This book provides an introduction and overview of the rapidly evolving topic of game narratives, presenting the new perspectives employed by researchers and the industry, highlighting the recent empirical findings that illustrate the nature of it. The first section deals with narrative design and theory, the second section includes social and cultural studies on game narrative, the third section focuses on new technologies and approaches for the topic, the fourth section presents practices and case studies, and the final section provides industry cases from professionals.

Brace yourself for a fun challenge: build a photorealistic 3D renderer from scratch! It's easier than you think. In just a couple of weeks, build a ray-tracer that renders beautiful scenes with shadows, reflections, brilliant refraction effects, and subjects composed of various graphics primitives: spheres, cubes, cylinders, triangles, and more. With each chapter, implement another piece of the puzzle and move the renderer that much further forward. Do all of this in whichever language and environment you prefer, and do it entirely test-first, so you know it's correct. Recharge yourself with this project's immense potential for personal exploration, experimentation, and discovery. The renderer is a ray tracer, which means it simulates the physics of light by tracing the path of light rays around your scene. Each exciting chapter presents a bite-sized piece of the puzzle, building on earlier chapters and setting the stage for later ones. Requirements are given in plain English, which you translate into tests and code. When the project is complete, look back and realize you've built an entire system test-first! There's no research necessary -- all the necessary formulas and algorithms are presented and illustrated right here. Dive into intriguing topics from fundamental concepts such as vectors and matrices; to the algorithms that simulate the intersection of light rays with spheres, planes, cubes, cylinders, and triangles; to geometric patterns such as checkers and rings. Lighting and shading effects, such as shadows and reflections, make your scenes come to life, and constructive solid geometry (CSG) enables you to combine your graphics primitives in simple ways to produce complex shapes. Play and experiment as you discover the fun of writing a ray tracer. Accept the challenge today! What You Need: Aside from a computer, operating system, and programming environment, you'll need a way to display PPM image files. On Windows, programs like Photoshop will work, or free programs like IrfanView. On Mac, no special software is needed, as Preview can open PPM files

This book offers an accessible guide to ubiquitous computing, with an emphasis on pervasive networking. It addresses various technical obstacles, such as connectivity, levels of service, performance, reliability and fairness. The focus is on describing currently available off-the-shelf technologies, novel algorithms and techniques in areas such as: underwater sensor networks, ant colony based routing, heterogeneous networks, agent based distributed networks, cognitive radio networks, real-time WSN applications, machine translation, intelligent computing and ontology based bit masking. By introducing the core topics and exploring assistive pervasive systems that draw on pervasive networking, the book provides readers with a robust foundation of knowledge on this growing field of research. Written in a straightforward style, the book is also accessible to a broad audience of researchers and designers who are interested in exploring pervasive computing further.

Learn how to program JavaScript while creating interactive audio applications with JavaScript for Sound Artists: Learn to Code With the Web Audio API! William Turner and Steve Leonard showcase the basics of JavaScript language programing so that readers can learn how to build browser based audio applications, such as music synthesizers and drum machines. The companion website offers further opportunity for growth. Web Audio API instruction includes oscillators, audio file loading and playback, basic audio manipulation, panning and time. This book encompasses all of the basic features of JavaScript with aspects of the Web Audio API to heighten the capability of any browser. Key Features Uses the readers existing knowledge of audio technology to facilitate learning how to program using JavaScript. The teaching will be done through a series of annotated examples and explanations. Downloadable code examples and links to additional reference material included on the books companion website. This book makes learning programming more approachable to nonprofessional programmers The context of teaching JavaScript for the creative audio community in this manner does not exist anywhere else in the market and uses example-based teaching

Because it makes the distribution and transmission of digital information much easier and more cost effective, multimedia has emerged as a top resource in the modern era. In spite of the opportunities that multimedia creates for businesses and companies, information sharing remains vulnerable to cyber attacks and hacking due to the open channels in which this data is being transmitted. Protecting the authenticity and confidentiality of information is a top priority for all professional fields that currently use multimedia practices for distributing digital data. The Handbook of Research on Multimedia Cyber Security provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of current security practices and techniques within multimedia information and assessing modern challenges. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as cryptographic protocols, feature extraction, and chaotic systems, this book is ideally designed for scientists, researchers, developers, security analysts, network administrators, scholars, IT professionals, educators, and students seeking current research on developing strategies in multimedia security.

The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents provides a comprehensive overview of the research fields of Embodied Conversational Agents Intelligent Virtual Agents and Social Robotics. Socially Interactive Agents (SIAs) whether virtually or physically embodied are autonomous agents that are able to perceive an environment including people or other agents reason decide how to interact and express attitudes such as emotions engagement or empathy. They are capable of interacting with people and one another in a socially intelligent manner using multimodal communicative behaviors with the goal to support humans in various domains.Written by international experts in their respective fields the book summarizes research in the many important research communities pertinent for SIAs while discussing current challenges and future directions. The handbook provides easy access to modeling and studying SIAs for researchers and students and aims at further bridging the gap between the research communities involved. In two volumes the book clearly structures the vast body of research. The first volume starts by introducing what is involved in SIAs research in particular research methodologies and ethical implications of developing SIAs. It further examines research on appearance and behavior focusing on multimodality. Finally social cognition for SIAs is investigated using different theoretical models and phenomena such as theory of mind or pro-sociality. The second volume starts with perspectives on interaction examined from different angles such as interaction in social space group interaction or long-term interaction. It also includes an extensive overview summarizing research and systems of human-agent platforms and of some of the major application areas of SIAs such as education aging support autism and games.

The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents provides a comprehensive overview of the research fields of Embodied Conversational Agents Intelligent Virtual Agents and Social Robotics. Socially Interactive Agents (SIAs) whether virtually or physically embodied are autonomous agents that are able to perceive an environment including people or other agents reason decide how to interact and express attitudes such as emotions engagement or empathy. They are capable of interacting with people and one another in a socially intelligent manner using multimodal communicative behaviors with the goal to support humans in various domains.Written by international experts in their respective fields the book summarizes research in the many important research communities pertinent for SIAs while discussing current challenges and future directions. The handbook provides easy access to modeling and studying SIAs for researchers and students and aims at further bridging the gap between the research communities involved. In two volumes the book clearly structures the vast body of research. The first volume starts by introducing what is involved in SIAs research in particular research methodologies and ethical implications of developing SIAs. It further examines research on appearance and behavior focusing on multimodality. Finally social cognition for SIAs is investigated using different theoretical models and phenomena such as theory of mind or pro-sociality. The second volume starts with perspectives on interaction examined from different angles such as interaction in social space group interaction or long-term interaction. It also includes an extensive overview summarizing research and systems of human-agent platforms and of some of the major application areas of SIAs such as education aging support autism and games.

Explores how social media defines consumer behaviour. Discovers how social media works to keep the user always on. Reviews why social media can shape a more extreme political and cultural ideology in users. Studies how social media algorithms can shape a predictable and homogeneous culture. Develops critical and multidisciplinary thinking about the impact of social media in shaping a predictable society.

This volume brings together contributions representing the state-of-the-art in new multimedia and future technology information research, currently a major topic in computer science and electronic engineering. Researchers aim to interoperate multimedia frameworks, transforming the way people work and interact with multimedia data. This book covers future information technology topics including digital and multimedia convergence, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, intelligent computing and applications, embedded systems, mobile and wireless communications, bio-inspired computing, grid and cloud computing, semantic web, human-centric computing and social networks, adaptive and context-aware computing, security and trust computing and related areas. Representing the combined proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering (MUE-15) and the 10th International Conference on Future Information Technology (Future Tech 2015), this book aims to provide a complete coverage of the areas outlined and to bring together researchers from academic and industry and other practitioners to share their research ideas, challenges and solutions.

This book shares new research findings and practical lessons learned that will foster advances in digital design, communication design, web, multimedia and motion design, graphic design and branding, and other related areas. It gathers the best papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Digital Design and Communication, DIGICOM 2019, held on November 15-16, 2019, in Barcelos, Portugal. The respective contributions highlight new theoretical perspectives and practical research directions in design and communication, aimed at promoting their use in a global, digital world. The book offers a timely guide and a source of inspiration for designers of all kinds (Graphic, Digital, Web, UI & UX Design and Social Media), for researchers, advertisers, artists, entrepreneurs, and brand or corporate communication managers, and for teachers and advanced students.

This book argues for the importance of sketching as a mode of thinking, and the relevance of sketching in the design process, design education, and design practice. Through a wide range of analysis and discussion, the book looks at the history of sketching as a resource throughout the design process and asks questions such as: where does sketching come from? When did sketching become something different to drawing and how did that happen? What does sketching look like in the present day? Alongside an in-depth case study of students, teachers, and practitioners, this book includes a fascinating range of interviews with designers from a wide variety of backgrounds, including fashion, user experience, and architecture. Sketching as Design Thinking explains how drawing and sketching remain a prominent aspect in our learning and creative process, and provides a rich resource for students of visual art and design.

This book is summarizing the results of the workshop "Uniform Distribution and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods" of the RICAM Special Semester on "Applications of Algebra and Number Theory" in October 2013. The survey articles in this book focus on number theoretic point constructions, uniform distribution theory, and quasi-Monte Carlo methods. As deterministic versions of the Monte Carlo method, quasi-Monte Carlo rules enjoy increasing popularity, with many fruitful applications in mathematical practice, as for example in finance, computer graphics, and biology. The goal of this book is to give an overview of recent developments in uniform distribution theory, quasi-Monte Carlo methods, and their applications, presented by leading experts in these vivid fields of research.

This book presents the latest technological advances and practical tools for discovering, verifying and visualizing social media video content, and managing related rights. The digital media revolution is bringing breaking news to online video platforms, and news organizations often rely on user-generated recordings of new and developing events shared in social media to illustrate the story. However, in video, there is also deception. In today's "fake news" era, access to increasingly sophisticated editing and content management tools and the ease with which fake information spreads in electronic networks, require the entire news and media industries to carefully verify third-party content before publishing it. As such, this book is of interest to computer scientists and researchers, news and media professionals, as well as policymakers and data-savvy media consumers.

This book investigates multiple facets of the emerging discipline of Tangible, Embodied, and Embedded Interaction (TEI). This is a story of atoms and bits. We explore the interweaving of the physical and digital, toward understanding some of their wildly varying hybrid forms and behaviors. Spanning conceptual, philosophical, cognitive, design, and technical aspects of interaction, this book charts both history and aspirations for the future of TEI. We examine and celebrate diverse trailblazing works, and provide wide-ranging conceptual and pragmatic tools toward weaving the animating fires of computation and technology into evocative tangible forms. We also chart a path forward for TEI engagement with broader societal and sustainability challenges that will profoundly (re)shape our children's and grandchildren's futures. We invite you all to join this quest.

This book offers the first comprehensive study of the many interfaces shaping the relationship between comics and videogames. It combines in-depth conceptual reflection with a rich selection of paradigmatic case studies from contemporary media culture. The editors have gathered a distinguished group of international scholars working at the interstices of comics studies and game studies to explore two interrelated areas of inquiry: The first part of the book focuses on hybrid medialities and experimental aesthetics "between" comics and videogames; the second part zooms in on how comics and videogames function as transmedia expansions within an increasingly convergent and participatory media culture. The individual chapters address synergies and intersections between comics and videogames via a diverse set of case studies ranging from independent and experimental projects via popular franchises from the corporate worlds of DC and Marvel to the more playful forms of media mix prominent in Japan. Offering an innovative intervention into a number of salient issues in current media culture, Comics and Videogames will be of interest to scholars and students of comics studies, game studies, popular culture studies, transmedia studies, and visual culture studies.

Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, An Architectural Approach to Level Design is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. It explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture. Now in its second edition, An Architectural Approach to Level Design presents architectural techniques and theories for you to use in your own work. The author connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with that space. It also addresses industry issues like how to build interesting tutorial levels and how to use computer-generated level design systems without losing the player-focused design of handmade levels. Throughout the text, you will learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. FEATURES Presents case studies that offer insight on modern level design practices, methods, and tools Presents perspectives from industry designers, independent game developers, scientists, psychologists, and academics Explores how historical structures can teach us about good level design Shows how to use space to guide or elicit emotion from players Includes chapter exercises that encourage you to use principles from the chapter in digital prototypes, playtesting sessions, paper mock-ups, and design journals Bringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps you create better spaces for your games. Software independent, the book discusses tools and techniques that you can use in crafting your interactive worlds.

Mashups are mostly lightweight Web applications that offer new functionalities by combining, aggregating and transforming resources and services available on the Web. Popular examples include a map in their main offer, for instance for real estate, hotel recommendations, or navigation tools. Mashups may contain and mix client-side and server-side activity. Obviously, understanding the incoming resources (services, statistical figures, text, videos, etc.) is a precondition for optimally combining them, so that there is always some undercover semantics being used. By using semantic annotations, neutral mashups permute into the branded type of semantic mashups. Further and deeper semantic processing such as reasoning is the next step. The chapters of this book reflect the diversity of real-life semantic mashups. Two overview chapters take the reader to the environments where mashups are at home and review the regulations (standards, guidelines etc.) mashups are based on and confronted with. Chapters focusing on DBpedia, search engines and the Web of Things inspect the main Web surroundings of mashups. While mashups upgrading search queries may be nearer to the everyday experience of readers, mashups using DBpedia input and sensor data from the real world lead to important new and therefore less known developments. Finally, the diversity of mashups is tracked through a few application areas: mathematical knowledge, speech, crisis and disaster management, recommendations (for games), inner-city information, and tourism. Participants of the AI Mashup Challenge wrote all the chapters of this book. The authors were writing for their current and future colleagues - researchers and developers all over the Web who integrate mashup functionalities into their thinking and possibly into their applications.

This book investigates multiple facets of the emerging discipline of Tangible, Embodied, and Embedded Interaction (TEI). This is a story of atoms and bits. We explore the interweaving of the physical and digital, toward understanding some of their wildly varying hybrid forms and behaviors. Spanning conceptual, philosophical, cognitive, design, and technical aspects of interaction, this book charts both history and aspirations for the future of TEI. We examine and celebrate diverse trailblazing works, and provide wide-ranging conceptual and pragmatic tools toward weaving the animating fires of computation and technology into evocative tangible forms. We also chart a path forward for TEI engagement with broader societal and sustainability challenges that will profoundly (re)shape our children's and grandchildren's futures. We invite you all to join this quest.

Learn how to program JavaScript while creating interactive audio applications with JavaScript for Sound Artists: Learn to Code With the Web Audio API! William Turner and Steve Leonard showcase the basics of JavaScript language programing so that readers can learn how to build browser based audio applications, such as music synthesizers and drum machines. The companion website offers further opportunity for growth. Web Audio API instruction includes oscillators, audio file loading and playback, basic audio manipulation, panning and time. This book encompasses all of the basic features of JavaScript with aspects of the Web Audio API to heighten the capability of any browser. Key Features Uses the readers existing knowledge of audio technology to facilitate learning how to program using JavaScript. The teaching will be done through a series of annotated examples and explanations. Downloadable code examples and links to additional reference material included on the books companion website. This book makes learning programming more approachable to nonprofessional programmers The context of teaching JavaScript for the creative audio community in this manner does not exist anywhere else in the market and uses example-based teaching

This state of the art monograph presents a unique introduction to thinking about cuteness and its incorporation into modern, especially computer-based, products and services. Cuteness is defined and explored in relation to user-centered design concepts and methods, in addition to considering the history of cuteness and cuteness in other cultures, especially in relation to eastern Asia. The authors provide detailed analyses and histories of cuteness in Japan and in China, the rise of Kawaii and Moe cultural artifacts, and their relation to social, psychological, and design issues. They also attempt an initial taxonomy of cuteness. Finally, detailed interviews with leading designers of cute products and services, such as Hello Kitty, provide an understanding of the philosophy and decision-making process of designers of cuteness. Cuteness Engineering: Designing Adorable Products and Services will be of interest and use to a wide range of professionals, researchers, academics, and students who are interested in exploring the world of cuteness in fresh new ways and gaining insights useful for their work and studies.

1. The book is the first comprehensive review of the 95-year development of Chinese animation. 2. All students and scholars of film studies, especially Chinese animation would benefit from this volume. 3. This book would be a useful reference to learn about the developmental trajectory of Chinese animation.

Content-Based Image And Video Retrieval addresses the basic concepts and techniques for designing content-based image and video retrieval systems. It also discusses a variety of design choices for the key components of these systems. This book gives a comprehensive survey of the content-based image retrieval systems, including several content-based video retrieval systems. The survey includes both research and commercial content-based retrieval systems. Content-Based Image And Video Retrieval includes pointers to two hundred representative bibliographic references on this field, ranging from survey papers to descriptions of recent work in the area, entire books and more than seventy websites. Finally, the book presents a detailed case study of designing MUSE a content-based image retrieval system developed at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

Exploring startup journalism and digital media platform trends in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, this book offers a practical insight into how to launch and run successful news operations as digitisation spreads through the region. Drawing from a range of case studies of news and journalism startups, including Malaysiakini, Hong Kong Free Press, The News Lens of Taiwan, Thailand's The Standard, Ciwei Gongshe of China, Indonesia's IDN Media, Sabay of Cambodia and Frontier Myanmar, this book provides tips on how to launch a news media startup, how to find funding and how to sustain and scale the enterprise. Blending a theoretical approach with core business and newsgathering expertise, the author offers an engaging overview of contemporary entrepreneurial concepts and their vital relationship in finding new markets for journalism today. Entrepreneurial journalism in greater China and Southeast Asia is an invaluable resource for both students and professionals interested in new media, startups and the Asian media market.