preface -- topical media
topical media & game development
This book provides a concise and comprehensive introduction to multimedia. It arose out of the need for material with a strong academic component, that is material related to scientific research.
Don't complain, and take the exam. After all it makes you aware of the rules governing the (broadband) digital highway.
themes and variations
what do we have to learn?
...
...
intended audience(s)
part(s)
This book is the result of developing the course notes for an introduction to multimedia for first year Computer Science and Information Science students. Hence, first of all, I like to thank the students that had to endure all the rough drafts of this material, and perhaps not to forget my experiment(s) with the presentation format of it.
more than the art of turning base metals into gold, alchemy is a system of cosmic symbolism
perfect solutions
perspectives -- digital convergence
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to define the notion of multimedia, recount the history of digital entertainment, explain the concept of digital convergence, discuss the future of cyberspace, and speculate about the commercial viability of mobile multimedia.
levels of meaning
cultural convergence
The cultural convergence of art, science, and technology provides ample opportunity for artists to challenge the very notion of how art is produced and to call into question its subject matter and its function in society.
standardization and uniformity
The barriers between TV, movies, music, videogames and the Internet are crumbling.
Audiences are fetting new creative options. Here is what entertainment could become if the technological and legal hurdles can be cleared ...
there is no business without show business
evolution of digital entertainment
experience is fundamental to human life
The
desire to share experiences will be the motivating factor in the development of exciting multimedia technology in the foreseeable future.
the union of audio, video and data communication into a single source, received on a single device, delivered by a single connection
subsidiary convergences
convergence
acronyms
TV or PC
The roadblock to the Entertainment PC could be the PC itself. Even a cheap TV doesn't crash or freeze. The best computers still do.
distribution
Peter Greven 23/3/2001 (Volkskrant)
new media sucks
-- people like new technology.
they don't like new media.
streaming media (audio and video), interactive gaming, virtual reality and 3D animation, interactive TV programming, interactive advertising, video on-demand, webcasting and multimedia
strategic questions
the players
Alltel, AT&T Wireless, AtomShockwave, Cingular Wireless, Clear Channel, HitHive, Ifilm, Infinity, KDDI, Liquid Audio, LMIV, Mannesmann, MP3.com, MTV, NetCom, Myplay, Nortel Networks, NTT DoCoMo, Omnitel, Sprint, Telefonica, Telstra, Vitaminic, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Megastores, Vodafone, Voicestream.
Second Life seems to be overtaking the world. In the whole range of cummunity-building platforms, Second Life stands out as an immersive 3D world with an almost stunning adoption, by both individuals, companies and institutions, followed attentively by the Press. Not entirely without an understanding of the value of press coverage, the VU University Amsterdam decided to create presence in Second Life, by creating a virtual campus, to realize a (virtual) community of learners,
[ Eliens et al. (2007)] . And, indeed, we succeeded in being the first university in The Netherlands with presence in Second Life and, as hoped, this was covered in the 8 o'clock nation-wide TV news.
success factors (1/2)
success factors (2/2)
reference model
critical theory
attempt(s) to link the arts, literature, media studies, politics, sociology, antropology, philosophy and technology in an interdisciplinary search for relevant concepts and frameworks with which to understand the current world.
contemporary perception(s)
... in the contemporary world, the perceptual task has changed, in both leisure and work, to monitor data displays, ready for events.
californian dream(s)
... the new faith has emerged from a bizarre fusion of the cultural bohemianism of San Francisco with the high-tech industries of Silocon Valley...
and, to further de-construct the digital utopianism:
... the californian ideology promiscuously combines the freewheeling spirit
of the hippies and the entrepeneurial zeal of of the yuppies
digital class
... the shadow side of the digital class's freedom and individuality is a lack of connection ... and an unrealized acceptance of work as the main life value.
cyberfeminism(s)
... empowerment of women in the field of new electronic media can only result from the demystification of technology and the appropriation of access to (these) tools.
concepts
technology
As a project, consider
the development of a Java-based mobile game
using J2ME, see
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to define information spaces in a precise manner, position the hypertextual capabilities of the web in a historical perspective, explain the difference between multimedia and hypermedia, and argue why computational support for narrative structure in multimedia applications is desirable.
geographical information systems, office automation, distance learning, health care, computer aided design, scientific visualization, and information visualization.
an information space is a representation of the information
stored in a system or database that is used to present
that information to a user.
www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
XML is a set of rules (you may also think of them as guidelines or conventions) for designing text formats that let you structure your data.
XML in 10 points
related technologies
information hyperspace
the logical information space may further be structured in a logical information hyperspace, where the clues become hyperlinks that provide directional information, and the information space can be navigated by the user following directional clues.
A curriculum promotes a false simplification of any subject,
cutting the subject's many interconnections and leaving
a skeleton of sequence which is only a charicature
of its richness and intrinsic fascination.
research issues
visualization
Grasping the whole is a gigantic theme, intellectual history's most important.
Ant vision is humanity's usual fate; but seeing the whole is every thinking person's aspiration.
David Gelernter, Mirror Worlds 1992
data types
Convergence is the mutual remediation of at least three important technologies -- telephone, televison and computer -- each of which is a hybrid of technical, social and economic practice, and each of which offers its own path to immediacy.
The telephone offers the immediacy of voice or the interchange of voices in real-time. Television is a point-of-view technology that promises immediacy through its insistent real-time monitoring of the world. The computer's promise of immediacy comes through the combination of three-dimensional graphics, automatic (programmed) action, and an interactivity that television can not match. As they come together, each of these is trying to absorb the others and promote its own version of immediacy.
daft punk -- technologic (cn / jp)
service(s)
the most powerful mashups don't just mix code and data, they mix cultures.
which provides a challenge that trancends all issues of mere technological correctness.
built-in(s)
resource(s)
flash/quicktime in SL
Quicktime supports Flash, but only up to Flash version 5. We're up to version 9 on that now! Luckily, I have been dabbling with Flash since the early days, so already knew how to do this 'the old way'... So, Flash is doing all the work. No LSL at all... I heart feeds. Did I say 'I heart feeds?
concepts
technology
As a project, I suggest the development of a virtual tour
in a city, museum or other interesting locatoion.
if you linger for a long time in one place you'd almost think there must be something there
wittgenstein
perspectives -- delivery & presentation
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to demonstrate the necessity of compression, to discuss criteria for the selection of codecs and mention some of the alternatives, to characterize the MPEG-4 and SMIL standards, to explain the difference between MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, and to speculate about the feasibility of a semantic multimedia web.
| media | uncompressed | compressed |
|---|---|---|
| voice 8k samples/sec, 8 bits/sample | 64 kbps | 2-4 kbps |
| slow motion video 10fps 176x120 8 bits | 5.07 Mbps | 8-16 kbps |
| audio conference 8k samples/sec 8bits | 64 kbps | 16-64 kbps |
| video conference 15 fps 352x240 8bits | 30.4 Mbps | 64-768 kbps |
| audio (stereo) 44.1 k samples/s 16 bits | 1.5 Mbps | 128k-1.5Mbps |
| video 15 fps 352x240 15 fps 8 bits | 30.4 Mbps | 384 kbps |
| video (CDROM) 30 fps 352x240 8 bits | 60.8 Mbps | 1.5-4 Mbps |
| video (broadcast) 30 fps 720x480 8 bits | 248.8 Mbps | 3-8 Mbps |
| HDTV 59.9 fps 1280x720 8 bits | 1.3 Gbps | 20 Mbps |
statistical redundancy in signal
irrelevant information
B. Vasudev & W. Li, Memory management: Codecs
codec = (en)coder + decoder
codec design problem
From a systems design viewpoint, one can restate the codec design problem as a bit rate minimization problem, meeting (among others) constraints concerning:
- specified levels of signal quality,
- implementation complexity, and
- communication delay (start coding -- end decoding).
MPEG-1 video compression uses both intra-frame analysis, for the compression of individual frames (which are like images), as well as. inter-frame analysis, to detect redundant blocks or invariants between frames.
GigaPort
| item | streaming | downloaded |
| bandwidth | equal to the display rate | may be arbitrarily small |
| disk storage | none | the entire file must be stored |
| startup delay | almost none | equal to the download time |
| resolution | depends on available bandwidth | depends on available disk storage |
standards
presentation characteristics
applications
example
SMIL 2.0 Modules
module-based reuse
meta data
Metadata is data about data. Specifically, the term refers to data used to identify, describe, or locate information resources, whether these resources are physical or electronic. While structured metadata processed by computers is relatively new, the basic concept of metadata has been used for many years in helping manage and use large collections of information. Library card catalogs are a familiar example of such metadata.
information repository
The Web is becoming a universal repository of human knowledge and culture, which has allowed unprecedented sharing of ideas and information in a scale never seen before.
browsing & navigation
To satisfy his information need, the user might navigate the hyperspace of web links searching for information of interest. However, since the hyperspace is vast and almost unknown, such a navigation task is usually inefficient.
investigating a new approach to navigation through information spaces, based on a personalised and social navigational paradigm.
The AGNETA & FRIDA system seeks to integrate web-browsing and narrative into a joint mode. Below the browser window (on the desktop) are placed two female characters, sitting in their livingroom chairs, watching the browser during the session (more or less like watching television). Agneta and Frida (mother and daughter) physically react, comment, make ironic remarks about and develop stories around the information presented in the browser (primarily to each other), but are also sensitive to what the navigator is doing and possible malfunctions of the browser or server.
In this way they seek to attach emotional, comical or anecdotal connotations to the information and happenings in the browsing session. Through an activity slider, the navigator can decide on how active she wants the characters to be, depending on the purpose of the browsing session (serious information seeking, wayfinding, exploration or entertainment browsing).
game as social system
| actors | rule(s) | resource(s) |
|---|---|---|
| players | events | game space |
| roles | evaluation | situation |
| goals | facilitator(s) | context |
criteria
climate star
simulation parameters
game elements
argument(s)
concepts
technology
As a project, you may think of implementing for
example JPEG compression, following
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to characterize the functionality of current multimedia platforms, to describe the capabilities of GPUs, to mention the components of the Microsoft DirectX 9 SDK, and to discuss how to integrate 3D and video.
4 generations of GPU
graphics pipeline
HLSL declarations
vertex shader data flow
vertex shader
pixel shader
technique selection
morphing (vertex) shader
coloring (pixel) shader
Microsoft DirectX is an advanced suite of multimedia application programming interfaces (APIs) built into Microsoft Windows; operating systems. DirectX provides a standard development platform for Windows-based PCs by enabling software developers to access specialized hardware features without having to write hardware-specific code. This technology was first introduced in 1995 and is a recognized standard for multimedia application development on the Windows platform.
DirectX 9 components
Direct3D tutorials
multimedia challenges
The ViP system enhances your party with innovative multimedia presentations. It supports multiple webcams and digital video cameras, mixed with video and images, enhanced by 3D animations and text, in an integrated fashion. For your party, we create a ViP presentation, with your content and special effects, to entertain your audience.
comparative overview
| BlC | AW | D3D | HL2 | SL | |
| in-game building | - | + | +/- | - | ++ |
| avatar manipulation | + | ++ | +/- | + | ++ |
| artifical intelligence | + | - | +/- | + | - |
| server-side scripts | + | - | +/- | + | ++ |
| client-side scripts | ++ | - | +/- | + | - |
| extensibility | + | - | ++ | + | +/- |
| open source | - | - | ++ | - | +/- |
| open standards | - | - | +/- | - | +/- |
| interaction | +/- | +/- | ++ | ++ | +/- |
| graphics quality | +/- | +/- | ++ | ++ | + |
| built-in physics | - | - | + | ++ | + |
| object collision | - | - | ++ | ++ | + |
| content tool support | +/- | - | ++ | + | - |
module(s)
interactive application(s)
concepts
technology
As a project, I suggest the development
of shader programs using
Rendermonkey
or the Cg Toolkit,
or a simple game in DirectX.
perspectives -- multimedia information retrieval
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to describe scenarios for information retrieval, to explain how content analysis for images can be done, to characterize similarity metrics, to define the notions of recall and precision, and to give an example of frequence tables, as used in text search.
media types
information retrieval models
vector models
content-based description
example
transformation approach
Given two objects o1 and o2, the level of dissimilarity is proportional to the (minimum) cost of transforming object o1 into object o2 or vice versa
image repository
problems
effective search
anomalies
user-oriented measures
concepts
technology
As a project, you may implement simple
image analysis algorithms that, for example, extract
a color histogram, or detect the presence of
a horizon-like edge.
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to explain the difference between content and meta information, to mention relevant content parameters for audio, to characterize the requirements for video libraries, to define an annotation logic for video, and to discuss feature extraction in samples of musical material.
audio databases
signal-based content
windowing
feature extraction
video content
object instance: (oid,os,ip)
example
| frame | objects | frame-dependent properties |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jane | has(briefcase), at(path) |
| - | house | door(closed) |
| - | briefcase | |
| 2 | Jane | has(briefcase), at(door) |
| - | Dennis | at(door) |
| - | house | door(open) |
| - | briefcase |
frame-independent properties
| object | frame-independent properties | value |
|---|---|---|
| Jane | age | 35 |
| height | 170cm | |
| house | address | ... |
| color | brown | |
| briefcase | color | black |
| size | 40 x 31 |
example
video libraries
query language for video libraries
example
To improve library access, the Informedia Digital Video Library uses automatic processing to derive descriptors for video. A new extension to the video processing extracts geographic references from these descriptors.
The operational library interface shows the geographic entities addressed in a story, highlighting the regions discussed in the video through a map display synchronized with the video display.
The map can also serve as a query mechanism, allowing users to search the terabyte library for stories taking place in a selected area of interest.
More recently, it has been recognized that the process of spatialization -- where a spatial map-like structure is applied to data where no inherent or obvious one does exist -- can provide an interpretable structure to other types of data.
atlas of cyberspace
We present a wide range of spatializations that have employed a variety of graphical techniques and visual metaphors so as to provide striking and powerful images that extend from two dimension 'maps' to three-dimensional immersive landscapes.
prediction techniques
definition(s)
guided tour(s)
concepts
technology
As a project, think of implementing musical similarity matching,
or developing an application retrieving video fragments
using a simple annotation logic.
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to dicuss the considerations that play a role in developing a multimedia information system, characterize an abstract multimedia data format, give examples of multimedia content queries, define the notion of virtual resources, and discuss the requirements for networked virtual environments.
issues
content organisation
Principle of Uniformity
... from a semantical point of view the content of a multimedia source is independent of the source itself, so we may
use statements as meta data to provide a description
of media objects.
tradeoffs
is it?
software architecture
information retrieval cycle
media abstraction
example -- image database
example -- video database
structured multimedia database
SMDS -- functions
SMDS-SQL
FROM
WHERE
example
example HM-SQL
digital libraries
Digital libraries are constructed -- collected and organized -- by a community of users. Their functional capabilities support the information needs and users of this community. Digital libraries are an extension, enhancement and integration of a variety of information institutions as physicalplaces where resources are selected, collected, organized, preserved and accessed in support of a user community.
... federated structures that provide humans both intellectual and physical access to the huge and growing worldwide networks of information encoded in multimedia digital formats.
digital libraries (5S)
networked multimedia
network criteria
QoS requirements
networked virtual environments
challenges
The JavaTM Media APIs meet the increasing demand for multimedia in the enterprise by providing a unified, non-proprietary, platform-neutral solution. This set of APIs supports the integration of audio and video clips, animated presentations, 2D fonts, graphics, and images, as well as speech input/output and 3D models. By providing standard players and integrating these supporting technologies, the Java Media APIs enable developers to produce and distribute compelling, media-rich content.
recommender economy
interpretation(s)
concepts
technology
As a project, you may implement a multi-player
game in which you may exchange pictures and videos,
for example pictures and videos of celebrities.
perspectives -- multimedia applications
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to characterize the notion of virtual context, discuss the issue of information retrieval in virtual environments, explain what is meant about intelligent multimedia and discuss the potential role of intelligent agents in multimedia applications.
augmented virtual reality
...
Web Agent Support Program
3D GUI
Wishful thinking about the widespread adoption of three-dimensional interfaces has not helped spawn winning applications. Success stories with three-dimensional games do not translate into broad acceptance of head-tracking immersive virtual reality. To accelerate adoption of advanced interfaces, designers must understand their appeal and performance benefits as well as honestly identify their deficits. We need to separate out the features that make 3D useful and understand how they help overcome the challenges of dis-orientation during navigation and distraction from occlusion.
Ben Shneiderman
Does spatial memory improve with 3D layouts? Is it true that 3D is more natural and easier to learn? Careful empirical studies clarify why modest aspects of 3D, such as shading for buttons and overlapping of windows are helpful, but 3D bar charts and directory structures are not. 3D sometimes pays off for medical imagery, chemical molecules, and architecture, but has yet to prove beneficial for performance measures in shopping or operating systems.
Ben Shneiderman
STEP
active learning
concepts
technology
As a project, I suggest the implementation of storytelling in virtual environments, with (possibly) an embodied agent as the narrator.
You may further explore or evaluate
the role of agents in multimedia applications
and virtual environments.
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to mention some basic rules of digital content creation, discuss what criteria your portfolio should meet, describe how you would approach the design of a logo, explain the notion of user-centered design, and characterize the issues that play a role in dveloping multimedia for theatre.
The overall goal of the visual design course is to establish some basic aesthetic awareness, by providing suitable exercises and assignments. In addition, the student is supposed to become familiar with the craft of design, which necessarily, but not exclusively, involves the use of tools and techniques.
track(s) -- perspective
products
portfolio -- design as a product
rules
"Learning how to not fool ourselves is, I'm sorry to say, something that we haven't specifically included in any particular course that I know of. We just hope you've caught it by osmosis."
Richard Feynman
the media equation
We regularly exploit the media equation for enjoyment by the willing suspension of our critical faculties. Theatre is the projection of a story through the window of a stage, and typically the audience gets immersed in the story as if it was real.
engineering
"engineering is the art of moulding materials we do not wholly understand ... in such a way that the community at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."
A. R. Dykes.
The best thing is to empower yourself. But before you can do that, you need to understand what you are doing -- which is a surprisingly novel thing to do.
steps
browse, explore;
chew it over;
incubation, let it rest;
illumination (YES);
verification,does it work?
general rules
postmodern design
... postmodern design is of a highly reflective nature ... appropriating design of the past ... in other words, sampling is allowed but no plagianarism
game design
seduction
Abstract, Adaptation, Adventure, Artificial Life, Board Games, Capturing, Card Games, Catching, Chase, Collecting, Combat, Demo, Diagnostic, Dodging, Driving, Educational, Escape, Fighting, Flying, Gambling, Interactive Movie, Management Simulation, Maze, Obstacle Course, Pencil-and-Paper Games, Pinball, Platform, Programming Games, Puzzle, Quiz, Racing, Role-Playing, Rhythm and Dance, Shoot Em Up, Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Table-Top Games, Target, Text Adventure, Training Simulation, and Utility.
levels of design
The goal of the ICT games project is to develop immersive, interactive, real time training simulations to help the Army create a new generation of decision-making and leadership-development tools.
usability (ISO DIS 9241-11)
... the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve particular goals in particular environments ...
emotional involvement
form and content
Very often people assume that "form" as a concept is the opposite of something called "content". This assumption implies that a poem or a musical piece or a film is like a jug. An external shape, the jug, contains something that could just as easily be held in a cup or pail. Under this assumption, form becomes less important than whatever it is presumed to contain.
We do not accept this assumption. If form is the total system, which the viewer attributes to the film, there is no inside or outside. Every component functions as part of the overall pattern that is perceived. Thus we shall treat as formal elements many things that some people consider content. From our standpoint, subject matter and abstract ideas all enter into the total system of the artwork ( .... )
experimental validation
validation scenario(s)
Stone and Feather
The author conducts a simple thought experiment investigating the existence and scope of 'computational art': the utilization of the computer in the visual arts and music. In the experiment he sets the task of constructing an artifact that is capable of producing works of art. Since it appears that the artifact needs at least the capability of imagination, he queries the nature of images and imagery and argues that imagination is strongly intentional. Next he introduces the concept of notational systems, since they seem to govern the artistic activity of (not exclusively) machines. Confronted with the question of whether we are able to develop a computational analogue for taste, he finds that notational systems prove to be necessary for mediating the method of production of an artwork and the appraisal of its artistic value. Furthermore, the author shows that there are certain epistemological limits to the creativity of an imaginative device. Although the outcome of this hypothetical construction task clearly denies the possibility of an autonomously creative artifact, there seems to be no reason to worry about the opportunities for computational art: the computer appears to be a unique tool in exploring the possibilities of artistic production, guided by artists.
google(s)
phases of awareness
concepts
technology
As a project, you may develop a dialog engine
for non-linear interactive story telling
or a collage generator, that produces
artworks from a collection of images.
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to discuss the multimedia development process, to indicate the need for information system support in the cultural heritage domain, to characterize the notion of digital dossier, to provide solutions for navigating complex information spaces, and to discuss the data representation issues involved.
In 1999, a group of eleven international modern art museums and related institutions applied to the European Commission (Raphael Programme) under the umbrella International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (INCCA). The INCCA project was accepted and work started in January 2000 led by the organiser, the ICN (Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage) and the co-organiser, Tate, London.
INCCA's most important set of objectives, which are closely interlinked, focuses on the building of a website with underlying databases that will facilitate the exchange of professional knowledge and information. Furthermore, INCCA partners are involved in a collective effort to gather information directly from artists.
INCCA's guiding mission is to collect, share and preserve knowledge needed for the conservation of modern and contemporary art.
checklist
| application area | metaphor | familiar knowledge |
|---|---|---|
| operating environment | desktop | office tasks |
| spreadsheets | ledger sheet | columnar table |
| object-oriented environment | physical world | real world |
| hypertext | notecards | organization of text |
| learning environment | travel | tours, guides, movement |
| file storage | piles | categorizing |
| multimedia environments | rooms | spatial structures |
| cooperative work | multi-agents | travel agents, servants |
interaction styles
Create a VR that realizes a digital dossier for a work of a particular artist. A digital dossier represents the information that is available for a particular work of art, or a collection of works, of a particular artist. The digital dossier should be multimedia-enhanced, that is include photographs, audio and other multimedia material in a compelling manner.
Webster New World Dictionary
style issues
user-centered design methods
field studies, user requirement analysis, iterative design, usability evaluation, task analysis, focus groups, formal/heuristic analysis, user interviews, prototype (without user testing), surveys, informal expert review, card sorting, participatory design
usability evaluation
task world ontology
next generation dossier(s)
structures
concept graph
I-GUARD
Contemporary art is an intrinsic part of our cultural heritage. Installations, performances, video and other forms of media art, as for example web art, have the interest of a small group of adherents, but are in comparison with more traditional art forms, far more difficult to present to a general audience. Another problem presents itself, due to the type of materials used and the context-specific aspects of these art forms, in the conservation of the works.
In our research we address the issue of providing access to these contemporary art forms from a wide variety of perspectives, ranging from the interested layman to the expert that has to deal with archiving, conserving and the possible re-installation of the art works.
intelligent guidance
digital dossier(s)
(new) media art
frame(s) of reference
It is one of the most important formal qualities of film that every object that is reproduced appears simultaneously in two entirely different frames of reference, namely the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, and that as one identical object it fulfills two different functions in the two contexts.
rules vs fiction
Game fiction is ambiguous, optional and imagined by the player in uncontrollable and unpredictable ways, but the emphasis on fictional worlds may be the strongest innovation of the video game.
concepts
technology
As a project, develop a data format for text, images
and video in XML,
and implement stylesheets in XSLT
to convert the format for display,
for example in HTML frames or using SMIL.
perspectives -- game development
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should have an idea how to approach the development of a moderately complex game, and you should also be able to discuss the notion of immersion and argue why using game technology is relevant for serious applications.
game playing
... in the game we confront a function of the living creature which cannot be determined either biologically or logically ...
game engine component(s)
fun
interactive electronic game
A game is a play activity comprised of a series of actions and decisions, constrained by rules and the game world, moving towards an end condition. The rules and the game world are delivered by electronic media and controlled by a digital program.
The rules and game world exist to create interesting situations to challenge and oppose the player. The player's actions, his decisions, excitement, and chances, really, his journey, all comprise the "soul of play". It is the richness of context, the challenge, excitement, and fun of a player's journey, and not simply the attainment of the end condition that determines the success of the game.
battle condition(s)
design team role(s)
history
Q: With the lion's share of strategy games on the market being devoted to ending a conflict through violence, why was it important to you to emphasize the need for a peaceful solution?
A: When we started to work on the project and looked around at other video games, we encountered the notion that war is much more challenging and conflict is essential to engage players. Many people we talked to perceived peacemaking as mere negotiations, where a group of diplomats sit at a table for lengthy discussions and sign agreements. We tried to shed light on what we see as the other side of peacemaking how challenging it is for a leader to gain trust and understanding in the face of constant violence. How difficult it is to execute concessions, while your own population is under stress or feeling despair. In a sense, peacemaking can be more complicated, sophisticated and rewarding than war making, and it is a message that we would like to convey to young adults, the future generation of leaders.
level design
game modification(s)
importing models
assignment(s)
instruction(s)
hammer editor
Somewhat surprisingly, all students worked directly from the (paper) manual, rather than consulting the online documentation, or the help function with the tool.
To stimulate the participants in their creativity, we awarded the best result, according to our judgement, with a VU-Life 2 T-shirt and a CD with Half-Life 2. The results varied from a music chamber, a space environment, a Matrix inspired room, and a messy study room. We awarded the Matrix room with the first prize, since it looked, although not very original, the most coherent.
civilisation
Media are special cases within the history of civilisation. They have contributed there share to the gigantic rubbish heaps that cover the face of our planet or to the mobile junk that zips through outer space.
dead media project
Together with like-minded people, in 1995, Bruce Sterling started a mailinglist (at that time still an attractive option) to collect obsolete software. This list was soon expanded to collect dead ideas, or dead artifacts, and systems from the history of technical media: inventions that appeared suddenly and disappeared just as quickly, which dead-ended and were never developed further; models that never left the drawing board; or actual products that were bought and used and subsequently vanished into thin air.
machines can die
Sterling's project confronted burgeoning phantasies about the immortality of machines with the simple facticity of a continuously growing list of things that have become defunct.
technology and death
Once again, romantic notions of technology and of death were closely intertwined in the Dead Media Project.
scenario(s)
Michelle is a writer, and she writes a book about Dutch paintings. To collect necessary information, she analyses different sources about Dutch culture, many of them in Dutch language. However, being a beginner in Dutch, she often has to translate phrases from and to English. She also needs to find additional information about particular concepts and facts. Instead of using several tools, such as online dictionaries, definition books and search engines, she decides to compose a simple service that aggregates all the services she needs.
dimension(s)
service-oriented computing
analogon of reality
Certainly, the image is not the reality but at least it is its perfect analogon and it is exactly this analogical perfection which, to our common sense, photography. This can be seen as the special status of the photographic image, it is a message without a code.
visual grammar
grammar goes beyond formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of experience. It enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of their experience of what goes on around them and inside them.
virtual reality
the idea of virtual reality only appears to be without a history: in fact, it rests firmly on historic art traditions, which belongs to a discontinuous movement of seeking illusionary image spaces.
immersion
the concept of immersion when implemented as an artwork surrenders most of the essential properties of an artwork.
properties of artwork(s)
collective memory
it is an apparent feature of the concept of immersion that it engages with the spatial and pictorial concentration of the awareness of one's own people, the formation of collective identity through powerful images that occupy the function of memory.
ecstatic transport
using contemporary image techniques, immersive art very often visualizes elements that can best be described as Dionysian: ecstatic transport and exhilaration.
realism
a realism is produced by a particular group as an effect of the complex of practices which define and constitute that group.
naturalism
each realism has its naturalism, that is a realism that is a definition of what counts as real, a set of criteria for the real, and it will find its expression in the right, the best, the most natural form of representing that kind of reality, be it a photograph or a diagram.
dominant paradigm(s)
the dominant standard by which we judge visual realism (and hence visual modality) remains for the moment, naturalism as conventionally understood, photorealism.
relation(s)
mass medium
thus, one year after Monet's death and fifty years after his Impression soleil levant, a late example of modern art reached the changed artistic landscape of the 1920's, transported in a derivative of the mass medium for images in the 19th century.
new media
a consequence of the constitutive function of artistic-illusionary utopias for the inception of new media of illusion is that the media are both a part of the history of culture and of technology.
cultural convergence
the cultural convergence of art, science, and technology provides ample opportunity for artists to challenge the very notion of how art is produced and to call into question its subject matter and its meaning in society.
tele-presence
human aspiration(s)
telepresence also combines the contents of three archetypal areas of human aspirations: automation, virtual illusion and metaphysical views of the self.
cybergnosis
what is being preached is the phantasm of union in a global net community, cybergnosis, salvation through technology, disembodied as a post-biological scattering of data that lives forever.
zealot(s)
what we observe are hyperzealots of a new technoreligion running wild, zapping, excerpting and floating in cyberspace.
aesthetics
since the eighteenth century, aesthetic theories have regarded distance as a constitutive element of reflection, self-discovery and the experience of art and nature.
tool(s)
aesthetic distance is no longer tenable when artist are engaging the same systems used in general communications and research
scenario(s)
concepts
technology
As a project, develop a non-violent game using the Source SDK.
For example, you may develop an application that gives a community
of users access their personal collections of photographs.
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should have an understanding of the model underlying game playing, and the role of narratives in interaction. Furthermore, you might have an idea of how to define aesthetic meaning in a cultural context, and apply your understanding to the creative development of meaningful interactive systems.
classic game (reference) model
rules vs fiction
game fiction is ambiguous, optional and imagined by the player in uncontrollable and unpredictable ways, but the emphasis on fictional worlds may be the strongest innovation of the video game.
effective service management game(s)
additional criteria
pattern(s)
intimate media experience(s)
experience as meaning
film as art
by still being read, the little treatise seems to prove that in spite of all the changes that have taken place in their form, content and function, films are still most genuinly effective when they rely on the basic properties of the visual medium.
illusion
... in film or theatre, so long as the essentials of any event are shown, the illusion takes place
patterns of light
... we can perceive objects and events as living and at the same time imaginary, as real objects and as simple patterns of light on the projection screen, and it is this fact that makes film art possible.
frames of reference
it is one of the most important formal qualities of film that every object that is reproduced appears simultaneously in two entirely different frames of reference, namely the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, and that as one identical object it fulfills two different functions in the two contexts.
principles of montage
film technique
narrative implication(s)
composition
composition, ..., relates the representational and interactive meanings of the picture to eachother, through three interrelated systems.
representation(s)
information value
scientific context
societal context
technological context
learning/meaning
basic geometrical shapes
... basic geometrical shapes have always been a source of fascination, even of religious awe. And our scientific age is no exception.
nervous system
(basic geometrical shapes) have been thought to have the power to directly affect our nervous system, for instance by the constructivist artist Gabo: the emotional force of an absolute shape is unique and not replaceable by any other means ...
multimedia
the multi-modality of written texts has, by and large, been ignored, whether in educational contexts, in linguistic theorizing, or in popular common sense. Today, in the age of multimedia, it can suddenly be perceived again.
quotes
semiotic landscape
the place of visual communication in a given society can only be understood in the context of, on the one hand, the range of forms or modes of public communication available in that society, and, on the other hand, their uses and valuations.
modality
one of the crucial issues in communication is the question of the reliability of messages. Is what we see or hear true, factual, real, or is it a lie, a fiction, something outside reality? To some extent the form of the message itself suggests the answer.
coding orientation
aesthetics of shock
it is within the realm of probability that the shock, which Walter Benjamin diagnosed as being film's aesthetic innovation, will undergo renewal and intensification with far more sophisticated means.
voyeurism
the most obvious symptom of this loss of distance will be a voyeuristic, dissecting penetration of representations of objects and bodies.
TV
for the first time in the history of man's striving for understanding, simultaneity can be experienced as such, not merely translated as a succession in time.
sensory stimulation
although the new victory over time and space represents an impressive enrichment of the perceptual world, it also favors a cult of sensory stimulation which is characteristic of the cultural attitude of our time.
direct experience
proud of our inventions -- photography, film, radio, ... -- we praise the educational virtues of direct experience.
communication
when communication can be achieved by pointing with the finger, however, the mouth grows silent, the writing hand stops and the mind shrinks.
channels
... the decisive questions remain: who controls the channels, who distributes right of access, and who exercises economic and political authority over the networks?
visions
... the history of technological visions is the history of our dreams, our vagaries and our errors. Media utopias fluctuate, often occurring in a magical or occult ambience.
synopsis course(s)
... the curriculum should emphasise basic principles, and to the extent possible employ open standards and open source. Practical assignments must be centered on local culture, and stimulate the young talent to explore innovative applications for cultural heritage, serious games and artistic expression.
where, what & why
assumptions
targets
presentation
phrase(s)
perspective(s)
dimensions of aesthetic awareness
concepts
technology
As a project, explore the ways narratives may be constructed from
a collection of images.
Deploy the various editing facilities for providing
flashbacks, flashforwards, and other (temporal) relations
within storytelling.
media equation(s) 1/4
We regularly exploit the media equation for enjoyment by the willing suspension of our critical faculties. Theatre is the projection of a story through the window of a stage, and typically the audience gets immersed in the story as if it was real.
multimedia equation(s) 4/4
perfect solutions
Much more than the art of turning base metals into gold, alchemy is a system of cosmic symbolism. The alchemist learns how to create within a sealed vessel a Model of the Universe in which the opposing complementary forces of Male and Female, Earth and Air, Fire and Water attain the perfect synthesis of which gold is the emblem.
multimedia engineering
"engineering is the art of moulding materials we do not wholly understand ... in such a way that the community at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."
slideset
script
timer
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
intelligent multimedia
... intelligent multimedia provides a merge between technology from AI, in particular agent-technology, and multimedia ...
DLP
DLP+X3D
soccer rule
dialog
style parameters
basic actions
composite operators
example
interaction
XSTEP
outline
perspective(s)
