Athanasios Tsokaktsidis (2523256) Serious Gaming Abstract Serious games are designed to solve real life problems through the use of games. They have been penetrated in peoples every day life. They use methods -game mechanics- in order to attract users. The use of a game engines in necessary for the development of a game in a variety of platforms. Serious games examples and descriptions. And finally the social impact of serious games in peoples life. This essay is about the design of a serious game. The attributes of game mechanics are analyzed. There is a framework about the criteria used for the comparison of game engines. The key element of each engine is examined by the framework (Table 1). Subsequently, reference is made to actual serious games. Serious Gaming According to a popular definition, Serious Games are “games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment or fun as their primary purpose”. Serious games are designed to solve real life problems through the use of games. Although serious games can be entertaining, the main objective of a serious game is, yet not limited to teach, train, investigate or advertise. These interactive products are currently been used by industries such as defense, education, scientific exploration, health, medicine, news, city planning, engineering, emergency management, business and politics, but not in elite sports. Typically, video game genres are categorized by game play, where serious games are not a game genre but a category of games with a different purpose (SG. Senevirathne, 2011). Game Mechanics Game Mechanics are methods invoked by agents, designed for interaction with game state. They are also constructs of rules and feedback loops which are intended to produce enjoyable gameplay. They are the building blocks that can be applied and combined to gamify any non-game context (E.Adams, 2012). Each Game Mechanic is categorized into 3 Attributes: i. Game Mechanics Type (Progression, Feedback and Behavioral). ii. Boosts (Benefits (Engagement, Loyalty, Time Spent, Influence, Fun, Seo: Search Engine Optimization, UCG: User Generated Content and Virality). iii. Personality Types (Explorers, Achievers, Socializers and killers). 1 Athanasios Tsokaktsidis (2523256) Serious Gaming Game Engines Each computer, video game or interactive application with synchronous graphics has a game engine. The game engine is the central software component, providing the underlying technologies. The engine greatly simplifies the task of games development, and often allows the game to be used on different platforms, e.g. different game consoles and PC operating systems. The main function of a game engine is the rendering engine for 2D or 3D graphics. Game engine includes a scene graph and a physics engine which allows collision detection, audio, scripting scenes, animation of scenes, a level of incorporated artificialInternational intelligence Journal of Interactive (AI) Worlds and 8 scope for networki ng (S. Freitas, 2006). Some Keyaccessibility elements (support that couldfor non-standard help in order instructorsto select oftena Game play Enginea role in accordingvirtual to Framework,interfaces provided and devices; by as Petridiswell as support are for visual andlearning functional experiences, fidelity, and similarly consistency, socio- standardised interfaces (e.g. WASD) and cultural elements can be key motivators as support multiuserfor other support, tools beneficial and technical since in theelements mentioned (P.Petridis, above. 2012) . All these elements are presentedabsence in the of following sophisticated table: AI, human Table 1: Framework for Comparing Engines in SG Audiovisual Fidelity Rendering Animation Sound Functional Fidelity Scripting Supported AI Techniques Physics Composability Import/ Export Content Developer Toolkits Accessibility Learning Curve Documentation and Support Licensing Cost Networking Client Server/ Peer–to- peer Heterogeneity Multiplatform Support Current Game Engines Compared Using the engines over others is to meet several Framework identified criteria including: wide usage of Table 1: Framework for Comparing Enginesengine, in Seriousavailability, Games modularity(P.Petridis, 2012)and At the current time, the researchers have innovative features. identified over 100 games engines available on the market (WikiPedia 2010). It was The first game engine under comparative decided to compare a subset of this number analysis here is the CryENGINE 3. The engine Accordingwith tothe Wikipediaframework in orderthere to are gain over some 100 gamesis available engine for the in PC, the PS3 market. and Xbox360. The various game engines,baseline data are for CryENGINE3 validating the model. writte The n in C/C++CryENGINE and 3 availablesupports development for the Windows, in rationale for the selection of these games Microsoft Direct X 9,10 and 11. PS3 and Xbox360. Another engine is Valve’s Source Engine, it is written in C++ for platforms like Windows, Mac, Xbox360, PS3 and Linux (server only). Unreal Engine 3, written in C/C++, and the platforms are supported in are Windows, Xbox360 and PS3. Finally Unity is written in C#, JavaScript and the supported platforms are Windows, Mac, Nintendo Wii, IOS, Browser-based, Google Android (P.Petridis, 2012). Engines previously referred will be compared between them according to the key elements of the framework in Table 1, in the following tables. 2 13 International Journal of Interactive Worlds Table 3: Functional Fidelity CryEngine Source Unre Unity al Scripting Script Yes Yes Yes Yes Object Model Yes No No No InternationalSupported JournalAI ofCollision Interactive Detection Worlds 12Yes Yes Yes Yes Techniques Athanasios Tsokaktsidis (2523256) Path Finding Yes No Yes Yes Serious Gaming Table 2: Audiovisual Fidelity Decision Making Yes No Yes Yes CryEngine Source Engine Unreal Unity Basic, Multi- Basic, Multi- Basic,Physics Multi - BasicBasic, Physics Yes Yes Yes Yes texturing, Bump texturing, Bump texturing, Bump Bumpmapping, mapping mapping mapping, Procedural g Texturin Procedural rigid body Yes Yes Yes Yes Per-vertex, Per- Per-vertex, Per- Per-vertex, Per- Per-vertex, Per pixel, pixel, pixel, Gloss/ Pixel Lightmapping, Lightmapping, Specular Mapping vehicle dynamics Yes Yes Yes Yes Gloss Radiosity, Gloss Light mapping Lighting map,Anisotropic maps Shadow Volume Shadow Mapping, Shadow Mapping, Projected planar Projected, Shadow TheVolume reusability of content created within a comparison of the game engines, the ws Shado Environmental Environmental gameEnvironmental engine and the capability Environmental of importing researchers identified that importing a 3D Mapping Mapping and Mappingusing data from common sourcesMapping should model from CAD software into the supported Particle Systems, Particle Systems Particle Systems Particle Systems Bill Boarding Bill Boarding be Billconsidered Boarding before selectingBill Boardinga game format of the game engine is a major issue Rendering Lens Flares Lens Flares Lens Flares Lens Flares Effects Special Special engine. As budgets for creating serious and requires the developer to select specific Forward Skeletal Forward Forward Kinematics, Animation, gamesKinematics, are usually very limitedKinematics compared to components of the model for conversion and Keyframe Morphing, Facial Keyframe Keyframe Animation, Animation, commercialAnimation, entertainment Animation,games, this progressively convert and integrate them Skeletal Animation becomesSkeletal an especially Skeletalimportant Animation into the game engine by hand. Once this Animation, Blending Animation, Morphing, Morphing, aspect(ProtopsaltisMorphing, 2010; ProtopsaltisAnimation 2011). obstacle has been overcome, the game 13 International Journal of Interactive Worlds Animation Additionally,Animation in serious Blendinggames, the engines can create high-fidelity indoor and Animation Animation Blending Blending 2D Sound, 3D 2D Sound, 3D developers2D Sound, need 3Dto have access2D to Sound, the SDK, 3D outdoor scenes occupied with non-player Sound Sound Sound, Streaming Sound, Streaming d Soun GDKSound in order to add differentSound: peripheral characters in real-time. Table 4 compares the devices or connect the game engine with selected engines according to the suggested TableAnother 3: Functional major Fidelity challenge in Tablethe selection 2: Audiovisual of learning detectionFidelity management (P.Petridis,and path systems finding. 2012) or with Additionally, other categories.all game engines for serious games is functional game engines have integrated their own fidelity. Functional fidelity is closely related softwarephysics engines,APIs. However, and furthermore, from the each of the to the AI, CryEnginephysics andSource scripting. Unre AllUnity the selected game engines has support for selected gameInternational engines Journalprovide of alInteractivesupport for Worlds 14 scripting languages. Scripting Script various AI YestechniQues, Yes such Yesas collisionYes Table 4: Composability Object Model Yes No No No Another major challenge in the selection of are also a number of community websites Metrics CryEngine Source Unreal Unity game Supportedengines forAI seriousCollision games Detection is Yesthat provide discussionYes Yes forums Yes and tutorials accessibility; that is, how easy it is to retrieve (Planet Unreal 2010; Unreal Wiki 2010). Import/ CAD Platforms 3ds max, 3ds max, 3ds max, 3ds max, Techniques supporting information about the game Export supported maya maya maya, maya, engine (see Table 5). CryENGINEPath provides