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SIGGRAPH 2010 By Focus
Focus Games
SIGGRAPH 2010 offers an unparalleled bounty of information related to game development in all conference programs:
- Courses with significant game-development content include Advanced Techniques in Real-Time Hair Rendering and Simulation; Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games (I & II); An Introduction to 3D Spatial Interaction With Videogame Motion Controllers; Beyond Programmable Shading (I & II); Color Enhancement and Rendering in Film and Game Production; Gazing at Games: Using Eye Tracking to Control Virtual Characters; Global Illumination Across Industries; Perceptually Motivated Graphics, Visualization, and 3D Displays; Physically Based Shading Models in Film and Game Production; Recent Advances in Real-Time Collision and Proximity Computations for Games and Simulations; and Stylized Rendering in Games.
- Talks of direct interest to game developers include A Deferred-Shading Pipeline for Real-Time Indirect Illumination, Curvature-Dependent Reflectance Function for Rendering Translucent Materials, How to Get From 30 to 60 Frames Per Second in Video Games for "Free", Irradiance Rigs, Screen Space Classification for Efficient Deferred Shading, Split-Second Motion Blur, Practical Morphological Anti-Aliasing on the GPU, REYES Using DirectX 11, and User-Generated Terrain in ModNation Racers.
- Live Real-Time Demos showcase cutting-edge real-time rendering applications, including games such as Blur, God of War III, and LOVE.
- The Computer Animation Festival also features game-related content; one of the Production Sessions discusses The Making of God of War III, and the Electronic Theater and Commercials & Cinematics screening include several game commercials and cinematics.
- In the Exhibition, various game-technology vendors show their latest products and many present Exhibitor Tech Talks of interest to game developers.
- Several Birds of a Feather sessions focus on topics of interest to the game industry, such as COLLADA, OpenCL and OpenGL.
Beyond the content directly related to game development, film production topics are also often relevant to game developers. One example is the use of spherical harmonics and precomputed occlusion in “Avatar”, as discussed in two Talks and one Technical Paper . Other examples can be found among the many film production presentations by the makers of films such as “2012”, “Alice in Wonderland” , “Avatar”, “How to Train Your Dragon”, “Iron Man 2”, “Shrek Forever After”, “Tangled”, “The Last Airbender”, “Toy Story 3”, and “TRON: LEGACY”.
In addition to practical production techniques of short-term interest, SIGGRAPH 2010 also presents forward-looking research that is likely to guide future developments. The Technical Papers program presents advanced graphics research, Panels speculate on future research directions, and Emerging Technologies features hands-on demonstrations of novel interaction methods and devices.
And opportunities for informal collaboration and exchange are everywhere. Throughout the week, SIGGRAPH 2010 attendees meet, network, and talk shop with the world’s top computer graphics talents.
See you in LA!
Troy Dunniway
SIGGRAPH 2010 Director of Gaming
GlobeX Studios
Games Sessions
An Introduction to 3D Spatial Interaction With Videogame Motion Controllers
Tuesday, 27 July | 2:00 PM
Three-dimensional interfaces use motion sensing, physical inputs, and spatial-interaction techniques to effectively control highly dynamic virtual content. With the advent of the Nintendo Wii, the Sony EyeToy, and a host of soon-to-be-released peripherals such as the Playstation Motion Controller, Microsoft’s Natal, and Sixense’s TrueMotion, game developers, researchers, and hobbyists are challenged to create compelling interface techniques and game-play mechanics that make use of this technology. Researchers in the fields of virtual and augmented reality as well as 3D user interfaces have been working on 3D interaction for nearly two decades. The techniques, interaction styles, and metaphors developed in these communities are directly applicable to games that make use of motion-controller hardware.
This course demystifies the workings of current videogame motion controllers and provides a thorough overview of the techniques, strategies, and algorithms used in creating 3D interfaces for tasks such as 2D and 3D navigation, object selection and manipulation, gesture-based application control, and character control. It summarizes the strengths and limitations of various motion-control sensing technologies in today’s and soon-to-be-released peripherals, including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and 2D and 3D depth cameras. It also presents techniques for compensating for their deficiencies, including gesture recognition and non-isomorphic control-to-display mappings. Course materials include detailed notes and demonstration videos.
COURSE SCHEDULE
2 pm
Welcome, Introduction & Roadmap
LaViola
2:20 pm
Common Tasks in 3D User Interfaces
LaViola
2:50 pm
3D Interfaces With 2D and 3D Cameras
Marks
3:35 pm
Working With the Nintendo Wiimote
LaViola
4:15 pm
3D Spatial Interaction with the PlayStation Move
Marks
5 pm
3D Gesture Recognition Techniques
LaViola
OpenCL
Tuesday, 27 July | 4:00 PM
Meet designers and implementers of this significant new standard for heterogeneous parallel programming on GPUs and CPUs. Learn how OpenCL interoperates with OpenGL, enabling advanced, cross-platform, visual-computing applications.
3D & Multimedia Across Platforms and Devices Using JOGL
Tuesday, 27 July | 4:00 PM
This session discusses the features, contributions, and future of OpenGL, OpenCL, and OpenMax across devices and OS exposed on top of Java using the JogAmp open-source libraries.
Live Real-Time Demos
Tuesday, 27 July | 5:30 PM
Experience video games and real-time simulations that push the boundaries of what users and viewers have come to expect. No post-production, just great interactive graphics demonstrated in real time. Selected projects will be available to try in The Sandbox.
Biometrics and Physical Controllers
Wednesday, 28 July | 9:00 AM
Exergame Effectiveness: What the Numbers Can Tell Us
A sedentary lifestyle is linked to many diseases such as diabetes and ailments such as obesity that are increasingly becoming major contributors to early death in most industrial countries. Exergaming (video games that encourage exercise) can promote a more active and healthy lifestyle among people who devote many sedentary hours to television, computer activities, and video games, and may be reluctant to engage in more traditional forms of exercise.
This paper surveys a number of quantitative studies of exergames in order to define a general set of elements that make an exergame effective from a physical standpoint. It also examines the intended audience, the incentives that an exergame should provide, and the authors' own exergaming system to learn how well it performs vs. commercial systems.
Jogging Over a Distance: The Influence of Design in Parallel Exertion Games
Exertion games are gaming interactions with technology in which users invest significant physical effort. They form part of an emerging phenomenon that provides many physical and social health benefits. Recent technology developments, particularly in the sports and game domains, have been proposed to augment these exertion activities. But how the relationship between social and exertion aspects can be successfully facilitated by the design, especially in mediated environments, is not well understood.
This paper presents a qualitative study of “Jogging over a Distance” that illustrates how technology design can facilitate a social game experience even when participants are running on opposite sides of the world. The study generated conceptual themes that offer an analytical and descriptive account of the influence of design on the relationship between exertion and social interaction.
NeuroRehab + The "Fun" Factor
The rehabilitation process for neurological trauma has traditionally relied on physical therapy that involves repetitive exercises. While this approach is effective, the process can become monotonous for patients and labor-intensive for therapists. Recent advances in robotics and game consoles have alleviated these issues, but they are generally limited to specific motor skills.
This paper focuses on a deficit known as the foot-drop and explores how the “fun” factor can be effectively incorporated into its rehabilitation. Integration of game play can give patients a "fun" incentive to perform exercises that are by medical necessity arduous and repetitive. The ultimate goal is not to replace current rehabilitation programs, but to encourage the neurologically impaired to persevere in therapy.
This paper focuses on a deficit known as the foot-drop and explores how the “fun” factor can be effectively incorporated into its rehabilitation. Integration of game play can give patients a "fun" incentive to perform exercises that are by medical necessity arduous and repetitive. The ultimate goal is not to replace current rehabilitation programs, but to encourage the neurologically impaired to persevere in therapy.
Vibraudio Pose: An Investigation of Non-Visual Feedback Roles for Body-Controlled Video Games
Current video games operate on the assumption that the player continuously faces the screen, which limits the possibilities in full-body gaming. This paper uses commodity game controllers to capture full-body poses and investigate player performance and experience in 3D video games as affected by positive and negative reinforcement along audio, vibration, and visual channels. The authors conducted a study regarding non-visual feedback's effect on player experience and performance. The results indicate that players performed faster with a visual guide but preferred visual and non-visual modes almost equally. Between non-visual feedback modes, they performed fastest with and preferred audio as positive reinforcement and vibration as negative reinforcement feedback.
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games I
Wednesday, 28 July | 9:00 AM
Advances in real-time graphics research and the ever-increasing power of mainstream GPUs and consoles continue to generate an explosion of innovative algorithms for fast, interactive rendering of complex and engaging virtual worlds. Every year, the latest video games display a vast new variety of sophisticated algorithms for ground-breaking 3D rendering that pushes the visual boundaries and interactive experience of rich environments.
This course is designed to encourage cross-pollination of knowledge for future games and other interactive applications. As the next installment in the now-established series of SIGGRAPH Courses on real-time rendering, it focuses on the best of graphics practices and research from the game-development community, and provides practical and production-proven algorithms. Course instructors include designers and producers from the makers of several award-winning games: Bungie, Naughty Dog, Crytek, DICE, AMD, Rockstar, and others. Topics include many advanced production secrets in addition to practical advice for implementing advanced techniques. Attendees will acquire several highly optimized algorithms in various areas of real-time rendering.
COURSE SCHEDULE
9 am
Introduction: Current Trends and Future Challenges in Real-Time Rendering for Games
Tatarchuk
9:05 am
Rendering Techniques in Toy Story 3
Ownby, Hall and Hall
9:55 am
A Real-Time Radiosity Architecture for Video Games
Einarsson and Martin
10:45 am
Real-Time Order Independent Transparency and Indirect Illumination Using Direct3D 11
Yang and McKee
11:30 am
CryENGINE 3: Reaching the Speed of Light
Kaplayan
The Sandbox
Wednesday, 28 July | 9:00 AM
Test drive current game-development technologies, explore game design, and play the games that are defining the next generation of digital interactivity.
The Player Experience
Wednesday, 28 July | 10:45 AM
PADS: Enhancing Gaming Experience Using Profile-Based Adaptive Difficulty System
This paper presents a novel methodology that uses a profile-based adaptive difficulty system (PBADS) to automatically adjust game difficulty throughout the game play. The approach creates a player profile based on the player’s gaming experience and objectives. Utilizing this profile and a performance-based algorithm, the PBADS customizes the game’s difficulty levels to accommodate each player. Experimental results demonstrate improvements in both perceived and actual game experience. With this approach, developers can create a personalized, user-centered environent that transforms traditional program-centered video games.
Design Patterns to Guide Player Movement in 3D Games
Today's video games increasingly situate play in imaginative 3D worlds. As a result, the industry has devoted much time and effort to level design, but very few researchers have addressed or investigated this subject. The process of level design or how designers push or pull players through levels within video games is not well documented.
This paper proposes a set of design patterns for level design. The patterns were developed based on interviews with game designers and analysis of game play, and validated via expert review and inter-rater agreement. These design patterns serve as a contribution to understanding and evaluating level design. The paper also proposes a timeline video annotation method that provides a very effective approach to analyzing game-play style, players' preferences, and level-design problems.
3PI Experiment: Immersion in Third-Person View
This paper describes and presents the results of the 3PI Experiment: an immersive interface for augmented-reality games based on a third-person view from a video camera. Since this type of interface has not been explored in games, a prototype involving interaction through navigation was developed and employed to assess the impact of the proposed interface on game-play experience. Evaluation combined various user-interface evaluation methods such as cognitive walkthroughs, automatic data collection, and questionnaires. Results show that the proposed interface caused no significant discomfort and was easy to learn, making it suitable for use in games.
Girl Scout Games for Life Parents and Troop Leaders Meeting
Wednesday, 28 July | 12:30 PM
This session, part of the Wednesday SIGKids program, is a Q & A about careers and education in the game industry.
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games II
Wednesday, 28 July | 2:00 PM
Advances in real-time graphics research and the ever-increasing power of mainstream GPUs and consoles continue to generate an explosion of innovative algorithms for fast, interactive rendering of complex and engaging virtual worlds. Every year, the latest video games display a vast new variety of sophisticated algorithms for ground-breaking 3D rendering that pushes the visual boundaries and interactive experience of rich environments.
This course is designed to encourage cross-pollination of knowledge for future games and other interactive applications. As the next installment in the now-established series of SIGGRAPH Courses on real-time rendering, it focuses on the best of graphics practices and research from the game-development community, and provides practical and production-proven algorithms. Course instructors include designers and producers from the makers of several award-winning games: Bungie, Naughty Dog, Crytek, DICE, AMD, Rockstar, and others. Topics include many advanced production secrets in addition to practical advice for implementing advanced techniques. Attendees will acquire several highly optimized algorithms in various areas of real-time rendering.
COURSE SCHEDULE
2 pm
Sample Distribution Shadow Maps
Lauritzen
2:25 pm
Adaptive Volumetric Shadow Maps
Salvi
2:55 pm
Uncharted 2: Character Lighting and Shading
Hable
3:45 pm
Destruction Masking in Frostbite 2 Using Volume Distance Fields
Kihl
4:10 pm
Water Flow in Portal 2
Vlachos
5 pm
Conclusion, Q&A
All
