Interactive Games and Media Research

Our research aims at the future applications and possibilities of games.

Research Areas

Art & AI, Art & Non-humans, Art & Biology, Art & Ecology
Narrative Modeling and Generation; Adversarial Search; Imperfect Information Games; Cognitive Modeling; Automated Game Design; Procedural Content Generation

 

Screen capture of someone playing DOTA 2
The photo exhibits an online interactive testing environment running in the Google Chrome browser with three components labeled: (a) a video recording of a professional Dota 2 esports match, (b) a map with interactive icons that appear according to game events, and (c) a map overlay that provides text interventions to the viewer when icons are clicked. This is from a project that falls under narrative and cognitive modeling, and was published at ACM Interactive User Interfaces 2021.

This graph represents all possible choices a player can make in a simple text game visualized as 36 choice nodes in 15 trees. This project falls under narrative modeling and generation, search, automated game design, and procedural content generation. It was published at the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games 2019.

This diagram represents a text adventure game level that was procedurally generated using evolutionary search

This diagram represents a text adventure game level that was procedurally generated using evolutionary search. The level was selected from a space of over 1,000 possible level designs, because it best accommodates multiple playstyles at the same time: a warrior who wants to attack as many enemies as possible, a collector who wants to find artifacts, a sneaker who wants to avoid enemies, and a speedrunner who wants to reach the end of the game as quickly as possible. By simulating each of these playstyles with an AI gameplaying agent and tinkering with the elements of the level design, the algorithm was able to converge on a design that maximally accommodates each style type.

Art & AI

 

 

Jake Adams headshot
Lecturer
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Ji Hwan Park headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

 

 

Nick LaLone headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

 

 

Chao Peng headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-7385

 

David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Software showing Network Team Selector

Visualization showing clouds of stacks of data.

Chart showing Example Data Input Flow During a Real Time Competition.

Open Science, Open Scholarship, Free Culture, Free and Open Source Science, Open Work Definition, Free Culture, Free and Open-Source Software

 

David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Open Source Education for Game Development
Elouise Oyzon headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5910
Elouise Oyzon headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5910
Mapping, Geographical Visualization

 

Location-Based Games & Social Networks, Proximity Technology, Crowdsourcing & Computer Supported Cooperation

 

David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Location-based Games, Disaster Management

 

Geographic Visualization, Spatial Thinking, Disaster Management, Refugee Affairs, Mapping
Chao Peng headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-7385
Multi-GPU acceleration, Massive Model Rendering, Parallel Level-of-Detail, Crowd Rendering
David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Physically-Based Animation, Computer Graphics Education, Cybersecurity Visualization
Owen Gottlieb headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5364
Instructional Design and Society
Artificial Intelligence in the Arts, Multi-species Interaction in the Arts, Environmental/ Ecological Art, Phenomenology, Cybernetics, Philosophical & Critical Analysis

 

Jake Adams headshot
Lecturer
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
The interplay of our spatial-temporal existence, sfumato, and volumetric extra-diegetic space through the lens of visual storytelling, art, and 3D/2D XR production for emerging technologies.

Valholo Holographic Comic

 

W Michelle Harris headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-4487
Interactive installations, live-mixed visuals for performances
Owen Gottlieb headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5364
Interactive Media and Wellness
Ji Hwan Park headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, High-Performance Graphics, Interactive Media and Wellness, Virtual Reality
Nick LaLone headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Interactive Media and Wellness
Interactive Media and Wellness
Jake Adams headshot
Lecturer
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Owen Gottlieb headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5364
Interactive Narrative
Interactive Narrative
Elouise Oyzon headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5910

 

Jessica Bayliss headshot
Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-2507
Phenomenology
Philosophical/Critical Analysis of Art & Technology
David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Flow chart showing User scenarios and Data Collection.

Map of the US with colored dots all over it.

 

Nick LaLone headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Owen Gottlieb headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5364
Games for Learning and Social Impact, Games for Change, Games, Religion and Culture, Serious Game

 

Chao Peng headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-7385
Serious Game Development

 

David Schwartz headshot
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Game-Based Learning, Cybersecurity Gamification

 

Serious Games

 

Nick LaLone headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Elouise Oyzon headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5910
Virtual Reality

Changeling VR

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

 

Owen Gottlieb headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-5364
Mobile Augmented Reality Games
Ji Hwan Park headshot
Assistant Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

 

Reality–Virtuality Continuum, Computer-Mediated Reality, Expanded Reality, Simulated Reality, Trans Reality Gaming
Chao Peng headshot
Associate Professor
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
585-475-7385
Immersive Technology, Multimodal Interaction

 

Research Highlights

Artificial Intelligence - Justus Robertson

The photo exhibits an online interactive testing environment running in the Google Chrome browser with three components labeled: (a) a video recording of a professional Dota 2 esports match, (b) a map with interactive icons that appear according to game events, and (c) a map overlay that provides text interventions to the viewer when icons are clicked. This is from a project that falls under narrative and cognitive modeling, and was published at ACM Interactive User Interfaces 2021.

The photo exhibits an online interactive testing environment running in the Google Chrome browser with three components labeled: (a) a video recording of a professional Dota 2 esports match, (b) a map with interactive icons that appear according to game events, and (c) a map overlay that provides text interventions to the viewer when icons are clicked. This is from a project that falls under narrative and cognitive modeling, and was published at ACM Interactive User Interfaces 2021.

This graph represents all possible choices a player can make in a simple text game visualized as 36 choice nodes in 15 trees. This project falls under narrative modeling and generation, search, automated game design, and procedural content generation. It was published at the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games 2019.

This diagram represents a text adventure game level that was procedurally generated using evolutionary search. The level was selected from a space of over 1,000 possible level designs, because it best accommodates multiple playstyles at the same time: a warrior who wants to attack as many enemies as possible, a collector who wants to find artifacts, a sneaker who wants to avoid enemies, and a speedrunner who wants to reach the end of the game as quickly as possible. By simulating each of these playstyles with an AI gameplaying agent and tinkering with the elements of the level design, the algorithm was able to converge on a design that maximally accommodates each style type.

This diagram represents a text adventure game level that was procedurally generated using evolutionary search. The level was selected from a space of over 1,000 possible level designs, because it best accommodates multiple playstyles at the same time: a warrior who wants to attack as many enemies as possible, a collector who wants to find artifacts, a sneaker who wants to avoid enemies, and a speedrunner who wants to reach the end of the game as quickly as possible. By simulating each of these playstyles with an AI gameplaying agent and tinkering with the elements of the level design, the algorithm was able to converge on a design that maximally accommodates each style type.