Title: Multi-platform Multiplayer RPG Game A multi-platform game, which would be able to run on various devices with Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 systems, was created in this work. It was supposed to be a universal game client executable on desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets or mobile phones. The game was supposed to be role-playing game (RPG) with focus on turn-based action combat. In this work, a 3D scene renderer was written which supports rendering simple scenes with objects and animated characters. A cross-device communication library based on bluetooth technology was implemented in this project as well. This communication library allows two game clients running on two different types of devices to communicate with each other. Then a server-client communication library was created. This library was then used to implement a game server which offers online gaming feature.

Um motor de jogo é uma ferramenta que facilita a criação de jogos eletrônicos garantindo a reutilização de softwares. Por sua origem tecnológica, os motores de jogo atuais, tanto comerciais quanto acadêmicos, tendem a primar pelo número de funcionalidades específicas, em detrimento da usabilidade, o que amplia o período de tempo necessário para seu aprendizado. Com o objetivo de melhor adaptar um motor de jogo didático às necessidades pedagógicas, este trabalho propõe uma interface interativa para motores denominada Game Wrench e criada através de métodos de Interação Humano-Computador. Como se tratam de áreas multidisciplinares, é também apresentado um embasamento teórico sobre os diversos aspectos envolvidos, a começar pela adoção de uma definição precisa para o conceito de jogo. O cenário específico para o qual este ambiente de programação (motor e interface) foi desenvolvido é composto pelos alunos da disciplina Computação Gráfica da Escola Politécnica da USP, que programam sobre um motor de jogo didático chamado enJine. Através de um protótipo em papel, testes de usabilidade foram realizados com parte desses alunos, o que gerou diversas diretrizes para a programação final da interface. Uma versão preliminar dessa interface usando plataforma Java foi desenvolvida, gerando diversos resultados e contribuições ao longo do processo, como artefatos de projeto (personas, cenários), ferramentas de desenvolvimento (estrutura GAML, classes para enJine, widgets especializados) e diretrizes sobre a metodologia utilizada (avaliação heurística, prototipagem em papel, teste de usabilidade). / Game engines are tools to aid the development of computer and video games through software reuse. Once born in a technological environment, present game engines, either commercial or not, are normally worried more about the number of implemented features than usability issues. These characteristics may extend the period of learning-time. To address the goal of better adapting a didactic game engine to pedagogical needs, this study proposes an interactive interface for engines called Game Wrench, following Computer-Human Interface methods. Being multidisciplinary fields, a theoretical base on the related subjects is presented, starting with a precise definition for the concept of gaming. Undergraduate students of Escola Politecnica da USP enrolled in a Computer Graphics course where they develop games using a didactic engine called enJine, compose the specific scenario for which this programming environment was developed. Using paper prototypes, usability tests were conducted with some of these students, generating a list of guidelines for implementing this interface. A preliminary Java version of the interface was made available, generating results and contribution throughout the design process, such as design artifacts (personas, scenarios), programming tools (GAML specification, enJine classes, specialized widgets) and guidelines for the methodology adopted (heuristic evaluation, paper prototypes, usability tests).

Um motor de jogo é uma ferramenta que facilita a criação de jogos eletrônicos garantindo a reutilização de softwares. Por sua origem tecnológica, os motores de jogo atuais, tanto comerciais quanto acadêmicos, tendem a primar pelo número de funcionalidades específicas, em detrimento da usabilidade, o que amplia o período de tempo necessário para seu aprendizado. Com o objetivo de melhor adaptar um motor de jogo didático às necessidades pedagógicas, este trabalho propõe uma interface interativa para motores denominada Game Wrench e criada através de métodos de Interação Humano-Computador. Como se tratam de áreas multidisciplinares, é também apresentado um embasamento teórico sobre os diversos aspectos envolvidos, a começar pela adoção de uma definição precisa para o conceito de jogo. O cenário específico para o qual este ambiente de programação (motor e interface) foi desenvolvido é composto pelos alunos da disciplina Computação Gráfica da Escola Politécnica da USP, que programam sobre um motor de jogo didático chamado enJine. Através de um protótipo em papel, testes de usabilidade foram realizados com parte desses alunos, o que gerou diversas diretrizes para a programação final da interface. Uma versão preliminar dessa interface usando plataforma Java foi desenvolvida, gerando diversos resultados e contribuições ao longo do processo, como artefatos de projeto (personas, cenários), ferramentas de desenvolvimento (estrutura GAML, classes para enJine, widgets especializados) e diretrizes sobre a metodologia utilizada (avaliação heurística, prototipagem em papel, teste de usabilidade). / Game engines are tools to aid the development of computer and video games through software reuse. Once born in a technological environment, present game engines, either commercial or not, are normally worried more about the number of implemented features than usability issues. These characteristics may extend the period of learning-time. To address the goal of better adapting a didactic game engine to pedagogical needs, this study proposes an interactive interface for engines called Game Wrench, following Computer-Human Interface methods. Being multidisciplinary fields, a theoretical base on the related subjects is presented, starting with a precise definition for the concept of gaming. Undergraduate students of Escola Politecnica da USP enrolled in a Computer Graphics course where they develop games using a didactic engine called enJine, compose the specific scenario for which this programming environment was developed. Using paper prototypes, usability tests were conducted with some of these students, generating a list of guidelines for implementing this interface. A preliminary Java version of the interface was made available, generating results and contribution throughout the design process, such as design artifacts (personas, scenarios), programming tools (GAML specification, enJine classes, specialized widgets) and guidelines for the methodology adopted (heuristic evaluation, paper prototypes, usability tests).

Game engine is a set of supporting tools and services for game development. It is a component designed for reuse in different games. Therefore it is very important for game engine to be designed properly as for any successfully used reusable component. The main objective in this research is to present flexible and easily extensible architectural solution suitable for the game engine, based on the analysis of today’s game engine context and existing software architecture design. During the analysis we reviewed different types of software architecture and its implementation methods, and defined functional requirements for game engine. As the result we have chosen data-driven architecture design as the most suitable for the engine development and created our game engine prototype. For each game engine module we have provided design solution and its implementation approach referring to chosen architecture.

Describing planned acoustic design by single number ratings yields a weak link to the subjective event, especially when the single number ratings are interpreted by others than experienced acousticians. When developing infrastructure, tools for decision making needs to address visual and aural perception. Visual perception can be addressed using game engines and this has enabled the establishment of tools for visualizations of planned constructions in virtual reality. Audio engines accounting for sound propagation in the game engine environment are steadily developing and have recently been made available. The aim of this project is to simulate airborne sound insulation by extending the support of recently developed audio engines directed towards virtual reality applications. The case studied was airborne sound insulation between two adjacent rooms in a building, the sound transmitted to the receiving room through the building structure resulting from sound pressure exciting the structural elements in the adjacent source room into vibration. The receiving room composed modelled space in the game engine Unreal Engine and Steam Audio was the considered audio engine. Sound transmission was modelled by filtering based on calculations of transmission loss via direct and flanking paths using the model included in the standard EN 12354-1. It was verified that the filtering technique for modelling sound transmission reproduced attenuations in correspondence with the predicted transmission loss. Methodology was established to quantify the quality of the audio engine room acoustics simulations. A room acoustics simulation was evaluated by comparing the reverberation time derived from simulation with theoretical predictions and the simulated reverberation time showed fair agreement with Eyring’s formula above its frequency threshold. The quality of the simulation of airborne sound insulation was evaluated relating the sound field in simulation to insulation classification by the standardized level difference. The spectrum of the simulated standardized level difference was compared with the corresponding sound transmission calculation for a modelled scenario. The simulated data displayed noticeable deviations from the transmission calculation, caused by the audio engine room acoustics simulation. However, the simulated data exhibited cancellation of favourable and unfavourable deviations from the transmission calculation resulting in a mean difference across the spectrum below the just noticeable difference of about 1 dB. Single number ratings was compared and the simulated single number rating was within the standard deviation of how the transmission model calculates predictions for a corresponding practical scenario measured in situ. Thus, the simulated data shows potential and comparisons between simulated data, established room acoustics simulation software and in situ measurements should further be made to deduce whether the deviations entails defects in the airborne sound insulation prediction or is an error imposed by the audio engine room acoustics simulation.

Collaborative design inträffar när flera aktörer samarbetar för ett gemensamt mål eller intresse som inte kan åstadkommas ensamt. Collaborative design sker antingen i ett co-located möte ”ansikte mot ansikte” eller distribuerat möte ”distansmöte”. Distribuerade möten, oftast via ett nätverkssystem, sker då olika aktörer av ett projekt inte befinner sig i närheten av varandra. Målet med distribuerad kommunikation är att kunna återskapa det fysiska mötet i ett virtuellt möte.  Syftet med denna studie är utveckling av en kommunikationsmetod som med hjälp av förstärkt verklighet kan visualisera och överföra information mellan arkitekt och beställaren i ett distribuerat möte. Metoden baseras på mjukvaruutveckling i spelmotorer vilka har kapacitet för skapande av realtidsvisualiseringar i kombination med flera skript som kan utföra många komplexa funktioner, inklusive synkron dataöverföring. Då examensarbetet fokuserar på distribuerad kommunikation har mjukvaruutvecklingen begränsats till endast smarta mobiltelefoner, detta på grund av stora tillgängligheten till enheten i allmänheten. Ett ytterligare syfte är undersökning om hur överföring av BIM kan simplifieras och automatiseras till spelmotorn Unity.  Utvecklingen av demonstratorn visar att BIM-överföring kan ske via scheman skapade i BIMmjukvaror såsom Autodesk Revit som inläses av skript i Unity. Överföringsmetoden visualiserar BIM i realtid och även skapandet av funktioner som integrerar BIM, inklusive våningsplanväljare och lagervisningsväxlare. Systemet för nätverkssynkronisering möjliggör synkron kommunikation mellan alla aktörer genom användande av funktioner och flera skript som möjliggör positionssynkning, skärmdelning och objektdelning. Resultatet från studien gällande förstärkt verklighet har kombinationen av fördelar och nackdelar varierade beroende på aktörernas erfarenhet. Den utvecklade mjukvaran med tillhörande metod visar på potential för användning gällande distribuerad kommunikation. / Collaborative design occurs when individuals work together to achieve a common goal or interest that cannot be accomplished alone. Collaborative design take place either in a co-located meeting “face to face” or a distributed meeting “distance meeting”. Distributed meetings, often via a networking system, occur when individuals of a project don’t have the opportunity for a colocated meeting. The goal of distributed communication is to be able to recreate the physical confrontation in a virtual meeting.  The purpose of this study is to develop a communication software that, with addition of augmented reality, can visualize and share information between architects and clients in a distributed meeting. For software development game engine Unity is used, which has the capacity to create a real-time visualization in combination with scripts that can add features such as synchronous data transfer. As the thesis focuses on distributed communication a limitation has been put on used devices to only consider smartphones, this is due to the high level of availability of the device in general. An additional purpose of the thesis is to simplify and automate BIM transfer to Unity game engine. The development of a demonstrator shows that BIM transfer can be done via usage of schedules that can be created in BIM software such as Autodesk Revit, which is later read by scripts in Unity. The software visualizes BIM in real time and supports creation of functions that can integrate with BIM, including plan selector “våningsplanväljare” and layer manager “lagervisningsväxlare”. The network synchronization system enables synchronous communication between all users, using functions such as position sync, screen sharing and object sharing. There has been a combination of advantages and disadvantages for augmented reality that varied depending on individual experience. The developed software with methods has potential for usage in use of distributed communication.

Denna rapport behandlar utvecklingen av den spelmotor samt spellogik som används i spelet Steam Tale utvecklat under projektnamnet Project Steam Age av gruppen StormBound. Spelet utvecklades i första hand för mobila enheter, och i rapporten ingår även en kort undersökning av mobila spel i ett historiskt perspektiv. Även spelets genre, JRPG, en förkortning av Japanese Role Playing Game, kommer att förklaras som hastigast med referenser till andra spel inom genren. Spelet programmerades för Android OS version 2.3 och framåt i språket Java. En av svårigheterna som påträffades, såsom beskrivs i rapporten, var att säkerställa att spelet fungerar för den varierande prestanda som mobila enheter utgör, inklusive aspekter såsom med eller utan hårdvaruacceleration av grafik, varierande mängd lagringsutrymme och processorkärnor samt storlek på skärmar. Därtill bör man vid skapandet av en applikation av denna typ beakta resurshantering, framförallt beträffande grafik och ljud, ett ämne som behandlas i denna rapport. / This report concerns the development of the game engine and game logic that are used within the game Steam Tale, which during the development process was known as Project Steam Age, by the group StormBound. The game was developed targeting mobile devices, and within this report is included a short perspective on the history of mobile gaming. The game’s genre, JRPG, short for Japanese Role Playing Game, and peripheral concepts in regards to it are explained as well, and in relation to other genres and games available. The game was made for Android v2.3 and later and as such coded in Java. Amongst the difficulties encountered, as detailed within this report, were the task of ensuring that the game runs on a wide range of phone hardware, including aspects such as both with and without hardware-based graphical acceleration, varying amounts of storage space and CPU-cores, as well as differing screen sizes. Furthermore, at the creation of applications such as this one should consider resource handling, especially concerning graphics and sounds, a topic discussed in this report.

This report concerns the development of the game engine and game logic that are used within the game Steam Tale, which during the development process was known as Project Steam Age, by the group StormBound. The game was developed targeting mobile devices, and within this report is included a short perspective on the history of mobile gaming. The game’s genre, JRPG, short for Japanese Role Playing Game, and peripheral concepts in regards to it are explained as well, and in relation to other genres and games available.   The game was made for Android v2.3 and later and as such coded in Java. Amongst the difficulties encountered, as detailed within this report, were the task of ensuring that the game runs on a wide range of phone hardware, including aspects such as both with and without hardware-based graphical acceleration, varying amounts of storage space and CPU-cores, as well as differing screen sizes. Furthermore, at the creation of applications such as this one should consider resource handling, especially concerning graphics and sounds, a topic discussed in this report. / Denna rapport behandlar utvecklingen av den spelmotor samt spellogik som används i spelet Steam Tale utvecklat under projektnamnet Project Steam Age av gruppen StormBound. Spelet utvecklades i första hand för mobila enheter, och i rapporten ingår även en kort undersökning av mobila spel i ett historiskt perspektiv. Även spelets genre, JRPG, en förkortning av Japanese Role Playing Game, kommer att förklaras som hastigast med referenser till andra spel inom genren.   Spelet programmerades för Android OS version 2.3 och framåt i språket Java. En av svårigheterna som påträffades, såsom beskrivs i rapporten, var att säkerställa att spelet fungerar för den varierande prestanda som mobila enheter utgör, inklusive aspekter såsom med eller utan hårdvaruacceleration av grafik, varierande mängd lagringsutrymme och processorkärnor samt storlek på skärmar. Därtill bör man vid skapandet av en applikation av denna typ beakta resurshantering, framförallt beträffande grafik och ljud, ett ämne som behandlas i denna rapport.

Title: Multi-platform Multiplayer RPG Game A multi-platform game, which would be able to run on various devices with Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 systems, was created in this work. It was supposed to be a universal game client executable on desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets or mobile phones. The game was supposed to be role-playing game (RPG) with focus on turn-based action combat. In this work, a 3D game engine was written which supports rendering simple scenes with objects and animated characters. The engine was developed using DirectX. The engine was written in .NET C# using SharpDX library. A cross-device communication framework based on bluetooth technology was implemented in this project as well. This communication framework allows two game clients running on two different devices to communicate with each other.

Electroacoustic music is often regarded as not being sufficiently accessible to the general public because of its sound-based abstract quality and the complexity of its language. Live electronic music introduces the figure of the performer as a gestural bodily agent that re-enables our multimodal perception of sound and seems to alleviate the accessibility dilemma. However, live electronic music generally lacks the level of detail found in studio-based fixed media works, and it can hardly be transferred outside the concert hall situation (e.g. as a video recording) without losing most of its fresh, dynamic and unpredictable nature. Recent developments in 3D simulation environments and game audio technologies suggest that alternative approaches to music composition and distribution are possible, presenting an opportunity to address some of these issues. In particular, this Portfolio of Compositions proposes the use of real and virtual space as a new medium for the creation and organisation of sound events via computer-simulated audio-sources. In such a context, the role of the performer is sometimes assumed by the listener itself, through the operation of an interactive-adaptive system, or it is otherwise replaced by a set of automated but flexible procedures. Although all of these works are sonic centric in nature, they often present a visual component that reinforces the multimodal perception of meaningful musical structures, either as real space locations for sonic navigation (locative audio), or live visualisations of physically-informed gestural agents in 3D virtual environments. Consequently, this thesis draws on general game-audio concepts and terminology, such as procedural sound, non-linearity, and generative music; but it also embraces game development tools (game engines) as a new methodological and technological approach to electroacoustic music composition. In such context, space and the real-time generation, control, and manipulation of assets combine to play an important role in broadening the routes of musical expression and the accessibility of the musical language. The portfolio consists of six original compositions. Three of these works–Swirls, Alice - Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, and Alcazabilla–are interactive in nature and they required the creation of custom software solutions (e.g. SonicMaps) in order to deal with open-form musical structures. The last three pieces–Singularity, Apollonian Gasket, and Boids–are based on fractal or emergent behaviour models and algorithms, and they propose a non-interactive linear organisation of sound materials via real-time manipulation of non-conventional 3D virtual instruments. These original instrumental models exhibit strong spatial and kinematic qualities with an abstract and minimal visual representation, resulting in an extremely efficient way to build spatialisation patterns, texture, and musical gesture, while preserving the sonic-centric essence of the pieces.