[game_edu] Call for papers: IEEE CG&A Serious Games Special Issue, due July 30!

[S. Gold]

Serious Games 
Guest Editors 
Tiffany Barnes <mailto:tbarnes2 at uncc.edu> , L. Miguel Encarnação
<mailto:lme at computer.org> , and Chris Shaw <mailto:shaw at sfu.ca>
Special Issue of IEEE CG&A, March/April 2009
Submissions due: 30 July 2008
Author notification: 31 October 2008
Final versions due: 28 November 2008


Videogames for entertainment have been pushing the boundaries of graphics
research and capabilities for the past two decades. More recently, these
technologies have been extended to include interaction with and modification
of data-driven, complex 3D models, performed in real time on graphics
processing units. As this industry has matured, other applications of
videogame technologies have become apparent for the purposes of scientific
simulation and visualization, industrial and military training, medical and
health training and education, and geographic information systems, as well
as public awareness and policy change. The models used in these serious game
applications may contain millions of 3D primitives, from point sets to
voxels, to complex higher-dimensional data sets. The use of serious games
for education, decision-making, health, and training applications makes the
realistic, real-time representation of models and data through geometry,
appearance, illumination, visibility, and behavior critically important.

Another significant set of problems concerns the representation and
animation of avatars and other life-like characters in a game and the
interaction of the player with his or her own avatars as well as the avatars
of other players. For training scenarios, a significant challenge is the
provision of artificially intelligent characters for players to interact
with. For persuasive applications, the realism of the characters' social
behavior bears additional importance. Characters must react to the players
in a way that supports the application goals and is immediately and
realistically responsive.

Serious games require the real-time acquisition, processing, and
visualization of changing data sets at high bandwidth and low latency, often
with multiple simultaneous users. Rendering rates and interaction in these
games are ideally at or above 30-60 frames per second. Advances that
accelerate the management and interaction of large data sets, including
techniques based on sample-based representation and rendering, polygon
rasterization and shader hardware, and ray tracing are important for serious
games, but the examination of the effects of these techniques on fidelity
for decision making and training is particularly salient.

Toward maximizing real-world training effects, as well as making game play a
more ubiquitous aspect of everyday life, serious games increasingly aim at
bridging players' real world behavior and virtual world performance. The
emergence of sophisticated low-cost sensor technologies to monitor
activities, biometrics, geospatial location, proximity, and contextual
influences promises to greatly enhance players' direct and indirect
interaction with games and therefore has great potential to improve their
effectiveness. However, the richness of these new modalities will also
require a rethinking of the general interaction paradigms commonly
associated with videogames in order to draw maximum benefit from multimodal
input capabilities.

This special issue seeks articles examining some of the latest advances with
respect to data representation, algorithms and data structures, systems
issues, and applications for serious games that include real-time
interaction with complex models. Topics of interest include, but are not
limited to
* multiplayer systems architectures,
* player-to-player coordination,
* automated and semiautomated modeling techniques,
* compression and playback of simulation data,
* scripting and control of animated characters,
* training scenario planning and execution,
* human figure animation for training,
* intelligent characters,
* individual, group, and crowd behavior modeling and simulation,
* lighting, and relighting sampled models,
* representation and storage of large data sets,
* scalable parallel algorithms and architectures,
* rendering of complex and hybrid data sets,
* sampling and filtering for complex models,
* image- or sample-based representations,
* simplification and compression,
* visibility computations,
* data-driven procedural modeling,
* hardware for processing large data sets,
* data and resource management,
* configuration management and change control,
* delivery considerations (networking and system configuration),
* novel interaction techniques for massive data sets,
* sensor-based input and interaction technologies and techniques, and
* systems and applications.
Articles should be no more than 10 magazine pages, where a page is 800 words
and a quarter-page image counts as 200 words. Cite only the 12 most critical
references, and consider providing technical background in sidebars for
nonexpert readers. Color images can be interspersed throughout the article
and should be limited to a total of 10. Visit IEEE CG&A style and length
guidelines at http://www.computer.org/cga/author.htm.

Please submit your article using our online manuscript submission service at
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cs-ieee. When uploading your article,
please select the appropriate special issue title under the category
"Manuscript Type." Also include complete contact information for all authors
and coauthors in the submission. If you have any questions about submitting
your article, please contact Alkenia Winston <mailto:cga-ma at computer.org> .

Please direct any correspondence prior to submission to one of the guest
editors: 
Tiffany Barnes
Woodward 403E
Computer Science Department
UNC Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223
Email: tbarnes2 @uncc. edu <mailto:tbarnes2 at uncc.edu>
Phone: +1 704 687 8577
Fax: +1 704 687 3516 L. Miguel Encarnação
500 W Main St., HUM10
Innovation Center
Humana Inc.
Louisville, KY 40202
Email: lme @computer. org <mailto:lme at computer.org>
Phone: +1 502 580 8691
Fax: +1 502 508 0042 Chris Shaw
13450 102 Ave.
Simon Fraser University Surrey
Surrey, BC, V3T 5X3
Canada
Email: shaw @sfu. ca <mailto:shaw at sfu.ca>
Phone: +1 778 782-7506
Fax:  +1 778 782-7488                     --
Tiffany Barnes
Assistant Professor
Computer Science
UNC Charlotte

-- 
Susan Gold
goldfile at gmail.com

³In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!² - J. G. Ballard

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