unlocking a door

Text decorations specified in the XML document

Collecting hidden objects and placing them on specific places

Sounds for events like unlock/open/close a door, find a hidden object, etc.

Interactive map showing the current player location in the maze

More …?

Other application of the ball games – e.g. a game ordering the balls in a line

Using the platform for other case studies, with greater number of participants


CONCLUSIONS

The market space of both entertainment and

applied video games entertainment games and

applied will continue to grow in next years

The impact of serious video games will be higher

thanks to their synergy of story, art and

technological achievements including affective and

adaptive gameplay.

Applied maze games for cultural heritage will be

used more and more for immersive cultural

presentation, teaching, assessment and training

Open and free gaming platforms will be a must


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Questions?

Proposals!

Remarks…

Doubts

Congrats

Donations$

Sth else®

Boyan Bontchev, [email protected]


GAMES CREATE ILLUSIONS BUT ARE REALITY
