Games Lab

Note: This webpage is under construction. Much more information will follow soon!

The Games Lab is part of the Interactive Digital Media Institute at the National University of Singapore. The lab is a multidisciplinary initiative, and involves researchers from different faculties. The lab is headed by Dr. Alexander Nareyek, supported by Dr. Ashraf Golam as area coordinator for procedural content generation.

Gaming already plays an important role besides conventional non-interactive entertainment media, such as film, television and radio, and continues to transform the entertainment landscape. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Asia-Pacific video game market alone will grow by 18 percent on a compound annual rate to a size of US$ 23 billion by 2009 (even excluding hardware and accessories).

The mission of the NUS Games Lab is to push the boundaries in gaming, focusing on new kinds of user experiences and ways to play games, innovative production approaches, and the application of games technology in areas like education and health care. The lab strives for an international leadership in research on electronic gaming, cooperating with and supporting the local and international games industry, and pursues the generation of innovative intellectual property, technology licensing and the spin off of new companies.

Artificial Intelligence and Automated Story Generation: Virtual actors that intelligently interact with the player in meaningful and emotionally involving ways, and automated storyline generation that adapts to the player's actions and preferences; Procedural Content Generation: Automated generation of virtual world environments, set design, character appearances, animations and special effects, and innovative modeling and design techniques and tools that substantially decrease art asset production effort; Psychological Base: Research on underlying brain mechanisms for perception and emotions, and assessing/modeling/influencing the player's mental and emotional state; and Serious Games: Study the usefulness and appropriate application of game technology for areas like education/training, simulation, therapy and health care.

For further information, please contact the head of the Games Lab: Alexander Nareyek