Jeremy Gow
Lecturer in Games Programming
About me
I’m a lecturer at the Department of Computing, Goldsmiths with a background in artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. My research is on computational game design: how can computers understand play and help us design video games? My interests include computational creativity, procedural content generation, game AI, player analytics and player experience.
You can contact me at .[at].. or at the Department of Computing, Goldsmiths College, 25 St. James, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK.
IGGI Centre for Doctoral Training
I run the IGGI PhD programme at Goldsmiths as part of the EPSRC-funded IGGI Centre for Doctoral Training with the Universities of York and Essex. IGGI offers fully-funded 4 year PhD studentships in the area of digital games computing. If you’re interested in applying, please get in touch, or contact potential supervisors directly.
Teaching
I’m the Programme Leader for BSc in Games Programming and currently teach Game Development Group Projects in second year and Game AI Programming in third year. I also teach AI for Games on our MSc in Computer Games and Entertainment.
Selected Publications
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy The ANGELINA Videogame Design System, Part II Journal Article In: IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, (99), 2016. @article{Cook2016TCIAGa, title = {The ANGELINA Videogame Design System, Part II}, author = {Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/COM-Cook2016b.pdf}, year = {2016}, date = {2016-11-01}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games}, number = {99}, abstract = {Procedural content generation is generally viewed as a means to an end – a tool employed by designers to overcome technical problems or achieve a particular design goal. When we move from generating single parts of games to automating the entirety of their design, however, we find ourselves facing a far wider and more interesting set of problems than mere generation. When the designer of a game is a piece of software, we face questions about what it means to be a designer, about Computational Creativity, and about how to assess the growth of these automated game designers and the value of their output. Answering these questions can lead to new ideas in how to generate content procedurally, and produce systems that can further the cutting edge of game design. This paper describes work done to take an automated game designer and advance it towards being a member of a creative community. We outline extensions made to the system to give it more autonomy and creative independence, in order to strengthen claims that the software is acting creatively. We describe and reflect upon the software’s participation in the games community, including entering two game development contests, and show the opportunities and difficulties of such engagement. We consider methods for evaluating automated game designers as creative entities, and underline the need for automated game design to be a major frontier in future games research.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Procedural content generation is generally viewed as a means to an end – a tool employed by designers to overcome technical problems or achieve a particular design goal. When we move from generating single parts of games to automating the entirety of their design, however, we find ourselves facing a far wider and more interesting set of problems than mere generation. When the designer of a game is a piece of software, we face questions about what it means to be a designer, about Computational Creativity, and about how to assess the growth of these automated game designers and the value of their output. Answering these questions can lead to new ideas in how to generate content procedurally, and produce systems that can further the cutting edge of game design. This paper describes work done to take an automated game designer and advance it towards being a member of a creative community. We outline extensions made to the system to give it more autonomy and creative independence, in order to strengthen claims that the software is acting creatively. We describe and reflect upon the software’s participation in the games community, including entering two game development contests, and show the opportunities and difficulties of such engagement. We consider methods for evaluating automated game designers as creative entities, and underline the need for automated game design to be a major frontier in future games research. |
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy The ANGELINA Videogame Design System, Part I Journal Article In: IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 9 (2), pp. 192-203, 2016, ISSN: 1943-0698. @article{Cook2016TCIAIGb, title = {The ANGELINA Videogame Design System, Part I}, author = {Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/COM-Cook2016a.pdf}, doi = {10.1109/TCIAIG.2016.2520256}, issn = {1943-0698}, year = {2016}, date = {2016-11-01}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games}, volume = {9}, number = {2}, pages = {192-203}, abstract = {Automatically generating content for videogames has long been a staple of game development and the focus of much successful research. Such forays into content generation usually concern themselves with producing a specific game component, such as a level design. This has proven a rich and challenging area of research, but in focusing on creating separate parts of a larger game, we miss out on the most challenging and interesting aspects of game development. By expanding our scope to the automated design of entire games, we can investigate the relationship between the different creative tasks undertaken in game development, tackle the higher-level creative challenges of game design, and ultimately build systems capable of much greater novelty, surprise and quality in their output. This paper, the first in a series of two, describes two case studies in automating game design, proposing cooperative coevo- lution as a useful technique to use within systems that automate this process. We show how this technique allows essentially separate content generators to produce content that complements each other. We also describe systems that have used this to design games with subtle emergent effects. After introducing the technique and its technical basis in this paper, in the second paper in the series we discuss higher level issues in automated game design, such as potential overlap with computational creativity and the issue of evaluation.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Automatically generating content for videogames has long been a staple of game development and the focus of much successful research. Such forays into content generation usually concern themselves with producing a specific game component, such as a level design. This has proven a rich and challenging area of research, but in focusing on creating separate parts of a larger game, we miss out on the most challenging and interesting aspects of game development. By expanding our scope to the automated design of entire games, we can investigate the relationship between the different creative tasks undertaken in game development, tackle the higher-level creative challenges of game design, and ultimately build systems capable of much greater novelty, surprise and quality in their output. This paper, the first in a series of two, describes two case studies in automating game design, proposing cooperative coevo- lution as a useful technique to use within systems that automate this process. We show how this technique allows essentially separate content generators to produce content that complements each other. We also describe systems that have used this to design games with subtle emergent effects. After introducing the technique and its technical basis in this paper, in the second paper in the series we discuss higher level issues in automated game design, such as potential overlap with computational creativity and the issue of evaluation. |
Llano, Maria Teresa; Colton, Simon; Hepworth, Rose; Gow, Jeremy Automated Fictional Ideation via Knowledge Base Manipulation Journal Article In: Cognitive Computation, 8 (2), pp. 153-174, 2016. @article{Llano2011usingb, title = {Automated Fictional Ideation via Knowledge Base Manipulation}, author = {Maria Teresa Llano and Simon Colton and Rose Hepworth and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/llano_jcc2015.pdf}, year = {2016}, date = {2016-10-01}, journal = {Cognitive Computation}, volume = {8}, number = {2}, pages = {153-174}, abstract = {The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of arte- facts such as poems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the computational creativity community. We present here a general approach to automated fictional ideation that works by manipulating facts specified in knowledge bases. More specifically, we specify a number of constructions which, by altering and combining facts from a knowledge base, result in the generation of fictions. Moreover, we present an instantiation of these construc- tions through the use of ConceptNet, a database of common sense knowledge. In order to evaluate the success of these constructions, we present a curation analysis that calculates the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality judgement. We further evaluate the output of this approach through a crowd-sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. We found a positive correlation between the participant’s rankings and a chaining inference technique that automatically assesses the value of the fic- tions generated through our approach. We believe that these results show that this approach constitutes a firm basis for automated fictional ideation with evaluative capacity.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of arte- facts such as poems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the computational creativity community. We present here a general approach to automated fictional ideation that works by manipulating facts specified in knowledge bases. More specifically, we specify a number of constructions which, by altering and combining facts from a knowledge base, result in the generation of fictions. Moreover, we present an instantiation of these construc- tions through the use of ConceptNet, a database of common sense knowledge. In order to evaluate the success of these constructions, we present a curation analysis that calculates the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality judgement. We further evaluate the output of this approach through a crowd-sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. We found a positive correlation between the participant’s rankings and a chaining inference technique that automatically assesses the value of the fic- tions generated through our approach. We believe that these results show that this approach constitutes a firm basis for automated fictional ideation with evaluative capacity. |
Llano, Maria Teresa; Guckelsberger, Christian; Hepworth, Rose; Gow, Jeremy; Corneli, Joseph; Colton, Simon What If A Fish Got Drunk? Exploring the Plausibility of Machine-Generated Fictions Inproceedings In: Proc. 7th Int. Conf. Computational Creativity, 2016. @inproceedings{Llano2016, title = {What If A Fish Got Drunk? Exploring the Plausibility of Machine-Generated Fictions}, author = {Maria Teresa Llano and Christian Guckelsberger and Rose Hepworth and Jeremy Gow and Joseph Corneli and Simon Colton}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ICCC_Plausibility_camera_ready-1.pdf}, year = {2016}, date = {2016-07-01}, booktitle = {Proc. 7th Int. Conf. Computational Creativity}, abstract = {Within the WHIM project, we study fictional ideation: processes for automatically inventing, assessing and presenting fictional ideas. Here we examine the foundational notion of the plausibility of fictional ideas, by performing an empirical study to surface the factors that affect judgements of plausibility. Our long term aim is to formalise a computational method which captures some intuitive notions of plausibility and can predict how certain types of people will assess the plausibility of certain types of fictional ideas. This paper constitutes a first firm step towards this aim.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Within the WHIM project, we study fictional ideation: processes for automatically inventing, assessing and presenting fictional ideas. Here we examine the foundational notion of the plausibility of fictional ideas, by performing an empirical study to surface the factors that affect judgements of plausibility. Our long term aim is to formalise a computational method which captures some intuitive notions of plausibility and can predict how certain types of people will assess the plausibility of certain types of fictional ideas. This paper constitutes a first firm step towards this aim. |
Gow, Jeremy; Corneli, Joseph Towards Generating Novel Games Using Conceptual Blending Inproceedings In: Proc. 2nd Workshop on Experimental AI in Games (EXAG), 2015. @inproceedings{Gow2015, title = {Towards Generating Novel Games Using Conceptual Blending}, author = {Jeremy Gow and Joseph Corneli}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/gow_exag15.pdf}, year = {2015}, date = {2015-01-01}, booktitle = {Proc. 2nd Workshop on Experimental AI in Games (EXAG)}, abstract = {We sketch the process of creating a novel video game by blending two video games specified in the Video Game Description Language (VGDL), following the COINVENT computational model of conceptual blending. We highlight the choices that need to be made in this process, and discuss the prospects for a computational game designer based on blending.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We sketch the process of creating a novel video game by blending two video games specified in the Video Game Description Language (VGDL), following the COINVENT computational model of conceptual blending. We highlight the choices that need to be made in this process, and discuss the prospects for a computational game designer based on blending. |
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy Automating Game Design in Three Dimensions Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the AISB symposium on AI and Games, 2014. @inproceedings{Cook2014AISB, title = {Automating Game Design in Three Dimensions}, author = {Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cook_aisb14a.pdf}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-11-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the AISB symposium on AI and Games}, abstract = {We describe ANGELINA-5, a new iteration of the AN- GELINA framework for investigating and building software which automates the process of videogame design. ANGELINA-5 is the first automated game design tool that produces 3D games. We outline here the system’s structure, the challenges inherent in building an auto- mated game designer in a modern game engine, and we discuss the future research directions for the project.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We describe ANGELINA-5, a new iteration of the AN- GELINA framework for investigating and building software which automates the process of videogame design. ANGELINA-5 is the first automated game design tool that produces 3D games. We outline here the system’s structure, the challenges inherent in building an auto- mated game designer in a modern game engine, and we discuss the future research directions for the project. |
Llano, Maria Teresa; Hepworth, Rose; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy; Charnley, John; Lavrač, Nada; Žnidaršič, Martin; Perovšek, Matic; Granroth-Wilding, Mark; Clark, Stephen Baseline Methods For Automated Fictional Ideation Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on computational creativity, 2014. @inproceedings{llano2014baseline, title = {Baseline Methods For Automated Fictional Ideation}, author = { Maria Teresa Llano and Rose Hepworth and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow and John Charnley and Nada Lavrač and Martin Žnidaršič and Matic Perovšek and Mark Granroth-Wilding and Stephen Clark}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/llano_iccc2014.pdf}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-01-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 5th international conference on computational creativity}, abstract = {The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of artefacts such as po- ems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the Computational Creativity community. We present here three baseline approaches for automated fictional ideation, using methods which invert and alter facts from the ConceptNet and ReVerb databases, and perform bisociative discovery. For each method, we present a curation analysis, by calculating the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality evaluation. We further evaluate one ideation approach through a crowd- sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. The results from this study, and the baseline meth- ods and methodologies presented here, constitute a firm basis on which to build more sophisticated models for automated ideation with evaluative capacity.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of artefacts such as po- ems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the Computational Creativity community. We present here three baseline approaches for automated fictional ideation, using methods which invert and alter facts from the ConceptNet and ReVerb databases, and perform bisociative discovery. For each method, we present a curation analysis, by calculating the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality evaluation. We further evaluate one ideation approach through a crowd- sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. The results from this study, and the baseline meth- ods and methodologies presented here, constitute a firm basis on which to build more sophisticated models for automated ideation with evaluative capacity. |
Llano, Maria Teresa; Hepworth, Rose; Colton, Simon; Charnley, John; Gow, Jeremy Automating Fictional Ideation Using ConceptNet Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the AISB14 symposium on computational creativity, 2014. @inproceedings{llano2014automating, title = {Automating Fictional Ideation Using ConceptNet}, author = {Maria Teresa Llano and Rose Hepworth and Simon Colton and John Charnley and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/llano_aisb14.pdf}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-01-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the AISB14 symposium on computational creativity}, abstract = {The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a cen- tral process in producing artefacts such as poems, music and paint- ings in a creative way. Automated fictional ideation should, there- fore, be of much interest in the study of Computational Creativity, but only a few approaches have been explored. We describe here the preliminary results of a new method for automated generation and evaluation of fictional ideas which uses ConceptNet, a semantic net- work. We evaluate the results obtained through a small study that involves participants scoring ideas via an online survey. We believe this approach constitutes a firm basis on which a more sophisticated model for automated creative ideation can be built.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a cen- tral process in producing artefacts such as poems, music and paint- ings in a creative way. Automated fictional ideation should, there- fore, be of much interest in the study of Computational Creativity, but only a few approaches have been explored. We describe here the preliminary results of a new method for automated generation and evaluation of fictional ideas which uses ConceptNet, a semantic net- work. We evaluate the results obtained through a small study that involves participants scoring ideas via an online survey. We believe this approach constitutes a firm basis on which a more sophisticated model for automated creative ideation can be built. |
Browne, Cameron; Colton, Simon; Cook, Michael; Gow, Jeremy; Baumgarten, Robin Toward the Adaptive Generation of Bespoke Game Content Book Chapter In: IEEE Handbook of Digital Games , pp. 15–61, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014. @inbook{browne2014toward, title = {Toward the Adaptive Generation of Bespoke Game Content}, author = { Cameron Browne and Simon Colton and Michael Cook and Jeremy Gow and Robin Baumgarten}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/browne_ieeechapter14-2.pdf}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-01-01}, journal = {Handbook of Digital Games}, volume = {IEEE Handbook of Digital Games}, pages = {15--61}, publisher = {John Wiley & Sons, Inc.}, abstract = {In this chapter, we explore methods for automatically generating game content — and games themselves — adapted to individual players, in order to improve their playing experience or achieve a desired effect. This goes beyond notions of mere replayability, and involves modelling player needs to maximise their enjoyment, in- volvement and interest in the game being played. We identify three main aspects of this process: Generation of new content and rule sets; Measurement of this content and the player; Adaptation of the game to change player experience. This process forms a feedback loop of constant refinement, as games are continually improved while being played. Framed within this methodology, we present an overview of our recent and ongoing research in this area. This is illustrated by a number of case studies that demonstrate these ideas in action over a variety of game types, includ- ing: 3D action games, arcade games, platformers, board games, puzzles and open world games. We draw together some of the lessons learned from these projects to comment on the difficulties, the benefits and the potential for personalised gaming via adaptive game design.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inbook} } In this chapter, we explore methods for automatically generating game content — and games themselves — adapted to individual players, in order to improve their playing experience or achieve a desired effect. This goes beyond notions of mere replayability, and involves modelling player needs to maximise their enjoyment, in- volvement and interest in the game being played. We identify three main aspects of this process: Generation of new content and rule sets; Measurement of this content and the player; Adaptation of the game to change player experience. This process forms a feedback loop of constant refinement, as games are continually improved while being played. Framed within this methodology, we present an overview of our recent and ongoing research in this area. This is illustrated by a number of case studies that demonstrate these ideas in action over a variety of game types, includ- ing: 3D action games, arcade games, platformers, board games, puzzles and open world games. We draw together some of the lessons learned from these projects to comment on the difficulties, the benefits and the potential for personalised gaming via adaptive game design. |
Cavallo, Flaminia; Pease, Alison; Gow, Jeremy; Colton, Simon Using Theory Formation Techniques for the Invention of Fictional Concepts Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computational Creativity, pp. 176, 2013. @inproceedings{cavallo2013using, title = {Using Theory Formation Techniques for the Invention of Fictional Concepts}, author = { Flaminia Cavallo and Alison Pease and Jeremy Gow and Simon Colton}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cavallo_iccc13.pdf}, year = {2013}, date = {2013-01-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computational Creativity}, pages = {176}, abstract = {We introduce a novel method for the formation of fictional concepts based on the non-existence conjectures made by the HR automated theory formation system. We further intro- duce the notion of the typicality of an example with respect to a concept into HR, which leads to methods for ordering fic- tional concepts with respect to novelty, vagueness and stimu- lation. To test whether these measures are correlated with the way in which people similarly assess the value of fictional concepts, we ran an experiment to produce thousands of defi- nitions of fictional animals. We then compared the software’s evaluations of the non-fictional concepts with those obtained through a survey consulting sixty people. The results show that two of the three measures have a correlation with hu- man notions. We report on the experiment, and we compare our system with the well established method of conceptual blending, which leads to a discussion of automated ideation in future Computational Creativity projects.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We introduce a novel method for the formation of fictional concepts based on the non-existence conjectures made by the HR automated theory formation system. We further intro- duce the notion of the typicality of an example with respect to a concept into HR, which leads to methods for ordering fic- tional concepts with respect to novelty, vagueness and stimu- lation. To test whether these measures are correlated with the way in which people similarly assess the value of fictional concepts, we ran an experiment to produce thousands of defi- nitions of fictional animals. We then compared the software’s evaluations of the non-fictional concepts with those obtained through a survey consulting sixty people. The results show that two of the three measures have a correlation with hu- man notions. We report on the experiment, and we compare our system with the well established method of conceptual blending, which leads to a discussion of automated ideation in future Computational Creativity projects. |
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy Nobody’s a Critic: On the Evaluation of Creative Code Generators--A Case Study in Video Game Design Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Creativity, pp. 123–130, 2013. @inproceedings{cook2013nobody, title = {Nobody’s a Critic: On the Evaluation of Creative Code Generators--A Case Study in Video Game Design}, author = { Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cook_iccc13.pdf}, year = {2013}, date = {2013-01-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Creativity}, pages = {123--130}, abstract = {Application domains for Computational Creativity projects range from musical composition to recipe design, but despite all of these systems having computational methods in common, we are aware of no projects to date that focus on program code as the created artefact. We present the Mechanic Miner tool for inventing new concepts for videogame interaction which works by inspecting, modifying and executing code. We describe the system in detail and report on an evaluation based on a large survey of people playing games using content it produced. We use this to raise issues regarding the assessment of code as a created artefact and to discuss future directions for Computational Creativity research. }, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Application domains for Computational Creativity projects range from musical composition to recipe design, but despite all of these systems having computational methods in common, we are aware of no projects to date that focus on program code as the created artefact. We present the Mechanic Miner tool for inventing new concepts for videogame interaction which works by inspecting, modifying and executing code. We describe the system in detail and report on an evaluation based on a large survey of people playing games using content it produced. We use this to raise issues regarding the assessment of code as a created artefact and to discuss future directions for Computational Creativity research. |
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Raad, Azalea; Gow, Jeremy Mechanic Miner: Reflection-Driven Game Mechanic Discovery and Level Design Inproceedings In: European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation, pp. 284–293, Springer 2013. @inproceedings{cook2013mechanic, title = {Mechanic Miner: Reflection-Driven Game Mechanic Discovery and Level Design}, author = { Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Azalea Raad and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cook_evogames13.pdf}, year = {2013}, date = {2013-01-01}, booktitle = {European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation}, pages = {284--293}, organization = {Springer}, abstract = {We introduce Mechanic Miner, an evolutionary system for discovering simple two-state game mechanics for puzzle platform games. We demonstrate how a reflection-driven generation technique can use a simulation of gameplay to select good mechanics, and how the simulationdriven process can be inverted to produce challenging levels specific to a generated mechanic. We give examples of levels and mechanics generated by the system, summarise a small pilot study conducted with example levels and mechanics, and point to further applications of the technique, including applications to automated game design. }, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We introduce Mechanic Miner, an evolutionary system for discovering simple two-state game mechanics for puzzle platform games. We demonstrate how a reflection-driven generation technique can use a simulation of gameplay to select good mechanics, and how the simulationdriven process can be inverted to produce challenging levels specific to a generated mechanic. We give examples of levels and mechanics generated by the system, summarise a small pilot study conducted with example levels and mechanics, and point to further applications of the technique, including applications to automated game design. |
Gow, Jeremy; Baumgarten, Robin; Cairns, Paul A; Colton, Simon; Miller, Paul Unsupervised Modeling of Player Style With LDA Journal Article In: IEEE Trans. Comput. Intellig. and AI in Games, 4 (3), pp. 152–166, 2012. @article{DBLP:journals/tciaig/GowBCCM12, title = {Unsupervised Modeling of Player Style With LDA}, author = {Jeremy Gow and Robin Baumgarten and Paul A. Cairns and Simon Colton and Paul Miller}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/gow_tciaig12.pdf}, doi = {10.1109/TCIAIG.2012.2213600}, year = {2012}, date = {2012-01-01}, journal = {IEEE Trans. Comput. Intellig. and AI in Games}, volume = {4}, number = {3}, pages = {152--166}, abstract = {Computational analysis of player style has signifi- cant potential for video game design: it can provide insights into player behaviour, as well as the means to dynamically adapt a game to each individual’s style of play. To realise this potential, computational methods need to go beyond considerations of challenge and ability and account for aesthetic aspects of player style. We describe here a semi-automatic unsupervised learning approach to modelling player style using multi-class Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). We argue that this approach is widely applicable for modelling player style in a wide range of games, including commercial applications, and illustrate it with two case studies: the first for a novel arcade game called Snakeotron, the second for Rogue Trooper, a modern commercial third-person shooter video game.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Computational analysis of player style has signifi- cant potential for video game design: it can provide insights into player behaviour, as well as the means to dynamically adapt a game to each individual’s style of play. To realise this potential, computational methods need to go beyond considerations of challenge and ability and account for aesthetic aspects of player style. We describe here a semi-automatic unsupervised learning approach to modelling player style using multi-class Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). We argue that this approach is widely applicable for modelling player style in a wide range of games, including commercial applications, and illustrate it with two case studies: the first for a novel arcade game called Snakeotron, the second for Rogue Trooper, a modern commercial third-person shooter video game. |
Gow, Jeremy; Colton, Simon; Cairns, Paul A; Miller, Paul Mining Rules from Player Experience and Activity Data Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment, AIIDE-12, Stanford, California, October 8-12, 2012, 2012. @inproceedings{DBLP:conf/aiide/GowCCM12, title = {Mining Rules from Player Experience and Activity Data}, author = {Jeremy Gow and Simon Colton and Paul A. Cairns and Paul Miller}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/gow_aiide12.pdf}, year = {2012}, date = {2012-01-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment, AIIDE-12, Stanford, California, October 8-12, 2012}, crossref = {DBLP:conf/aiide/2012}, abstract = {Feedback on player experience and behaviour can be invaluable to game designers, but there is need for specialised knowledge discovery tools to deal with high volume playtest data. We describe a study with a commercial third-person shooter, in which integrated player activity and experience data was captured and mined for design-relevant knowledge. We demonstrate that association rule learning and rule templates can be used to extract meaningful rules relating player activity and experience during combat. We found that the number, type and quality of rules varies between experiences, and is affected by feature distributions. Further work is required on rule selection and evaluation.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Feedback on player experience and behaviour can be invaluable to game designers, but there is need for specialised knowledge discovery tools to deal with high volume playtest data. We describe a study with a commercial third-person shooter, in which integrated player activity and experience data was captured and mined for design-relevant knowledge. We demonstrate that association rule learning and rule templates can be used to extract meaningful rules relating player activity and experience during combat. We found that the number, type and quality of rules varies between experiences, and is affected by feature distributions. Further work is required on rule selection and evaluation. |
Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Gow, Jeremy Initial Results From Co-Operative Co-Evolution for Automated Platformer Design Inproceedings In: European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation, pp. 194–203, Springer 2012. @inproceedings{cook2012initial, title = {Initial Results From Co-Operative Co-Evolution for Automated Platformer Design}, author = { Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Jeremy Gow}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cook_evogames12.pdf}, year = {2012}, date = {2012-01-01}, booktitle = {European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation}, pages = {194--203}, organization = {Springer}, abstract = {We present initial results from ACCME,A Co-operative Co-evolutionary Metroidvania Engine, which uses co-operative co-evolution to automatically evolve simple platform games. We describe the system in detail and justify the use of co-operative co-evolution. We then address two fundamental questions about the use of this method in automated game design, both in terms of its ability to maximise fitness functions, and whether our choice of fitness function produces scores which correlate with player preference in the resulting games.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We present initial results from ACCME,A Co-operative Co-evolutionary Metroidvania Engine, which uses co-operative co-evolution to automatically evolve simple platform games. We describe the system in detail and justify the use of co-operative co-evolution. We then address two fundamental questions about the use of this method in automated game design, both in terms of its ability to maximise fitness functions, and whether our choice of fitness function produces scores which correlate with player preference in the resulting games. |
Gámez, Eduardo Calvillo H; Gow, Jeremy; Cairns, Paul A Introduction to special issue: Video games as research instruments Journal Article In: Entertainment Computing, 2 (1), pp. 1–2, 2011. @article{CalvilloEC2011, title = {Introduction to special issue: Video games as research instruments}, author = {Eduardo H. Calvillo Gámez and Jeremy Gow and Paul A. Cairns}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/gamez_ec11.pdf}, year = {2011}, date = {2011-01-01}, journal = {Entertainment Computing}, volume = {2}, number = {1}, pages = {1--2}, abstract = {There is no denying the tremendous success of video games. This makes them fascinating objects of study in their own right. But in addition, it is clear that the rich variety of worlds they offer, makes them useful for research purposes as well. This is not a new idea. They have been used in research at least since the mid 90’s, when Kirsh and Maglio used Tetris to investigate the difference in the actions humans perform from a cognitive perspective. However, it seemed to us that recently games were being used more and more as new tools with which to carefully study people. For this reason, we ran a workshop at the ACM CHI 2009 conference to explore the use of video games as research instruments. The conclusions reached in the workshop were that: video games motivate participants in a controlled experiment setting, but that there is a need for caution in the data collection and consideration of ethical issues}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } There is no denying the tremendous success of video games. This makes them fascinating objects of study in their own right. But in addition, it is clear that the rich variety of worlds they offer, makes them useful for research purposes as well. This is not a new idea. They have been used in research at least since the mid 90’s, when Kirsh and Maglio used Tetris to investigate the difference in the actions humans perform from a cognitive perspective. However, it seemed to us that recently games were being used more and more as new tools with which to carefully study people. For this reason, we ran a workshop at the ACM CHI 2009 conference to explore the use of video games as research instruments. The conclusions reached in the workshop were that: video games motivate participants in a controlled experiment setting, but that there is a need for caution in the data collection and consideration of ethical issues |
Gow, Jeremy; Cairns, Paul; Colton, Simon; Miller, Paul; Baumgarten, Robin Capturing Player Experience With Post-Game Commentaries Inproceedings In: Proceedings 3rd International Conference on Computer Games, Multimedia & Allied Technology (CGAT 2010), 2010. @inproceedings{Gow2010PlayerExperience, title = {Capturing Player Experience With Post-Game Commentaries}, author = {Jeremy Gow and Paul Cairns and Simon Colton and Paul Miller and Robin Baumgarten}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gow_cgat10.pdf}, year = {2010}, date = {2010-10-01}, booktitle = {Proceedings 3rd International Conference on Computer Games, Multimedia & Allied Technology (CGAT 2010)}, abstract = {Player experience is at the heart of good game design, but designers typically have limited experience data to work with. Detailed and fine-grained accounts of gaming experience would be of great value to designers and researchers alike, but recording such data is a significant challenge. We describe an approach based on post-game player commentaries, retrospective verbal reports cued by video of the gaming session and a word list. A pilot study was carried out to capture player experience of a tutorial level for a third person shooter game. We show how the technique can be used to provide useful game design feedback.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Player experience is at the heart of good game design, but designers typically have limited experience data to work with. Detailed and fine-grained accounts of gaming experience would be of great value to designers and researchers alike, but recording such data is a significant challenge. We describe an approach based on post-game player commentaries, retrospective verbal reports cued by video of the gaming session and a word list. A pilot study was carried out to capture player experience of a tutorial level for a third person shooter game. We show how the technique can be used to provide useful game design feedback. |
Baumgarten, Robin; Nika, Maria; Gow, Jeremy; Colton, Simon Towards the Automatic Invention of Simple Mixed Reality Games Inproceedings In: Proc. of the AISB’09 Symp. on AI and Games, 2009. @inproceedings{baumgarten2009towards, title = {Towards the Automatic Invention of Simple Mixed Reality Games}, author = { Robin Baumgarten and Maria Nika and Jeremy Gow and Simon Colton}, url = {http://ccg.doc.gold.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/colton_evomusart08.pdf}, year = {2009}, date = {2009-01-01}, booktitle = {Proc. of the AISB’09 Symp. on AI and Games}, abstract = {We investigate the automatic construction of visual scenes via a hybrid evolutionary/hill-climbing approach using a correlation- based fitness function. This forms part of The Painting Fool system, an automated artist which is able to render the scenes using simulated art materials. We further describe a novel method for inventing fitness functions using the HR descriptive machine learning system, and we com- bine this with The Painting Fool to generate and artistically render novel scenes. We demonstrate the potential of this approach with applications to cityscape and flower arrangement scene generation.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } We investigate the automatic construction of visual scenes via a hybrid evolutionary/hill-climbing approach using a correlation- based fitness function. This forms part of The Painting Fool system, an automated artist which is able to render the scenes using simulated art materials. We further describe a novel method for inventing fitness functions using the HR descriptive machine learning system, and we com- bine this with The Painting Fool to generate and artistically render novel scenes. We demonstrate the potential of this approach with applications to cityscape and flower arrangement scene generation. |