The UCI Game Culture and Technology Laboratory: Towards a Center of Excellence in Games and Visualization

1. The UCI Game Culture and Technology Laboratory:Towards a Center of Excellence in Games and Visualization Robert Nideffer and Walt Scacchi {nideffer, wscacchi}@uci.edu UCGameLab.Net June 2006

2. Overview • Our goals • Game Lab people and partners • Current research projects • Recent/upcoming events • Educational initiatives • Vision and research opportunities

3. Goals • Establish Calit2, Game Lab, and partner network as world-leading center in networked games and visualization • Lead the investigation, prototyping, and deployment of the Web 3.0 • Partner with industry-leading firms, government agencies, and others that want to go there with us.

4. UCGameLab.net

5. UCI Game Lab People (Faculty) • Studio Art: Robert Nideffer (Director), Antoinette LaFarge • Computer Science: Paul Dourish, Magda El Zarki, Dan Frost, Bonnie Nardi, Andre van der Hoek • Engineering: Tara Hutchinson, Falko Kuester, Joerg Meyer • Arts, Computation, Engineering: Beatriz de Costa, Simon Penny, Bill Tomlinson • Institute Software Research: Celia Pearce, Walt Scacchi (Research Director), • Others: Tom Boellstorf (Anthropology), Christopher Dobrian (Music), Peter Krappe (Humanities/Film Studies), Charlie Zender (Earth Systems Science)

6. Game Lab People (partial) • Sky Frostenson: Art, Computation & Engineering (ACE)Adrian Herbez: Art, Computation & Engineering (ACE)Eric Kabisch: Art, Computation & Engineering (ACE)Eric Cho: Art, Computation & Engineering (ACE)Derric Eady: Studio Art Nick Urrea: Information and Computer ScienceKenny Lai: Information and Computer ScienceMirko Kiric: Information and Computer ScienceAlex Szeto: Information and Computer ScienceDan Repasky: Studio ArtAndrew Khoury: Information and Computer ScienceYoung Kang: Information and Computer ScienceJames Jennings: Information and Computer Science Calvin Lee: Information and Computer Science Annie Jiu: Information and Computer Science • UC San Diego Supercomputer Center Steve Cutchin: Visualization Services ManagerNatalie Rubin: Game Grid Website DeveloperTak (Sunny) Chu: Game Grid Lead Programmer

7. Game Lab Faculty Collaborators • David Theo Goldberg (UCHRI) • Anne Balsamo (USC) • Jean-François Blanchette (UC Los Angeles) • Adriene Jenik (UC San Diego) • Henry Lowood (Stanford) • Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley) • Jackie Stevens (UC Santa Barbara) • Noah Wardrip-Fruin (UC San Diego) • Sheldon Brown (UC San Diego)

8. Game Lab Partners and Sponsors • California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology: Calit2 at UCI-UCSD • San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UCSD • UCI Center for Graphics, Visualization and Imaging Technology • UCI Creative Interactive Visualization Laboratory • UCI Institute for Software Research • UCI Arts, Computation, and Engineering (ACE) Program • UCSD Experimental Game Lab • Calit2 ACTION Laboratory • Center for Digital Industry Promotion, Daegu, Korea (2006-09) • Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, CA (2004-06) • National Science Foundation (2000-2008) • UC Humanities Research Institute (2006) • Sun Microsystems (2004-05) • and others

9. Current research projects • Unexceptional.net, a heterogeneous game network (Robert Nideffer) • Open Source Software Development for Networked Games (Walt Scacchi, ISR team) • Science Learning Games (Nideffer and Scacchi, Discovery Science Center team) • Collaboration infrastructure for game culture research (Nideffer and Scacchi) • Advanced Networked Games (Scacchi and Nideffer, DIP Game Lab team, Daegu, Korea)

10. Heterogeneous gaming in Unexceptional.net

11. Game Modding via Open Source Software Development

12. Game Modding via Open Source Software Development sequence Test { action Execute automatic test scripts { requires { Test scripts, release binaries } provides { Test results } tool { Automated test suite (xtest, others) } agent { Sun ONE Studio QA team } script { /* Executed off-site */ } } action Execute manual test scripts { requires { Release binaries } provides { Test results } tool { NetBeans IDE } agent { users, developers, Sun ONE Studio QA team, Sun ONE Studio developers } script { /* Executed off-site */ } } iteration Update Issuezilla { action Report issues to Issuezilla { requires { Test results } provides { Issuezilla entry } tool { Web browser } agent { users, developers, Sun ONE Studio QA team, Sun ONE Studio developers } script { <br><a href="http://www.netbeans.org/issues/">Navigate to Issuezilla </a> <br><a href="http://www.netbeans.org/issues/query.cgi">Query Issuezilla </a> <br><a href="http://www.netbeans.org/issues/enter_bug.cgi">Enter issue </a> } }

13. Science Learning Games • Physical interaction quest environment: DinoQuest • Life-size dinosaurs (e.g.,120’ Argentinosaurs) • Gesture-based, embedded electronic media activation (via user IR wand) • Online science games: DinoQuest Online • Addressing CA science education standards for K-6 • Content and API-level interoperation with DinoQuest • DSC Goal: migrate to MMOSLG • DSC planning new SLG exhibits through 2010 • >$35M investment • DSC developing network of three more DSCs (Korea, Turkey, Irvine)

14. CollaborationInfrastructure

15. Current research projects • EcoRaft and Virtual Raft (Bill Tomlinson) • HIPerWall (Falko Kuester) • Earth and Planetary Systems Science Game Engine (Kuester, Brown-Simmons, and Zender) • Immersive Classroom (Falko Kuester and Tara Hutchinson) • Fantastic Voyage, a cardio-vascular navigation game (Joerg Meyer) • GLYPH, a game authoring environment (Celia Pearce) • Mobile Games in Java (Frost and Pearce) • Ethnographic studies of MMOGs (Pearce, Boellstorff, and Nardi)

16. Game Lab Events • Shift+Ctrl (2001) exhibition devoted to games and game art • Game Grid Workshop (2003) • ArtModJam (2004) at Game Dev Conf. • ALT+CTRL (2004) juried game art festival • MASSIVE: Research Summit of Future of Networked Multiplayer Games (2006) • CorporateOpportunities for Multiplayer Game Technology (2006)

17. MASSIVE Research Summit

18. Educational initiatives • UCI Arts, Computation, and Engineering (ACE) program offering graduate-level courses and degree program addressing game culture and technology • UCI Game Lab faculty currently offering nearly 20 graduate and undergraduate courses in computer game culture and technology • UCI now offers undergraduate degree in CS/Studio Art with a concentration in Game Culture and Technology

19. Vision • Developing the Web 3.0 – the Game Web • Future Web sites as game world servers • Users/visitors “put/create/update” content in world/site • Multiple Game Web/Visualization research rooms • HIPerWall • Interactive Classroom • Software/Enterprise Systems Observatory • Multi-sensor observational systems • Collaboration warrooms

20. Game Web/Visualization Rooms

21. Game Web Research Opportunities • Massive Game Grid network • Linking game labs, science centers, libraries, etc. • Creating social, humanistic, artistic, economic, and technologic cyberinfrastructure (i.e.,national R&D testbed) • Game Web application areas • enterprise systems (e.g., supply chain management) • distributed systems/software engineering work • massively multiplayer art/performance spaces • multi-site knowledge management • education & training • stadium-area network games • etc.

22. Closing remarks • We welcome your questions and comments. • Please contact us if you have any questions. • We want to create a Center of Excellence in Games and Visualization.