Tag Archives: Project

Project 3: a game engine inside moodle 3

game, ,

we have our own version of www.moodle.org called Stream. I now have some grant money to implement a 3D game engine (probably unity3D but could be Blender 3D or similar) to run inside our STREAMed Moodle pages.

Some inspirations (and I would like to add more):

SLOODLE
http://www.sloodle.org/moodle/ : SLOODLE is an Open Source project which integrates the multi-user virtual environment of Second Life® with the Moodle® learning-management system.
SLOODLE provides a range of tools for supporting learning and teaching to the immersive virtual world; tools which are integrated with a tried and tested leading web-based learning management system.

Play Paradise Paintball – Cmune

Paradise Paintball 3D is a fast paced multiplayer FPS which mixes all the fun of paintball with counter-strike style shooter action. In single player mode, …Or run it on Facebook or as a Mac widget..

STREAM
http://stream.massey.ac.nz/

UPDATE: Well the unity webplugin can definitely run inside a Stream (Moodle) blogpost. Here is a screenshot of a 6 week 2nd year student project.

Unity Level Inside Moodle/Stream


Gameplay Therapy Using Biofeedback grant-fully funded

game, , ,

from initial grant application..

Research question: can biofeedback help ADHD sufferers improve their attention, and awareness of their own reactions and that of others? Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurobehavioral developmental disorder, commonly results in attention deficit, hyperactivity and/or impulsiveness, especially in children. Entertainment media such as computer games do not typically develop their literacy, improve their attention and awareness of their own reactions and moods, or engage their awareness of other players.

Hypothesis: Using entertaining and creatively configured biofeedback I believe we can help such children (or adults) monitor and improve their own reactions.

Objective: To develop a biofeedback device that connects to a multiplayer game and improves the attention span of participants and helps them to self-regulate their social behavior.

Methodology: Create (using Maya 2009 unlimited) and connect a popular virtual environment editor (URL: www.unity3d.com) to a biofeedback sensor, developed by the emotiv company (URL: http://emotiv.com/), and test if it has potential to improve ADHD and general social awareness through biofeedback that constructively and creatively affects the game-play. Low-risk human ethics approval will be sought for pilot study testing of five participants, and use a subjective questionnaire correlated to the biofeedback data to see whether the pilot appears to enhance players’ understanding of their own and others behavior while inside the test environment. Two players will encounter each other over two sessions, alternating wearing the emotiv headgear or a nonworking facsimile headgear. They won’t know one works and one does not to ensure there is no placebo effect.

Aim: Show biofeedback does enhance their sense of immersion and awareness of their own reactions and body state, and awareness of others.  NB: This is to test whether the technology and pilot content is suitable for full-scale deployment, not as a psychology experiment.

Previous work: at University of Queensland we captured players’ biofeedback to creatively enhance the rendered environment through the game’s graphic shaders. The paper was presented at DiGRA 2007 conference in Tokyo, (entitled “Please Biofeed the Zombies: Enhancing the Gameplay and Display of a Horror Game Using Biofeedback”). At MIT 6: In transitions conference at MIT in April 2009, I presented more serious uses of biofeedback, including therapeutically appropriate exemplars.

Pink and White Terraces, “the Eighth Wonder of the World”

virtual heritage

I was fortunate to receive a small grant as part of a College Research award. The money will go towards starting a visualization / virtual heritage project centering on the Pink and White Terraces, destroyed in 1886 by the nearby Mt Tarawera eruption. To get to Lake Rotomahana (Maori for warm lake) you need a guide or a guided tour by boat or possibly permission from the local Maori tribes.

Lake Tarawera

There are Maori legends of a ghost canoe (waka), the tragedy of over one hundred people dying (although figures are debated), a buried village, and the issue of recreating not just the Pink and White Terraces, but also the legends that surrond them, and the huge volcanic eruption that buried them. Plus the controversy between scientists as to if any of the terraces remain buried under the rubble. The wikipedia also states (anonymously) that some of the terraces remain in private hands, but the operator at the Buried Village tells me she has not heard of any remnants surviving the disaster.

Despite the violent history and current controversies, the entire area is a beautiful part of the country.

For more see, http://www.tarawera.com/index.html

Photos: see http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Search.aspx?imagesonly=true&term=terraces

Update: nearby Warbrick Terraces may give some texture clues to the appearance of the Pink and White Terraces.  A photo of the nearby area by a professional photographer is on flickr. There are several tours of the area.

Update2: NZ Railway magazine in vol.6 issue 5 Nov. 1933 wrote “It is contended by some well qualified to judge that the lowering of Rotomahana’s level by 120 feet or so, by means of cutting a channel through the ash and mud deposit to Lake Tarawera, might reveal one at any rate of the beautiful terrace formations.”

Update3: Due to a much more comprehensive and well funded project taking place (see here) I am suspending this project for a while although I may contact the project team to see if they would like additional interactive visualization.

UPDATE: They found the Pink Terraces! http://juliansrockandiceblog.blogspot.com/