Author Archive for Petri Lankoski

20
May
13

Measuring character identification and attitude towards a wheelchair

A note for myself.

An article about how wheelchair is considered as an extension of ones body:

@article{pazzaglia2013functionally,
  title={A Functionally Relevant Tool for the Body following Spinal Cord Injury},
  author={Pazzaglia, Mariella and Galli, Giulia and Scivoletto, Giorgio and Molinari, Marco},
  journal={PloS one},
  volume={8},
  number={3},
  pages={e58312},
  year={2013},
  publisher={Public Library of Science},
  url={http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058312}
}

An article about measuring character identification:
@article{igartua2010identification,
  title={Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films},
  author={Igartua, Juan-Jos{\'e}},
  journal={Communications},
  volume={35},
  number={4},
  pages={347--373},
  year={2010},
  url={http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228109104_Identification_with_characters_and_narrative_persuasion_through_fictional_feature_films/file/79e414ff448b9485e2.pdf}
}
17
May
13

Digra published the first issue of its new journal

Digra has a new journal, Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association (Todigra). Its an open access journal. The whole issue as in one pdf is available via ETC Press and print copies can ordered via Lulu.

22
Apr
13

Lies and Seductions

After I take down Lies and Seductions Unity project from Drop Box, because my files generated too much traffic, the project is back online.

You can download the project on the page http://www.mediafire.com/file/0g3ivtuw5xawvdq/lies_project-stuff.zip.

The project is Unity 3 project. The project is not fully upgraded: FMOD plugin used to play sounds and music and handled to sync the music beat with the dance mini game is not working with Unity 3 or later (because the plugin and Unity’s build-in FMOD conflict with each other).

05
Jan
13

R / Ordinal Scrips, part 2

Visualizing random effects when using  ordinal package and clmm. This function is based on clmm2 tutorial code and illustrates the effects of each judge taste on evaluating the bitterness of wines.

Continue reading ‘R / Ordinal Scrips, part 2′

05
Jan
13

R / Ordinal Scripts

Update: Added visualizations produced with the scripts

I have been using ordinal package to crunch data. Tutorial for mixed models is only for clmm2 and not for clmm. Here are code for visualizing predicted probabilities for clmm. All the code is  based on  clmm2 tutorial.

Continue reading ‘R / Ordinal Scripts’

01
Jan
13

An Embodied Cognition Approach for Understanding Role-playing

Article by  Simo Järvelä & me about embodied cognition and role-playing is out.

Abstract

The article proposes that the theories of grounded cognition and embodiment can be utilized in explaining the role-playing experience. Embodied cognition theories assume that cognition is not only a feature of the brain, but the body as a whole and it is interaction with the environment it operates in. Grounded cognition proposes that an action, perceiving an action, and thinking about an action rely on the same processes. Moreover, knowledge is inseparably grounded to bodily states and modalities. Based on the grounded cognition theory and especially embodiment, we argue the character immersion and bleed are natural consequences on how the brain works. Also we illustrate how the operation of simulators explains some of the central features in the creation of fiction and it is similarities to our everyday experiences. In general, grounded cognition provides a rather simple explanation how fiction is experienced as in this theoretical framework action and thinking about an action largely utilize the same brain mechanics and so are phenomenally similar.

Citation information:

Lankoski, P. & Järvelä, S. (2012). An Embodied Cognition Approach for Understanding Role-playing. International Journal of Role-Playing, 3. Available at http://www.ijrp.subcultures.nl/wp-content/issue3/IJRPissue3lankoskijarvella.pdf.

20
Dec
12

Game Blocks

Sheldon J. Pacotti has created a toolset for teaching game development, especially  for “constructing non-linear stories, which in my mind comprise more than talk trees and branching conversations.”

The toolset is build on Byob (which is based on Scratch).

Pacotti explains Game Blocks on video:

Download and tutorials available at: http://www.newlifeinteractive.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:cell&Itemid=60&layout=default.

05
Dec
12

Testing Public Variables in Unity

Edit 2012/12/08: A bug fix (End() did not show correct error count); change reporting: now EndCase() and End() use Debug.LogError() fuction in reporting if there were errors (otherwise Debug.Log() is used).

It is easy to forget to set a public variable of a script in Inspector and it might take some time to figure out where the problem is. The following C# program goes and checks that all public variables in a scene are set.

TestMonoBehaviorPublicVariables.cs

using System.Collections;
using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.ComponentModel.Design;

public class TestMonoBehaviorPublicVariables : MonoBehaviour { 
    private int errCount;
    private int errCountInScript;

    void Assert(bool status, string message) {
         if(status) { 
             Debug.LogError(" Test case failed: " + message);
             errCount++;
             errCountInScript++;
         }
    }
    void EndCase(string gameObjectName, string scriptName) {
         if(errCountInScript > 0) {
		Debug.LogError(gameObjectName + " - " + scriptName + ": errors=" + errCountInScript.ToString());	
	}
	else {
		Debug.Log(gameObjectName + " - " + scriptName + ": errors=" + errCountInScript.ToString());
         }
         errCountInScript = 0;
    }

    void End(){
         if(errCount > 0) {
            Debug.LogError("Testing MonoBehavior public variable: errors=" + errCount.ToString());
         }
         else {
            Debug.Log("Testing MonoBehavior public variables: errors=" + errCount.ToString());
        }
    }

    void Start () {
         errCountInScript = 0;
         errCount = 0;
         UnityEngine.Object[] all = Resources.FindObjectsOfTypeAll(typeof(GameObject));
         foreach(GameObject go in all) {
             if(go.tag != "DontLook") { 
                 Component[] allComponents = go.GetComponentsInChildren<Component>();
                 foreach(Component c in allComponents) {
                       try{
                           RunCase(c);
                       }
                       catch(Exception e) {
                           Debug.LogException(e, go);
                       }
                 }
             } 
         }
         End();
    }

    void RunCase(Component c) {
         FieldInfo[] myField = c.GetType().GetFields();
         for(int i=0; i<myField.Length;i++) {
             string msg = String.Format("{0} - {1} ({2}): field {3} is not set", c.name, myField[i].Name, myField[i].DeclaringType, myField[i].Name);
             Assert((myField[i].GetValue(c)).ToString()=="null", msg);
         }
         EndCase(c.name, c.GetType().ToString());
    }
}

Create prefab for this script so that you can easily drop it to a scene and test all the objects. The problems are reported as errors in Console (error counts for each object and scrip are also reported as well as total number of found errors).

Drop the prefab to a scene, hit “Play” (and stop immediately), and inspect the Console.

27
Nov
12

A Piece of Gaming History Reported

Dale Dobson writes on Gamasutra about history of TSR-80 including a look at the notable games in the platform for example

  • Zork, a text-adventure classic (1980)
  • Temple of Ashai (1979)
  • Misadventure #2, an adult text-adventure (1982)
  • Asylum, a first-person adventure game with 3D graphics (1981).

Recommended read to those who are interested in the history of games.

Reference:

Dobson, D., 2012. Games from the Trash: The History of TSR-80. Gamasutra, URL= http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/182224/games_from_the_trash_the_history_.php.

23
Oct
12

Introduction to Unity

 

The introduction tutorial uses accompanied Unity packages:

Update 2013/01/07. file hosting changes and URLs changes to point to the new location.

Update 2012/10/27: The slides and packages now include GameManager and MainScreenGUI prefabs. GameAgents script handles Player adding player object to the scenes so that testing is easier. Tutorial slides reflect these changes.




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