From Iowa State University students, Metalblast : "The game takes place in the year 2052. Plants are dying, and there is a developing ecological crisis. At the same time, an expert team of plant scientists has disappeared. The player, represented by a novice undergraduate student in the research lab, must shrink to microscopic size, enter the plant cell, rescue the lost scientists, discover what is killing the plants, and save the world - all in the game's virtual, 3-D environment. Along the way, players must solve problems and answer questions about the cell and metabolic biology. "
Abstract: "Predation games--games in which the player is actively encouraged and
often required to hunt and kill in order to survive-have historically been
the purview of male players. Females, though now much more involved in
digital games than before, are generally encouraged to play games that
stress traditionally feminine values such as socializing with others, shopping
and nurturing. This paper argues that playing games that virtually simulate
predation (which is true of most violent videogames) has many benefits
for female players. Predation play teaches participants how to survive
and excel in stressful, competitive, aggressive environments. To remain in
the game, players have to sharpen their wits, learn to face fear, accept
challenges and come back from defeat to play again. Negative effects
are also discussed."
"Smartphone devices are becoming the de facto personal com-
puting platform, rivaling the desktop, as the number of
smartphone users is projected to reach 1.1 billion by 2013.
Unlike the desktop, smartphones have a constrained energy
budget, which is further challenged by increasingly sophisti-
cated applications. Amongst the most popular applications
on smartphone devices are games and virtual environments
that rely on 3D graphics. Due to the computational inten-
sity of geometry and rasterization, as well as the perpetually
illuminated display, these applications are extremely power-
hungry. To prolong the battery life of devices running these
applications, we propose two new energy-aware adaptation
schemes that can be employed in 3D graphics applications:
lighting limitation and textural transformation. Our results
show that we can conserve between 20% and 33% of energy
with acceptable sacrices to a user's visual experience."
Abstract: "Search-based procedural content generation methods allow
video games to introduce new content continually, thereby
engaging the player for a longer time while reducing the burden
on developers. However, games so far have not explored
the potential economic value of unique evolved artifacts.
Building on this insight, this paper presents for the first time a
Facebook game called Petalz in which players can share flowers
they breed themselves with other players through a global
marketplace. In particular, the market in this social game allows
players to set the price of their evolved aestheticallypleasing
flowers in virtual currency. Furthermore, the transaction
in which one player buys seeds from another creates
a new social element that links the players in the transaction.
The combination of unique user-generated content and social
gaming in Petalz facilitates meaningful collaboration between
users, positively influences the dynamics of the game,
and opens new possibilities in digital entertainment."
from the abstract: "The Meta!Blast project was developed to provide a medium that lends itself to the com-
prehension of cell and metabolic biology by placing the student into a virtual plant cell and
allowing them to experience plant biology rst-hand (Wurtele, 2011). By taking advantage
of existing agile development methodologies, Meta!Blast has been designed to meet many of
the challenges of developing video games in an academic environment. Using a special editor,
educators and researchers can also modify in-game content in an eort to tailor the game to
their specic curriculum needs.
Due to the massive, explorative environment in which the game places players, Meta!Blast
provides an ideal environment for a variety of other STEM-related mini-games. By leveraging
existing methods of current software used to teach computer science, the initial development
stage of a mini-game within Meta!Blast called TALUS (Technology Assisted Learning Using
Sandbox) has been designed to let players experience dierent computer programming con-
ix
cepts. The rst iteration has shown that an environment can be created that allows players to
interact with actual computer code in a fail-safe and non-violent manner; furthermore, it has
the potential to augment a player's existing knowledge of computer programming."
"Digital technology empowers one to access vast amounts of on-line data. From a learning perspective, however,
it is difficult to access meaningful on-site information within a given context. The Hypercontextualized Game
(HCG) design model interweaves on-site resources, translated as content, and the digital game. As a local game
design process, HCG builds on the resources available on-site (context) and transfers them beyond their origin
(hyper). A successful example is the HCG stories in LieksaMyst, an application developed for the Pielinen
Museum, in which the player is guided through a series of activities by a virtual host from the historic past. It
took three years of extensive work and research for the LieksaMyst HCG stories to mature from brainstorming
concepts to a fully-fledged museum service. Curators, educational technology experts and a total of 476 visitors
(from 6 to 77 years old) contributed to the design process. The analysis of the context and feedback from the
visitors enabled us to choose media, content and activities suitable to the Pielinen Museum. Our findings
indicate that quality time, sincere reflection and communication between local experts and potential players, are
indispensable when designing a HCG based game. The analysis benefits researchers and practitioners who are
interested in the ways in which a game can bridge the gap between people and relevant on-site information"
"In the game, the player acts out the role of a conservator, conservation scientist or collection manager by virtually interacting with objects, materials and data embedded in quest narratives. Within the game, players will be allowed to manage a library and protect it from the elements that accelerate deterioration. Another quest will allow players to take samples from ancient artifacts and analyze them to discover the secrets of its past."