AWG Gaming and Simulation
Wolfgang Hürst
Utrecht University

Games – Some background information
Huge markets For example,
entertainment games:
• 2005: US$ 20 billions
• 2009 (estimated): US$ 30 billions

Games – Some background information
Huge markets
Not just for fun
Source & copyright infos:
M. Kam, A. Agarwal, A. Kumar, S. Lal, A. Mathur, A. Tewari, J.
Canny. Designing E-Learning Games for Rural Children in
India: A Format for Balancing Learning with Fun.
Proceedings of ACM Conference on Designing Interactive
Systems, DIS 2008, Cape Town, South Africa

Games – Some background information
Huge markets
Not just for fun
Not just for kids
Source & copyright info:
http://theelderlies.wordpress.com/2007/02/

Games – Some background information
Huge markets
Not just for fun
Not just for kids
Truly innovative and
pacemaker for whole IT industry
Source & copyright info:
http://www.wii-discount.com/

3D and knowledge in “Gaming and Simulation”
Huge markets
Not just for fun
Not just for kids
Truly innovative and
pacemaker for whole IT industry
Games: highly competitive market
→ coolest, fastest, most realistic graphics needed
Simulations: real-life experience is critical
→ realistic modeling of virtual worlds in real-time
Key issue: “realistic” ⇒ knowledge needed
How do objects behave, react, interact with each
other, influence each other, etc.

3D and knowledge in “Gaming and Simulation”
Virtual characters
Agents and avatars
Knowledge-based annotation
Body modeling, motor behavior, planning, …
Simulation and animation
Learning with simulated worlds
Simulation of realistic training scenarios
Interactions with the world
Augmented reality
3D body model fitting, gesture recognition, …
Adaptive game play

3D and knowledge in “Gaming and Simulation”
Modeling and creating virtual worlds
Automate the creation of virtual worlds
Complicated geometric algorithms
Satisfy certain constraints
Functional aspects of the elements
Changing the model to achieve certain goals
Changes over time
Simulation based design
Modeling for visualization
→ Knowledge about the real world
needs to be considered and modeled
(note: critical not only for simulations and
realistic games but also, e.g., for fantasy worlds!)

Geometry & Knowledge: synergies – 2 issues
1. Issues related to storage, management,
indexing, and retrieving data, for example
for re-usage purposes
Quote from an answer to the questions:
“A web-based search and retrieval system …
would be nicer, with also version control and more
meta data, like polygon count, texture count,
formats, texture size, and retrieval tags. Info on
which projects it was used for, and when. Name
of creator and people who worked on it.”

Geometry & Knowledge: synergies – 2 issues
2. Issues related to how models behave in a
virtual world and influence each other,
especially when considering interactive
applications
Quote from an answer to the questions:
“Think about a character model that can respond to
certain messages or instructions, or a crane object
that has some moving parts, driven by input
parameters. Or objects that can burn in a fire fighter
training should have info embedded on their
burnability properties. How to do all this in a uniform,
understandable, re-usable way?”

Contacts and characteristics
Contacts
#questionnaires: 16 (plus 2 from co-joined members)
#AWG members: 21 (incl. 2 co-joined members)
Characteristics
Strongly heterogeneous application areas
e.g., cell phone, console, augmented reality
e.g., young users, adults, seniors
e.g., fun, education, training
Huge variety of companies and institutions
e.g., companies of diff. sizes, research labs, universities again,
cf. AWG members, e.g.
companies (<10, …, >1000)
education/gaming/oil industries

Characteristics – Various applications
Entertainment, e.g.
FOCUS K3D AWG member Silent Bay Studios
http://www.silentbaystudios.com

Characteristics – Various applications
Education, e.g.
FOCUS K3D AWG member VSTEP
http://www.vstepoffice.nl

Characteristics – Various applications
Serious gaming, e.g.
FOCUS K3D AWG member TXchange
http://www.t-xchange.nl

Scenarios in “Gaming and Simulation”
Better tools for storage, management,
indexing, and retrieving data, for example for
re-usage purposes
Tools to easily model and control how 3D
models behave in a virtual world and
influence each other
Quote from an answer to the questions:
“Only easy to use tools for filing and retrieval, well
integrated in the toolset, will be used by the
developers. Else they will be seen as a bureaucratic
burden, desired possibly by management but not
useful for the developers themselves.”

Conclusions
Very heterogeneous field with various
applications
But: critical issue for all of them =
creating realistic virtual worlds
by modeling knowledge about the real world
⇒ Huge demand for knowledge
technologies
However, current usage very limited
e.g. common ways to store and retrieve 3D models
are Windows Explorer and Google!