Christopher James Carter

3D Java web-based games development and deployment

Currently, web-based online gaming applications are predominately utilising Adobe Flash or Java Applets as their core technologies. These games are often casual, two-dimensional games and do not utilise the specialist graphics hardware which has proliferated across modern PCs and Consoles. Multi-user online game play in these titles is often either non-existent or extremely limited. Computer games applications which grace the current generation of consoles and personal computers are designed to utilise the increasingly impressive hardware power at their disposal. However, these are commonly distributed using a physical medium or deployed through custom, proprietary networking mechanisms and rely upon platform-specific networking APIs to facilitate multi-user online game play. In order to unify the concepts of these disparate styles of gaming, in this paper we propose a novel integrated development environment called Homura and NetHomura. Homura is based on the Eclipse platform and extends the jME game engine, with new interfaces, content and libraries, thus, providing a software suite that integrates source editors, compilers, including spatial and positional editors to afford advanced graphical functionalities within the IDE. We also present two interconnected systems which are implemented using Java Web Start and JXTA P2P technologies, providing a platform-independent framework capable of deploying hardware accelerated cross-platform, cross-browser online-enabled Java games, as part of the NetHomura Project.

Charisma: High-performance Web-based MPEG-compliant animation framework

The MPEG-4 standards define a technique for 3D facial and body model animations (FAPS/BAPS respectively), as seen in animation systems such as Greta. The way this technique works is in contrast to the set of animation techniques currently used within modern games technologies and applications, which utilize more advanced, expressive animation systems such as Skeletal, Morph Target, and Inverse Kinematics. This article describes an object-oriented, Java-based framework for the integration and transformation of MPEG4 standards-compliant animation streams known as Charisma. Charisma is designed for use with modern games animation systems; this article illustrates the application of this framework on top of our Java/OpenGL-based games engine framework known as Homura.

Homura and Net-Homura: The creation and web-based deployment of cross-platform 3D games

Digital distribution is becoming an increasingly important method within the games industry. The leading consoles each possess their own bespoke platform to digitally deploy games applications to their users via the Internet, whilst the Windows PC gaming market is catered for by systems such as Valves Steam platform. However, these digital content services are often machine-specific, proprietary, utilising custom web frameworks and a rigid publication system. In this paper, we present Homura and NetHomura; two interconnected frameworks which facilitate the development and deployment of cross-platform, hardware-accelerated 3D games applications using standard web browsers and web technologies, using a combination of Java and PHP.

Hybrid Client-Server, Peer-to-Peer framework for MMOG

MMOG are very large distributed applications, sharing very large states, and supporting communication between potentially thousands of player nodes. Despite the development of many solutions to define suitable architecture and communication protocols and enabling efficient deployment of these types of applications, many issues remain. In this paper, we present a new framework to build more dynamic and scalable MMOG systems. The work aims to expand upon Homura and Net Homura frameworks [11][12], with a focus towards developing a unified deployment and networking system for the deployment and execution of both P2P and Client-Server based games, which can be analysed within a real-world context. The research will build upon the most recent investigations into algorithms and techniques that are central for the production of scalable, massively multiplayer online game applications capable of consistent, responsive game play in low-bandwidth environments and determine how these methods can applied and tested within the context of the Net Homura framework.

Networking Middleware and Online-Deployment Mechanisms for Java-Based Games

Currently, web-based online gaming applications are predominately utilising Adobe Flash or Java Applets as their core technologies. These games are often casual, two-dimensional games and do not utilise the specialist graphics hardware which has proliferated across modern PCs and Consoles. Multi-user online game play in these titles is often either non-existent or extremely limited. Computer games applications which grace the current generation of consoles and personal computers are designed to utilise the increasingly impressive hardware power at their disposal. However, these are commonly distributed using a physical medium or deployed through custom, proprietary networking mechanisms and rely upon platform-specific networking APIs to facilitate multi-user online game play. In order to unify the concepts of these disparate styles of gaming, this paper presents two interconnected systems which are implemented using Java Web Start and JXTA P2P technologies, providing a platform-independent framework capable of deploying hardware accelerated cross-platform, cross-browser online-enabled Java games, as part of the Homura Project.

A Survey of AoIM, Distribution and Communication in Peer-To-Peer Online Games

In this paper we discuss the issues relating to architecture formation in MMOGs and the two principal design choices that must be made when constructing a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) MMOG: the Area of Interest Management (AoIM) scheme and the distribution and communication mechanism. We introduce an updated survey of the state-of-the-art of AoIM in P2P Online Games. We identify key issues in the development and deployment of such architectures. We analyze the main features of existing solutions. The contribution of the paper is a novel perspective in understanding the limitations of existing solutions and discussing the design criteria for an alternative P2P approach to alleviate scalability issues.

Hybrid 3D Rendering of Large Map Data for Crisis Management

In this paper we investigate the use of games technologies for the research and the development of 3D representations of real environments captured from GIS information and open source map data. Challenges involved in this area concern the large data-sets to be dealt with. Some existing map data include errors and are not complete, which makes the generation of realistic and accurate 3D environments problematic. The domain of application of our work is crisis management which requires very accurate GIS or map information. We believe the use of creating a 3D virtual environment using real map data whilst correcting and completing the missing data, improves the quality and performance of crisis management decision support system to provide a more natural and intuitive interface for crisis managers. Consequently, we present a case study into issues related to combining multiple large datasets to create an accurate representation of a novel, multi-layered, hybrid real-world maps. The hybrid map generation combines LiDAR, Ordnance Survey, and OpenStreetMap data to generate 3D cities spanning 1 km2. Evaluation of initial visualised scenes is presented. Initial tests consist of a 1 km2 landscape map containing up to 16 million vertices’ and run at an optimal 51.66 frames per-second.

Topologies for combining the internet of things and serious games

Serious Games have been established over recent years as a means of utilising gaming for applications other than entertainment.With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, a new direction for serious games arises, where data gathered from the physical environment can be utilised towards new novel applications. This literature survey uncovers existing topologies that can be applied for combining IoT with Serious Games. This paper presents findings from extensive research into IoT, Serious Games, Pervasive Games and Gamification, IoT topologies and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), to identify the requirements of a topology for Serious Games and IoT. By understanding the topological requirements for combining IoT and Serious Games, the development process is reduced, allowing for the advancement in the mentioned field. Three topologies are presented for combining IoT with Serious Games and a detailed topology for developing a Serious Game that monitors student attendance is presented. Also included, is an insight into the new paradigm of Smart Serious Games (SSGs). This paper will aid future research and development in SSGs determine effective network topologies.

Automated Procedural Generation of Urban Environments Using Open Data for City Visualisation

Ever increasing populations are putting considerable strain on the critical infrastructures of our towns, cities, and countries. The interconnecting and interdependent components of these man-made living procedures and protocols give-way in unforeseen, unplanned situations. Having the ability to visualise these interconnecting entities and the interaction they have on one another is critical for future city planners. We propose a novel framework called Project Vision Support that provides an automated visualisation of real world open data maps for the creation of procedurally generated urban environments. This framework can then be used to implement planning and scheduling algorithms for the orchestrated task of emergency services for crisis management response.

Mesh Extraction from a Regular Grid Structure Using Adjacency Matrix

Crisis management is a modern phenomenon brought about by natural disasters and acts of terrorism. Building a modern crisis management response program needs a multi-disciplinary architecture and accurate, up-to-date, real-world data. The creation of virtual environments depicting critical infrastructure buildings and conduits between these highly interconnected man-made structures is a complex procedure. The crossover between games technology and use of real-world map data for real-world simulations is becoming more common with the advancements of computer hardware and software, and the accuracy of real-world map data. However, there are many problems with using real-world map data for simulation due to the large potential of missing and error prone data involved in this big data. Within this work we use three types of data sets; Ordnance Survey data, LiDAR data, and OpenStreetMap data to provide accurate map and 3D environment information for crisis management systems. Combining these large data-sets can reduce errors and retrieve missing data for use within a modern game engine for visualization analysis. We propose a novel technique for data extraction using adjacency matrices for custom model generation corresponding to real-world structures such as landscapes, buildings, road systems, area boundaries, or a combination of these at different resolutions.