CGames 2006, which will be held in DIT, Dublin this coming Nov. has just issued a call for papers. The themes of this year’s conference are: AI, Mobile, Educational and Serious Games.

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Call For Papers

You are invited to submit a paper on any topic related to computer games design, development and education, and particularly papers covering the use of AI for modelling and programming “believable characters”, mobile games, multiplayer on-line, educational and serious games.

They strongly encourage the submission of papers related to the design and the experiments of original type of games, in particular in the fields of serious games, ubiquitous, mobile, cross media platforms and massively multiplayer on line games.

Technical Program

The conference will cover, but is not restricted to, the following topics.

1. Tools and systems for Games and Virtual Reality
* Games platforms, games engines, middleware, sound
* Interfaces and controllers, speech, motion capture

2. AI Tools
* Neural networks, genetic algorithms, case-based reasoning, fuzzy systems
* Markov processes, search algorithms, rule-based AI, finite-state machines
* Fuzzy systems (FuFSM), adaptive Markov models

3. Mobile and Multiuser Games
* MUDs; MMORPGs; mobile communications, games for mobile phones
* Programming web games in Java, net technology, scaling game content.

4. Games Design
* Games genres, creative aspects, art and * Animation, 3dsmax, Maya, Silicon Graphics, Renderman etc;
* Interactive Story Telling, scripting languages, voice interaction

5. Intelligent agents and Gamebots
* Believable characters, models, agent architecture, memory, game bots
* Group behaviour, anytime algorithms, JACK, JADE

6. Learning and Adaptation in Games
* Reinforcement learning, machine learning, case-based systems, BDI

7. Graphics & Visualisation
* Graphics cards, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality
* Collision detection
* Contact resolution, closest point algorithms, 3D scalability
* Level-of-detail rendering, image-based rendering, photo realism
* Textures, illumination and reflections, bump mapping, anti-aliasing
* Physics simulation, NURBS, skeletal animation, facial animation
* Rendering skins, talking heads, particle systems

8. Social/humanities aspects of games
* Gender issues, violence, usability, pervasive gaming

9. Games and Homeland Security
* Defence applications; Crime scene investigation; Simulation of crowd scenes
* Transport systems; AI techniques for improving security

10. Serious Games
* Education for Games Design, Development and Applications
* Teaching games programming, languages, .NET, C++, C# etc
* OpenGL, DirectX, learning & teaching aids, technology-supported learning
* Games for education and training

11. Aesthetic approaches to game design – NEW TRACK!
* Aesthetic approaches to game design and development

Aesthetics – ranging broadly from concerns regarding the formal structures and audiovisual attributes of game technologies to the epistemological and cultural aspects of gaming and game design – form the basis when designing for experiences coloured with play, beauty, engagement and interaction.

In the context of computer games, much attention is paid to the visual and auditory elements of design that make a game fun, intriguing, challenging, educational, or whatever designers and users intend, most often from a seeing world perspective.

This session offers participants the opportunity to examine the potential for analytic and aesthetic approaches to design to contribute to the effective creation of accessible games for visually impaired gamers. Participants are invited to address questions such as; what can sighted designers learn from designing games for blind people? How can an awareness of aesthetic issues open up new avenues for computer games design? What is the role of aesthetics in the design of accessible computer games? Analytic and more speculative discussions are equally welcomed.

Special Sessions: Proposals for organising special sessions should be sent to any one of the programme chairs.

Paper Submissions

In Word or Adobe pdf only. Submit electronically through this link.
CGAMES published format (similar to IEEE style), 2 columns at least 10 pt font. Including abstract, keywords, background, development, diagrams, results, conclusions, references, author photo and short biography.

Extended papers and state-of the art reviews: 8 pages.

Regular papers: 5 pages.

Short research student papers on work in progress: 3-4 pages. 1-page posters.

The final paper must be submitted in pdf format for inclusion in the Proceedings. File sizes of images should be kept small using compression (e.g. jpeg). All papers will be subject to peer review.

Final decision on paper length will be made by referees.

Important Dates

First call for papers 13th June 2006.

Deadline for paper submission 20th September 2006

Notification of Paper Acceptance 13h October 2006

Final Paper Submission and registration 27th October 2006

Papers received after this deadline will not appear in the Proceedings

The conference is organised by the University of Wolverhampton, UK, in association with the Dublin Institute of Technology and the IEEE Computer Society.

For further information, please read on or go to: http://www.comp.dit.ie/cgames/

For more information and enquires, please contact the conference administrator: Ms Tarvinder Kaur T.Kaur2@wlv.ac.uk

The conference fee is €450. This fee includes the conference registration, breaks, reception, conference dinner and a CD of the Proceedings.

There is a reduced rate for students.