Video Games

Serious Play: Video game studies conference to draw global scholars to U of T Mississauga

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 19:12:17 +0000

Serious Play: Video game studies conference to draw global scholars to U of T Mississauga

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/09/2024 - 15:12

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(photo by NoSystem images/Getty Images)

John Lorinc

Topic

Our Community

U of T Mississauga

Video Games

Subheadline

The 18th annual Serious Play conference will focus on themes such as game development, the use of games in education and the socio-cultural role of games

More than 300 scholars from around the world are set to converge at the University of Toronto Mississauga to dig into to the multi-faceted world of video games.

The 18th annual Serious Play conference, scheduled for Aug. 12 to 14, will focus on themes such as game development, the use of games in education and the socio-cultural role of games in a world that increasingly reflects this discipline's choose-your-own adventure ethos.

"Games are uniquely relevant to our moment in history – and it has nothing to do with their economic impact or the popularity of video games," says Serious Play executive director Paul Darvasi, who lectures at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education on the topics of games and learning.

"[It has] more to do with us living in a participatory dynamic culture. [Games] are arguably the art form of the 21st century."

A long-time attendee, Darvasi and his business partner Elisa Navarro took over the conference late last year. They decided to bring the conference to Greater Toronto to take advantage of U of T Mississauga's new game studies program, the campus's extensive Syd Bolton video game collection and the energy emanating from the region's lively game development community.

Alexandra Gillespie, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, will deliver opening remarks as well as host a welcome reception for conference participants, including several U of T experts.

While the global gaming industry grosses more than the music and film sectors combined, the Serious Play participants will be discussing other facets of gaming – namely the many ways it can be used to improve education, training and other types of learning.

"Play is merely the way that nature incentivizes our species to learn," Darvasi says. "Children learn through play. It's a hyper-motivated way for them to engage in practices that are going to prepare them for participation in society."

Culturally, he adds, games encompass virtually all the other art forms, including writing, dance, theatre, photography, film, sculpture and painting. Darvasi, who co-owns developer Gold Bug Interactive, describes video games as "this grand opera of human endeavour, which is weird to think about because it gets a bad name that's obscuring its more potent cultural value."

Lawrence Switzky, an associate professor in U of T Mississauga’s department of English and drama who has been a driving force behind the games studies program, uses game development as a way of teaching students about narrative and character, among other themes.

"This conference is a great fit for us," Switzky says. "The largest games and learning conference on the continent belongs at UTM because we have the talent and resources to accommodate it, and because we're establishing ourselves as a leader in the field with the Syd Bolton and Electric Playground collections, our game studies minor and all our programming."

The conference will include sessions on games and history education – including a session on “playing the past” with U of T doctoral candidate Ariana Ellis, who helped organize U of T Mississauga’s Day of Play event last year – along with virtual reality development, cybersecurity and gamification of climate action for K-12 students. Other sessions will tackle topics ranging from higher education to health care and culture and society.

Darvasi notes that Girls Who Game, a non-profit focused on gender and gaming backed by Dell, Microsoft and Intel, will collaborate on a session on esports competitive gaming, which he says has a reputation for being a very male-centric environment.

"We're really highlighting the positive participation of women in esports, and we're going to be demonstrating that," he says.

Some game development sessions will focus on buzzy technologies like generative AI and large-language models. For example, some developers are using ChatGPT to build highly complex scenario-based games in which the players participate through prompts to navigate the story.

Darvasi says it's only a matter of time before those games acquire visual elements also generated by algorithmic and user prompts.

"That's the next step for sure."

New online resource puts a literary spin on studying video games

siddiq22 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 15:21:32 +0000

New online resource puts a literary spin on studying video games

siddiq22 Thu, 07/27/2023 - 11:21

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(photo by Envato)

Alexa Battler

Topic

Our Community

Digital Media

University of Toronto Mississauga

University of Toronto Scarborough

Video Games

Subheadline

A new e-book written as part of U of T's Scholars in Residence program shows how video games can be studied and critiqued the same way as classic literature

As digital gaming has become an integral part of today's pop culture, the study of video games has become more commonplace at universities around the world through courses and a growing number of specialized degrees (such as a new minor program at U of T Mississauga) But amid the increased interest in learning about the various aspects of video games, resources to help professors teach the subject are lagging behind.

“Video games studies is a very multidisciplinary field. It doesn’t have the same depth of focus or publication history as a single scholarly trajectory,” says Sonja Nikkila, assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of English at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

“For someone already working in a different discipline and wanting to [add] video games to their own teaching, there aren't a lot of textbooks and syllabi out there.”

Sonja Nikkila (supplied photo)

Nikkila, who teaches the course “Video Games: Exploring the Virtual Narrative,” says it makes sense to study video games like pieces of literature – many games also have rich characters, settings, plots and messages. Unlike static texts, however, there are different endings, side quests and optional plot points that make students’ play-throughs a completely different experience.

Some landmark games can’t be assigned as homework, either – they may take dozens of hours to finish or need to be played on expensive systems.

Yet Nikkila isn’t deterred. “I wanted to create a resource to show lots of ways you can approach games critically – and how even if you haven’t finished a game or got a different ending than somebody else, that experience is still critically valuable,” she says.

Nikkila recently teamed up with a group of students for one of six U of T Scarborough projects funded by the Jackman Scholars-in-Residence program, which gives students across U of T paid four-week research opportunities. Her team's quest was to create something to help students and teachers apply narrative theory – a classic approach to studying literature – to video games.

They came up with an e-book titled Critical Inventory of Video Game Analysis, which offers a series of frameworks that each make sense on their own but also link to one another, allowing readers to choose their own adventure.

Some cover core game elements such as plot and setting, while others delve into Marxism, disability studies and other areas of literary analysis. The frameworks include an overview of each topic’s relationship to video games, a case for the unique insights games can offer, essay prompts and lists of related topics and links.

They also include a section called "demonstrations of literary criticism," or DLC – a play on the ubiquitous acronym in the gaming world for downloadable content. In the e-book, DLCs are a series of sample essays looking critically at games, such as one by student Brennen Penney on the eco-feminist messaging in the Star Wars game The Force Unleashed, alongside other pieces by students Luna Chen, Jesse June-Jack, Lucas McGee and Toey Saralamba.

The DLCs are one of several clever nods to video-game lingo throughout, including the title ("inventory" is a standard video-game term). Another section titled "Lore" covers the context behind games that can help inform an analysis, from their creators to cultural impact. The introduction is followed by a section called “Introduction Redux” – redux is a term for a remastered game, but in the book it signifies space saved for the new introduction the nascent resource will eventually have.

Nikkila plans to use the e-book in her video games course and to regularly update the DLC section with additions from students. She’s hoping to publish the resource within the next year and make it publicly accessible for students to read and also contribute.

In August, the students who participated in creating the resource will present at a conference held in collaboration with the University of Waterloo’s Digital Pedagogy Institute, discussing how they produced the e-book and how it can be used to analyze video games.

“We want to think of this as a library of resources and perspectives that will constantly grow and evolve,” Nikkila says. “It might even be a document that preserves a little bit of how scholarship moves across [several] years.”

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Jackman Scholars-in-Residence

U of T Mississauga’s massive video game collection a game-changer for research, education: CBC News

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 14:48:01 +0000

U of T Mississauga’s massive video game collection a game-changer for research, education: CBC News

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:48

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(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Our Community

U of T Mississauga

Video Games

The University of Toronto Mississauga has acquired a mammoth collection of video games – ranging from vintage Atari titles to modern PlayStation and Xbox games – that will open up exciting new avenues for academic research, CBC News reports.

The collection, which includes over 14,000 games, around 5,000 magazines and dozens of consoles and systems, was compiled by late programmer Syd Bolton. CBC News reported Bolton’s wife reached out to U of T Mississauga to ensure the collection is preserved for public use.“In terms of academic study, it's really important to look at the history of something that has such a pervasive impact on everyday life,” said Chris Young, head of collections and digital scholarship at U of T Mississauga Library, whose team is working to organize and catalogue the collection.

Stephanie Fisher, research officer at U of T, said she hopes the collection will help foster more involvement in gaming from groups that are under-represented in the industry, while Siobhan O’Flynn, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of English and drama at U of T Mississauga, said the collection represents an “extraordinary” scholarly resource.

“To be able to go back and play these titles with perspective from 2022, and to think about the impact of these games in their own moment and their cultural moment and in the context of design but also how we perceive this today, is going to be incredibly enlightening,” O’Flynn told CBC News.

Read the story on CBC News

With 14,000 titles, U of T Mississauga's Syd Bolton Collection takes video game studies to the next level

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 13:23:50 +0000

With 14,000 titles, U of T Mississauga's Syd Bolton Collection takes video game studies to the next level

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 07/11/2022 - 09:23

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U of T Mississauga's Syd Bolton Collection contains more than 14,000 games and 5,000 magazines as well as other related items such as consoles and a handful of arcades (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

From Space Invaders to Super Mario, video games are one of the most influential forms of media on the planet.

They’ve enchanted gamers around the world for nearly a half century and influenced mass culture with their pioneering inventions in aesthetics, storytelling, music and graphics.

“They’re arguably the largest entertainment industry in the world – with a huge impact on everyday life,” says Christopher Young, the head of collections and digital scholarship at the University of Toronto Mississauga Library. “Video games were the canary in the coal mine for digital life.

“Everything we’re doing today, using phones and interactive technology – games paved the way.”

Yet, video games have been difficult for academics to study. Scholars trying to research a 25-year-old game were often out of luck since video games were almost never collected by libraries. That’s because many viewed games as disposable consumer products as opposed to crucial pieces of art and culture.

At U of T Mississauga, that all changed in 2020 when it acquired its Syd Bolton collection, one of the largest, most comprehensive academic video-game collections with over 14,000 titles. The collection was put together by its namesake – a computer programmer in Brantford, Ont. who spent decades filling his home with long shelves jammed full of games before his death in 2018.

“There are only a few places in the world, let alone North America, that have a collection of this size,” says Young, who is serving as the collection’s first curator. By contrast, the U.S. Library of Congress boasts only 7,000 games.

Furthermore, U of T Mississauga now has games ranging from iconic, famous titles – like the Atari 2600’s Space Invaders or Super Mario 64 – to rare, deep cuts that sold only handfuls of copies.

Christopher Young works on a game cartridge from the Syd Bolton Collection (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

U of T Mississauga’s collection also includes dozens of different video-game consoles required to play the games, including every version of the PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles issued up to 2018. There are also several rare consoles, including the Panasonic 3DO.

The academic study of video games is now booming as generations of students and scholars who grew up playing the games are eager to explore everything from the history of game-interface design to gender representation in marketing materials and the business side of gaming. U of T Mississauga is even considering launching its own game studies program, Young notes.

“This collection would be the foundation on which all those activities would be built,” he says.

U of T academics are already envisioning ways they’ll use the collection. Siobhan O’Flynn, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga’s department of English and drama who specializes in game studies, teaches a class in which students learn about game history and game ethics while designing their own games. She says the Syd Bolton collection will let her students actually experience the gameplay of old titles they might otherwise only have seen on YouTube or read about on Wikipedia.

“Obsolescence is such a tragedy in digital media,” she says. “Having been in this space now for 20 years, I can look back at all kinds of absolutely landmark, influential works of which there is now no trace.”

Crucially, the Syd Bolton collection also includes all the manuals that came with the games, which can be equally as interesting for scholars’ research.

The U of T Mississauga Library has set up a space for anyone who wishes to make an appointment to play a game from the Syd Bolton Collection (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

There are also 5,000 video-game magazines, including full runs of famous gaming titles like Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Month. This aspect of the collection, Young says, is both rare and critical since it allows academics to see how a game was marketed and discussed. “You can gauge just what was going on in the industry at that point in time,” he says.

U of T research officer Stephanie Fisher wants to use the collection to kickstart the next generation of video game development. She’s co-director of Pixelles, a non-profit that supports women in the gaming industry through programs and events such as “game jams” that encourage women to design games. Fisher plans to use the Syd Bolton collection as an artistic resource that inspires creators by letting them experience rare old games first-hand.

“It’s going to really help game developers, particularly indie game developers who do really cool kind of avant-garde stuff,” she says. “You think of filmmakers – they go and get the film to learn from it. But it’s been so hard to do that with games.”

The U of T Mississauga Library has even set up video monitors in its reading room so that any student, professor, or community member can make an appointment to examine a game and play it.

Meanwhile, Young and his team are currently hard at work cataloging the enormous collection of games and consoles, and doing light repairs so they’re all in working order.

It’s a curious form of preservation work. Young, who used to work for U of T’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, does a digital-age version of the work done at Fisher on works that are hundreds of years old. For example, he’s spent the last few weeks opening Nintendo cartridges and carefully cleaning them so their electrical contacts work perfectly.

“These things were meant to be used,” he says of the games. “They’re meant to be played.”

Game on: English prof delves into art of indie video game creation

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 16:20:37 +0000

Game on: English prof delves into art of indie video game creation

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/06/2022 - 11:20

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Adam Hammond, of the department of English in the Faculty of Arts & Science, explores the art of making video games by documenting the creation of the indie game, JETT: The Far Shore (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Sean McNeely

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

Video Games

When you play a video game, do you ever stop to think about the work, time and energy that went into creating it? In some cases, a game takes years of imagining, creating, developing and fine-tuning.

Adam Hammond, an associate professor in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of English sees the beauty of artistic creation in video games and believes it’s one of the most demanding and challenging art forms today.

Exploring that passion, he’s written a new book where he shadows the creator of an independent video game called JETT: The Far Shore, following the path from its inception to launch.

In addition to recounting the at-times tortuous 10-year development of the game, The Far Shore: Indie Games, Superbrothers, and the Making of JETT also delves into the history of independent video games and how they relate to other forms of independent art, such as music and literature.

“It's not a ‘how to design a video game’ book,” says Hammond. “It's more about the people and what they go through, and how the act of creating a video game is similar to the act of making any other form of art.”

Created by designer Craig Adams (a.k.a. Superbrothers) and programmer Patrick McAllister (a.k.a. Pine Scented), JETT was released in October. In the game, you’re tasked with scouting a new home for a humanoid people after they’ve destroyed their native planet. However, once on that new world, players must plan their survival while contending with the consequences of environmental destruction.

The inspiration for the book comes in two parts. The first is Hammond’s love of all things indie.

The Far Shore: Indie Games, Superbrothers, and the Making of Jett by Adam Hammond

“I'm a lifelong fan of independent music,” he says. “When I was a teenager, I was in a punk band. We believed that you have to do things yourself for them to be as ideologically pure as possible, and that any other form of creation is compromised. I never fully abandoned that thinking.”

The second source was an indie game called Sword & Sorcery, released in 2011 by Superbrothers. This music-inspired cosmic adventure game was at the forefront of a new era of indie games, and Adams was called a visionary.

“I had heard about indie games, but I hadn't played one that I liked,” says Hammond. “But I got obsessed with Sword & Sorcery. I don't think I’ve ever liked a video game as much. There's something magical about it.”

That adoration led Hammond to invite Adams to speak at one of his classes, which sparked the idea for the book.

“It was a mind-boggling experience to meet someone who I consider to be a major artist of a new form,” says Hammond. “He was telling me everything about his next project — which at the time was mostly ideas — but it was extremely interesting. I got totally sucked in.”

That was in 2013. And then for years, the game’s progress slowed to a crawl. In fact, it took another eight years of development before the game was released. Over that time, Hammond only spoke with Adams and McAllister occasionally, sometimes just once a year. There were plenty of highs and lows.

“Increasingly, the narrative was not one of, ‘Here are my amazing ideas’ but one of, ‘We don't know how we’re ever going to finish this game,’” says Hammond.

During this long stretch, Hammond learned about the complex intricacies of video game design.

“You have to have music, visual art, moving pictures, you have to have text and you need a story,” he says.

He recalls one discussion about some of the game’s sounds, in particular sounds for “ground control” – the headquarters for people on their new planet.

“They had a spreadsheet of all the sounds they needed for ground control,” says Hammond. “For just the sound of a footstep, you have to create the sound of one person's footstep versus another person's because they should be different. And then you have to do the programming to make sure the right sound is triggered at the exact right time. It's just crazy how hard it is to make a game.”

Visually, it was just as demanding.

“Imagine a space outpost where a character is walking down the hall,” says Hammond. “If the person turns around, what does it look like from that perspective? If it's at night, how much light is coming in? What if they turn on the light? These are the things that took them years to figure out.”

Eventually, Adams and McAllister realized they needed help. They conceded they needed more people and money, so they worked with Sony and Epic Games to bring the game to fruition. At one point, Hammond guessed there were as many as 30 people working on JETT.

“That's what it took to finish the game,” says Hammond, noting both Adams and McAllister were a little disappointed that the game took a “big business” turn and strayed somewhat from its independent roots.

JETT has had mixed reviews since its launch, which Hammond believes speaks to its independent origins – because, like any piece of independent art, it’s not for everyone.

“But I think it's amazing,” says Hammond. “A lot of people are still not sure about the game, and I get that. I mean, it takes on about the heaviest themes imaginable – it's about colonialism and environmental destruction. It’s not straightforward entertainment. But for me it couldn’t be more satisfying or timely. And I think it will find its audience eventually.”

In the meantime, Hammond feels we’re embarking on an exciting time in independent video game creation, “where new artistic possibilities are opening.”

“Now, small groups of talented people can make games just because they have something they want to express,” says Hammond.

“And I think in the next five or 10 years, we're going to start seeing people use the form of the video game for new purposes and that's going to be amazing.”

U of T startup draws on AI, linguistics to power facial animation in video games

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 16:53:22 +0000

U of T startup draws on AI, linguistics to power facial animation in video games

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 04/30/2021 - 12:53

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JALI Research, which grew out of research in U of T's department of computer science, has developed a suite of tools that power hyper-realistic facial animations for video game characters (image by JALI Research)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

A University of Toronto startup is spurring the success of one of the best-selling video games of the past year – the dystopian action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077.

Growing out of research in the department of computer science, JALI Research has developed a suite of tools that power the game’s hyper-realistic facial animations, allowing characters to convincingly deliver dialogue in different languages.

Multi-language animation capacity was touted as a novel feature of Cyberpunk 2077, which sold over 13.7 million copies globally in its first month, according to game developer CD Projekt Red.

“Having brand new animation that responds to recorded dialogue from voiceover actors across 10 languages – and not just dubbing over English animation – means you’re watching animation that matches up to what you hear,” said Sarah Watling, the startup’s CEO.

“That was one of the things that CD Projekt Red believed would have a huge impact. They were going to be able to grow new retail markets by giving a localized experience to players.”

Sarah Watling

Founded in 2016, JALI Research uses AI to accurately map phonemes – the smallest elements of sound that can be isolated – to visemes, the corresponding mouth shapes that we see on a person’s face as they’re making those sounds.

Watling says JALI’s technology helps bridge the gap between actual gameplay and the more cinematic, pre-constructed scenes that are used to tell the game’s story. “The person who’s playing the game is spending most of their time in gameplay. So, the improvements we’re able to deliver improve that aspect of the game as well,” she says.

The company’s roots can be traced to research by Chief Technology Officer Pif Edwards while he was a PhD student in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Edwards noticed that existing automated dialogue systems weren’t matching the nuance and complexity of human speech – so he set about developing an alternative.

Edwards was the lead author of a 2016 paper that introduced an “animator-centric viseme model for expressive lip synchronization.” The paper’s co-authors included Chris Landreth, an Academy Award-winning animator who has served as distinguished research artist-in-residence at U of T’s Dynamic Graphics Project; Eugene Fiume, professor of computer science and dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University, who earned his graduate and doctoral degrees at U of T; and Karan Singh, professor in U of T’s department of computer science.

The resulting software, which makes use of a facial animation rig to help map phonemes to visemes, was dubbed “JALI” – a combination of “jaw” and “lip,” the two anatomical features the paper said account for most variation in visual speech.

Watling joined the startup as CEO in 2020, the year the company announced that its software would be powering Cyberpunk 2077’s facial animations.

She says a key advantage of JALI’s technology is it enables studios to scale up facial animation at a relatively low cost. That’s in contrast to more expensive approaches such as keyframe and motion-capture animation, which are only financially viable for the biggest studios.

“Video-game worlds are becoming more and more expansive and immersive,” she says. “At the same time, gamers are pretty indiscriminate about the scale of the company. So, the expectation for greater immersion, more realism and higher production values still gets applied – regardless of whether you’re a two-person studio or a massive multinational studio.

“Our technology really provides the ability to capture ideal quality at scale so that the return on investment increases over time, enabling smaller studios to punch above their weight.”

She credits U of T’s expansive innovation ecosystem – particularly the UTEST program, which is currently taking applications for its next cohort – for helping the company take its research from lab to market.

“The UTEST program is a great hybrid of courses – some of them through MaRS and others through partnerships with various mentors who support businesses in the startup life cycle, including IP law firms,” she said. “You get to work closely with the leadership of UTEST on various aspects, whether it’s thinking through your problem space or value proposition, or improving your pitch.

“As well, the Innovations & Partnerships Office is so good at helping startups progress from that initial process of ideation and invention to a viable commercial path, navigating bureaucracy, legal obstacles and incorporation.

“We’ve found the experience has been incredibly supportive.”

Gaming for everyone: U of T’s Faculty of Information makes video games more accessible

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:20:35 +0000

Gaming for everyone: U of T’s Faculty of Information makes video games more accessible

geoff.vendeville Fri, 12/11/2020 - 11:20

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Adrian Petterson, a Master of Information student, helped create the Accessibility Arcade, where designers, developers and researchers can create video games that take into account players' accessibility needs (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

Rekha Morbia

Topic

City & Culture

Accessibility

Faculty of Information

Graduate Students

iSchool

Video Games

To create more accessible video games, researchers at the University of Toronto are partnering with major studios, non-profit organizations and influential gamers with disabilities through U of T’s new Accessibility Arcade – as well as an inclusive online gaming hub.

The Accessibility Arcade, part of the Knowledge Media and Design Institute (KMDI) in the U of T’s Faculty of Information, provides a space for designers, developers, researchers and gamers to put their heads together to design more inclusive games. It’s based in the KMDI Makerspace, an area in the Bissell Building off Robarts Library where students are encouraged to get creative with technology like 3D printers, Arduinos and Raspberry Pis – open source prototyping platforms and simple computers, respectively.

“The Makerspace is much more than a room with fancy new technology,” said Adrian Petterson, a research assistant at KMDI and the project lead on the accessibility arcade. “This space builds a community of support and innovation where gamers and industry members can connect and learn from each other.”

Petterson is also the chair of the faculty’s accessibility interest working group and a Master of Information student who specializes in design ethics and video game accessibility under the academic supervision of Associate Professor Sara Grimes, director of KMDI and an expert in critical theories of technology.

There has been a recent push in the rapidly expanding video game industry – from large studios and indie developers alike – to design games that are accessible to players with disabilities.
While game designers are used to taking on complex challenges, it is by no means simple to design games that take into account the vast diversity of accessibility needs.

The Accessibility Arcade provides a space for designers and developers to imagine new game possibilities by allowing them to take their software on a test run before launch.

They can also create games or game features that appeal to a wider, mainstream audience. Copilot mode on Xbox One, for example, allows two players to manipulate a single character using two controllers. It was originally intended for players who couldn’t use their whole controller and needed the support of another player. But Copilot has since become a function that players use to create unique shared gaming experiences.

“Gamers with disabilities have been modifying games to suit their needs for decades and connecting industry members to see potential new forms of games which can appeal to new, wider audiences,” Petterson said.

The Accessibility Arcade is equipped with adaptive gaming equipment, such as a one-handed keyboard, adaptive Xbox controller and a Logitech Adaptive Gaming Kit (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

The Accessibility Arcade features the most up-to-date hardware in inclusive gaming and accessible titles. Gamers with disabilities can try out equipment and explore what options might be right for them. Game designers can learn about accessible gaming and try out equipment to ensure their games are compatible with the latest technology.

The Makerspace inventory includes a one-handed keyboard, an Xbox adaptive controller for individuals who are unable to use their hands and a Logitech Adaptive Gaming Kit with buttons and switches.

Adaptive gaming equipment is often extremely expensive and difficult to acquire. At the arcade, gamers with disabilities and designers can use adaptive equipment without having to buy it. Petterson is compiling a list of video games that have features for a variety of disabilities.

“Twenty per cent of gamers have disabilities,” Petterson said, adding that game designers can tap into new markets by adapting their products. “Also, it helps designers and developers think about new ways of creating, which is a boon for any industry.”

Adaptive gaming equipment is often expensive and difficult to acquire, but visitors can try out these tools at no cost at the Accessibility Arcade (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

As a part of the Accessibility Arcade, Petterson has been building an inclusive gaming hub to create game innovation on an online platform. Digital platforms make it easier for individuals in different parts of the world or people with mobility challenges to join. Community members, industry leaders and gamers can gain access to this collaborative network and apply what they learn to their own projects and communities. The inclusive gaming hub will be among the first digital space dedicated entirely to project sharing and collaboration in inclusive gaming.

“Our society is so focused on digital platforms that it is vital digital spaces are created to foster innovation in general and be accessible to everyone,” Petterson said. “Some of the most powerful innovators are individuals with disabilities.”

To help the Accessibility Arcade become a vibrant community space, Petterson has partnered with major studios, non-profit organizations and influential gamers with disabilities.

LittleNavi, a popular Twitch affiliate with multiple sclerosis, said she enjoyed working with Steve Saylor, who goes by the “Blind Gamer” on his YouTube channel, on the Accessibility Arcade.
Several years ago, LittleNavi suffered a massive ischemic stroke causing paralysis in half her body. On her Twitch profile, she writes: “Over time, I re-learned how to walk, how to talk, how to read, how to write, and how to game!” The experience led her to discover her calling for making games accessible for people with disabilities, she said.

Saylor found his passion for advocating for more accessible video games through YouTube, where he shares reviews and his first reactions to games. The Toronto-based gamer was born with nystagmus, a condition that causes rapid involuntary movement of the eyes making it hard to see (in one YouTube clip, he uses Fortnite to demonstrate what he sees when he plays a game).

Saylor, LittleNavi and Petterson created a list of essential equipment for the space and collaborated on access policies. Other consultants on the project include representatives from Makers Making Change, Toronto Media Arts Centre, and AAA Games Studios.

“The KMDI Accessibility Arcade fosters industry creations, a strong diverse community working together and that an inclusive society makes us all stronger,” Petterson said.

U of T student draws on art history, English classes to reach finals of video game design competition

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:39:09 +0000

U of T student draws on art history, English classes to reach finals of video game design competition

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 06/23/2020 - 09:39

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Reynold Tsui, a fourth-year student at U of T Mississauga, was named a finalist in a recent video game design competition – the first one he has ever entered (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Video Games

Reynold Tsui, a student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, recently won top honours in an international video game design competition, despite having little actual experience in the field – and he credits his English and art history classes for providing the necessary inspiration.

The fourth-year student was named a finalist in the inaugural Intergalactic Murder Gardening Contest, a video game design competition from Toronto-based interactive media company Stitch Media. Tsui, who studies art, art history and English, was inspired to enter the competition after spotting a YouTube ad about designing a level for Terrorarium, a 3D video game developed by Stitch. Contestants were asked to build upon the basic foundation of the game, adding unique landscape features and devising challenges for players to solve.

It was Tsui’s first-ever foray into competitive video game design.

“I really wanted to accomplish something before I graduate and take that next step,” he says. “When I saw the advertisement, I thought, ‘Why don’t I give it a shot?’”

The competition for students and new graduates drew more than 260 entries from across Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Top prizes included a cash scholarship, Nintendo game gear, as well as design credit and inclusion of the winning levels in the final version of the game, which is set to launch later this summer.

Tsui says he took inspiration for his entry, “Abandoned Castle,” from the ruins of Italian and French castles that he studied in his art history classes at U of T Mississauga (image courtesy of Reynold Tsui)

Taking the form of a grandmotherly humanoid bug accompanied by an army of tiny, blobby creatures, players of Terrorarium must navigate different levels to solve puzzles and ultimately win “the blue ribbon from the Intergalactic Horrorcultural Society.”

Tsui’s entry, “Abandoned Castle,” challenges players to navigate through a stacked maze of crumbling buildings and overgrown garden paths peppered with carnivorous plants, terrifying insects, fire-breathing monsters and other traps. The budding designer says he took inspiration for the game’s landscape design from ruins of Italian and French castles that he studied in his art history classes at U of T Mississauga.

Tsui also drew upon his experience with an English course on video game design, taught by Siobahn O’Flynn in the department of English and drama. In the course, students learn about plot development and critical game theory and create a story-based digital word game.

“That class established a fundamental understanding of games for me,” Tsui says, noting that the game he created for the course was designed to trick and confuse players.

His Terrorarium entry takes a similar tactic. As players move through Tsui’s maze of ruins, they are faced with choices that may lead them down the wrong path – sometimes to their doom if they fall for the tricks Tsui included to keep players on their toes. “It might seem straightforward, but the player might get a reward or they might be sent back to the beginning,” Tsui says.

“Games are supposed to be fun,” Tsui adds, noting that he played the entire level five times to ensure players could solve it. “It’s a tricky course, but I didn’t want to make it unbeatable. When I play it, I walk into every trap to see what will happen. I really put myself in the player’s shoes.”

In a recent online showcase of the winning entries, Stitch’s designers lauded Tsui for his maze design, noting that his entry helped them better understand the possibilities and challenges of creating a multi-level maze within the game. “It shows a lot of patience and dexterity,” said one of the panellists. “We referenced your level a lot when we were trying to improve visibility of the Gardener.”

Encouraged by his competition result, Tsui plans to spend more time learning about programming and working on game design. “I would like to make contributions in authentic reality and virtual reality,” he says. “Games really inspire me. I want to learn more and apply my knowledge.”

Tsui says his personal credo, both in the virtual worlds and real life, is all about stepping into the unknown: “It’s about having the courage to make that step forward and take a risk.”

Video games deconstructed: U of T English course takes a critical look at game narratives, designs

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 17:22:45 +0000

Video games deconstructed: U of T English course takes a critical look at game narratives, designs

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 12/21/2018 - 12:22

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In this photo illustration a gamer plays the video game “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which raked in US$725 million in sales during the first three days following its launch (photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Elaine Smith

Topic

Our Community

Department of English

Humanities

University of Toronto Mississauga

Video Games

On Fridays around 3 p.m., when many University of Toronto Mississauga students are daydreaming about the weekend, Siobhan O’Flynn can look around her classroom and see almost a full house of unusually attentive undergraduates.

O’Flynn, an assistant professor, teaching stream, leads an English course called “Video Games”, and she’s working with a generation whose lives are steeped in digital media.

“With the uptake of social media, there’s a massive online community playing games and, with smartphones nearly ubiquitous, the number of mobile games players is growing,” says O’Flynn.

Her students do play games as part of the course syllabus, but the class goes far beyond gaming for pure pleasure. Students explore the narrative structure of games in terms of plot, characters, design and how games differ from novels; they learn about the evolution of games, the existing genres and various gaming platforms. They also consider the gaming experience and they explore the emergence of game studies as a critical practice. The students top it all off by creating their own story-based games.

“Students learn about mental models and experience design, which are key in game design,” says O’Flynn. “They learn how play-testing, game mechanics and user-experience design mesh with literary analysis so they can design really awesome games.

“How you play a game and what you see is much more variable than what happens in a literary text.”

Alexis Cochrane, a fourth-year double major in English and communication, culture and information technology, says she has become critical of video games since taking the course. “The course has taught me to consider video games as both a designer and as a literary scholar,” she says.

As with literature, there can be a contrast between the creation itself and its messages or experiences. The video game design can be gorgeous and full of stunning images, but the story can lead the player through war and destruction.

“They can be beautiful esthetically, but gory and violent things can happen. Games are systems designed to make us feel things.”

The course also addresses the evolution of video games.

“We look at arcade games and early computer games and see the continuing increase in processing power,” says O’Flynn. “Today’s games are much more complex and visually stunning.”

O’Flynn also teaches students about the gaming industry and she ensures that they understand how games are designed to addict players.

“Games generate more revenue than films or literary texts,” she says. “Students need digital literacy skills to understand how the creators do what they do and how it affects us. This opens up a whole different layer of critical inquiry because other media aren’t designed in the same way to get us to do things.

“It’s very important to have this understanding because children are playing games starting at a very young age.”

O’Flynn adds that students' affinity for video games means “They love to get into discussions that analyze various games and they enjoy creating and testing each other’s creations and offering suggestions.”

Cochrane agrees. She says being taught how to make game was “transformative” for a writer like herself who wasn't familiar with video game design before taking the course.

“Professor O’Flynn taught us how to be critical of games as literature and then recreate these aspects into our own games,” she says. “It gave students the ability to take our new-found understanding and knowledge of the games and create our own.

“It is an essential hands-on portion of the course that offers a new layer of contextual understanding.”

Thanks to courses such as this, game designers will need to prepare for a new group of consumers who are critical, sophisticated and demand high quality from their gaming experience and for scholars who will be analyzing their output on many levels.

“As our ability to create evolves, so should the way we study and understand those creations” Cochrane says.

These video games trick elementary and high school students into learning STEM

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:06:09 +0000

These video games trick elementary and high school students into learning STEM

geoff.vendeville Wed, 08/16/2017 - 12:06

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Computer science students in Steve Engel's class developed educational video games and play-tested them with elementary and high school students from summer camps (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Undergraduate Students

Computer Science

Community

Video Games

Subheadline

U of T computer science students develop educational games on immunology, optics and more

It’s every high school student’s dream: playing video games instead of doing homework.

Steve Engels, an associate professor of computer science, teaching stream, predicts that one day games will not only replace traditional tests and assignments, but will do a better job teaching a range of subjects.

Games offer a number of advantages over paper assignments and tests, including immediate feedback, he says.

“If you have a lesson in game form, it tells you how well you’ve done, it allows you to retry it, which you maybe can’t do with assignments or tests, and you can do it again until you master it,” he says.

This summer, he's testing the concept with University of Toronto students who have been asked to develop games that trick students into learning some of the hard-to-teach topics on elementary and high school curricula: subjects related to science, technology, engineering and math.

The games by computer science students cover the basics of immunology, coding, optics and mitosis. Engels invited video game industry experts, teachers and grade school students, including groups from U of T’s Science Unlimited Summer Camp, to try out the games and provide feedback.

Here are four examples of the games that were developed:

Steve Engels teaches a class on developing educational video games. (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

1. Central Immune System

This game by computer science major and biology buff Alexander Chum puts bacteria and wounds in the players’ crosshairs.
As users move from one level to the next, they learn about the roles of platelets, macrophages and leukocytes (white blood cells). “What’s fun about this game is that you actually get to see things get destroyed,” he says. “In this case, the enemies are everything that make you sick.”

2. Crevice

In this unusual game, the player takes on the persona of an old glass maker trapped in a cave who must find a way to redirect a sunbeam to shine on his plants using reflectors. “A lot of times, at least when I was in high school in my (physics) class, a lot of people didn’t know how to make ray diagrams,” creator and computer science major Karl Cui says. “Here the players are able to move mirrors around and experiment without the pretense that it’s for a science lab.”

3. Clean City, Green City

It's “Clean-Up Day!” Players test their knowledge of what gets recycled, composted and sent to the landfill in this game. Each wrong answer floods the landfill until it’s game over.
Even adults sometimes put things in the wrong waste receptacle, says Monica Iqbal, a fourth-year computer science student. “I feel like this game isn’t just for kids. It’s for anyone, really.”

4. Deadlock

Learning to code isn’t always fun – unless the point is to hack one’s way out of a prison cell. The players use a block interface, which tells them which lines of code they can or can’t write, to open doors and control jail-busting drones. “When you unlock a door with the code we provided, the door will light up green and open in front of you,” says Raymond Gao, a third-year computer science student. “Watching your code have an effect in real time isn’t something you get in other learning environments in programming.”

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