The UCI Game Culture and Technology Laboratory: Towards a Center of Excellence in Games and Visualiz

1
The UCI Game Culture and Technology
LaboratoryTowards a Center of Excellence in
Games and Visualization

• Robert Nideffer and Walt Scacchi
• nideffer, wscacchi_at_uci.edu
• UCGameLab.Net
• June 2006

2
Overview

• Our goals
• Game Lab people and partners
• Current research projects
• Recent/upcoming events
• Educational initiatives
• Vision and research opportunities

3
Goals

• Establish Calit2, Game Lab, and partner network
  as world-leading center in networked games and
  visualization
• Lead the investigation, prototyping, and
  deployment of the Web 3.0
• Partner with industry-leading firms, government
  agencies, and others that want to go there with
  us.

4
UCGameLab.net
5
UCI Game Lab People (Faculty)

• Studio Art Robert Nideffer (Director),
  Antoinette LaFarge
• Computer Science Paul Dourish, Magda El Zarki,
  Dan Frost, Bonnie Nardi, Andre van der Hoek
• Engineering Tara Hutchinson, Falko Kuester,
  Joerg Meyer
• Arts, Computation, Engineering Beatriz de Costa,
  Simon Penny, Bill Tomlinson
• Institute Software Research Celia Pearce, Walt
  Scacchi (Research Director),
• Others Tom Boellstorf (Anthropology),
  Christopher Dobrian (Music), Peter Krappe
  (Humanities/Film Studies), Charlie Zender (Earth
  Systems Science)

6
Game Lab People (partial)

• Sky Frostenson Art, Computation Engineering
  (ACE)Adrian Herbez Art, Computation
  Engineering (ACE)Eric Kabisch Art, Computation
  Engineering (ACE)Eric Cho Art, Computation
  Engineering (ACE)Derric Eady Studio Art
• Nick Urrea Information and Computer
  ScienceKenny Lai Information and Computer
  ScienceMirko Kiric Information and Computer
  ScienceAlex Szeto Information and Computer
  ScienceDan Repasky Studio ArtAndrew Khoury
  Information and Computer ScienceYoung Kang
  Information and Computer ScienceJames Jennings
  Information and Computer Science
• Calvin Lee Information and Computer
  Science
• Annie Jiu Information and Computer Science
  
• UC San Diego Supercomputer Center Steve Cutchin
  Visualization Services ManagerNatalie Rubin
  Game Grid Website DeveloperTak (Sunny) Chu Game
  Grid Lead Programmer

7
Game Lab Faculty Collaborators

• David Theo Goldberg (UCHRI)
• Anne Balsamo (USC)
• Jean-François Blanchette (UC Los Angeles)
• Adriene Jenik (UC San Diego)
• Henry Lowood (Stanford)
• Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley)
• Jackie Stevens (UC Santa Barbara)
• Noah Wardrip-Fruin (UC San Diego)
• Sheldon Brown (UC San Diego)

8
Game Lab Partners and Sponsors

• California Institute for Telecommunications and
  Information Technology Calit2 at UCI-UCSD
• San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UCSD
• UCI Center for Graphics, Visualization and
  Imaging Technology
• UCI Creative Interactive Visualization Laboratory
• UCI Institute for Software Research
• UCI Arts, Computation, and Engineering (ACE)
  Program
• UCSD Experimental Game Lab
• Calit2 ACTION Laboratory
• Center for Digital Industry Promotion, Daegu,
  Korea (2006-09)
• Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, CA (2004-06)
• National Science Foundation (2000-2008)
• UC Humanities Research Institute (2006)
• Sun Microsystems (2004-05)
• and others

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Current research projects

• Unexceptional.net, a heterogeneous game network
  (Robert Nideffer)
• Open Source Software Development for Networked
  Games (Walt Scacchi, ISR team)
• Science Learning Games (Nideffer and Scacchi,
  Discovery Science Center team)
• Collaboration infrastructure for game culture
  research (Nideffer and Scacchi)
• Advanced Networked Games (Scacchi and Nideffer,
  DIP Game Lab team, Daegu, Korea)

10
Heterogeneous gaming in Unexceptional.net
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Game Modding via Open Source Software Development
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Game Modding via Open Source Software Development
sequence Test action Execute automatic test
scripts requires Test scripts, release
binaries provides Test results tool
Automated test suite (xtest, others)
agent Sun ONE Studio QA team script /
Executed off-site / action Execute manual
test scripts requires Release binaries
provides Test results tool NetBeans
IDE agent users, developers, Sun ONE
Studio QA team, Sun ONE Studio developers
script / Executed off-site / iteration
Update Issuezilla action Report issues to
Issuezilla requires Test results
provides Issuezilla entry tool Web
browser agent users, developers, Sun
ONE Studio QA team, Sun ONE Studio developers
script ltbrgtlta href"http//www.netbea
ns.org/issues/"gtNavigate to Issuezilla lt/agt
ltbrgtlta href"http//www.netbeans.org/issues/query
.cgi"gtQuery Issuezilla lt/agt ltbrgtlta
href"http//www.netbeans.org/issues/enter_bug.cgi
"gtEnter issue lt/agt
13
Science Learning Games

• Physical interaction quest environment DinoQuest
• Life-size dinosaurs (e.g.,120 Argentinosaurs)
• Gesture-based, embedded electronic media
  activation (via user IR wand)
• Online science games DinoQuest Online
• Addressing CA science education standards for K-6
• Content and API-level interoperation with
  DinoQuest
• DSC Goal migrate to MMOSLG
• DSC planning new SLG exhibits through 2010
• gt35M investment
• DSC developing network of three more DSCs (Korea,
  Turkey, Irvine)

14
CollaborationInfrastructure
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Current research projects

• EcoRaft and Virtual Raft (Bill Tomlinson)
• HIPerWall (Falko Kuester)
• Earth and Planetary Systems Science Game Engine
  (Kuester, Brown-Simmons, and Zender)
• Immersive Classroom (Falko Kuester and Tara
  Hutchinson)
• Fantastic Voyage, a cardio-vascular navigation
  game (Joerg Meyer)
• GLYPH, a game authoring environment (Celia
  Pearce)
• Mobile Games in Java (Frost and Pearce)
• Ethnographic studies of MMOGs (Pearce,
  Boellstorff, and Nardi)

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Game Lab Events

• ShiftCtrl (2001) exhibition devoted to games and
  game art
• Game Grid Workshop (2003)
• ArtModJam (2004) at Game Dev Conf.
• ALTCTRL (2004) juried game art festival
• MASSIVE Research Summit of Future of Networked
  Multiplayer Games (2006)
• Corporate Opportunities for Multiplayer Game
  Technology (2006)

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MASSIVE Research Summit
18
Educational initiatives

• UCI Arts, Computation, and Engineering (ACE)
  program offering graduate-level courses and
  degree program addressing game culture and
  technology
• UCI Game Lab faculty currently offering nearly 20
  graduate and undergraduate courses in computer
  game culture and technology
• UCI now offers undergraduate degree in CS/Studio
  Art with a concentration in Game Culture and
  Technology

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Vision

• Developing the Web 3.0 the Game Web
• Future Web sites as game world servers
• Users/visitors put/create/update content in
  world/site
• Multiple Game Web/Visualization research rooms
• HIPerWall
• Interactive Classroom
• Software/Enterprise Systems Observatory
• Multi-sensor observational systems
• Collaboration warrooms

20
Game Web/Visualization Rooms
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Game Web Research Opportunities

• Massive Game Grid network
• Linking game labs, science centers, libraries,
  etc.
• Creating social, humanistic, artistic, economic,
  and technologic cyberinfrastructure
  (i.e.,national RD testbed)
• Game Web application areas
• enterprise systems (e.g., supply chain
  management)
• distributed systems/software engineering work
• massively multiplayer art/performance spaces
• multi-site knowledge management
• education training
• stadium-area network games
• etc.

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Closing remarks

• We welcome your questions and comments.
• Please contact us if you have any questions.
• We want to create a Center of Excellence in Games
  and Visualization.