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This article identifies and summarizes software tools and frameworks proposed in the Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) literature for developing extended reality (XR) experiences using game engines. This review includes primary studies proposing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) solutions where humans can control or interact with real robotic platforms using devices that extend the user’s reality. The objective of this article is not to present an extensive list of applications and tools. Instead, we present recent, relevant, common, and accessible frameworks and software tools implemented in research articles published in high-impact robotics conferences and journals. For this, we searched papers published during a seven-years period between 2015 and 2022 in relevant databases for robotics (Science Direct, IEEE Xplore, ACM digital library, Springer Link, and Web of Science). Additionally, we present and classify the application context of the reviewed articles in four groups: social robotics, programming of industrial robots, teleoperation of industrial robots, and Human–Robot collaboration (HRC).

In recent years, technological advances in game engines allowed researchers to propose methodological frameworks for integrating digital models of the built heritage in Virtual (VR), Augmented (AR) and Mixed Reality environments. Among other benefits, specific applications have demonstrated the potential of such immersive environments to raise awareness about the significance of historical objects, share associated knowledge and facilitate its collaborative management. Based on the necessity to retrieve information about users' experience, this research considers the potential of such environments to include a broader range of stakeholders in the value assessment process for historical sites and objects and provide more comprehensive representations of their significance for society. This paper proposes implementing a collaborative framework for value assessment in a virtual environment that combines multiple heritage representations to explore this issue. A prototype is further implemented on a practical case study, namely the Collegiate Church of Saint-Jean, located in Liège, Belgium.

This tutorial-based book allows readers to create a first-person game from start to finish using industry-standard (and free to student) tools of Maya, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine. The first half of the book lays out the basics of using Maya and Substance Painter to create game-ready assets. This includes polygonal modeling, UV layout, and custom texture painting. Then the book covers rigging and animation solutions to create assets to be placed in the game including animated first-person assets and motion captured NPC animations. Finally readers can put it all together and build interactivity that allows the player to create a finished game using the assets built and animated earlier in the book. Written by industry professionals with real-world experience in building assets and games. Build a complete game from start to finish. Learn what the pros use: construct all assets using the tools used at tools across the world. All software used are free to students When complete students will have a playable version of a FPS game

Game engines have come to feature in areas well beyond gaming—such as architecture, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, public planning, and film and television production. Accordingly, companies developing, providing, and maintaining game engines—such as Epic Games or Unity Technologies—are set to become influential actors in all social and economic arenas that start to rely on game engines for the provision of software or services. This makes them an important subject to the study of platforms as they provide increasingly crucial building blocks in the digitization of economic, political, and social life. In this article, we present three dimensions demonstrating platform functions of game engines beyond gaming. We rely on the example of two important game engine developers: Epic Games and Unity Technologies. The dimensions are (1) the growing area of extended reality applications, (2) cross-platform and cross-media story- and brand worlds, and (3) the management of user payments, identities, and social graphs. The article shows how companies providing game engines challenge the current balance of power between established platform companies, demonstrating that game engines have emerged as an important new type of platform that demands academic and public attention.

Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments create a very strong sense of presence and immersion. Nowadays, especially when student isolation and online autonomous learning is required, such sensations can provide higher satisfaction and learning rates than conventional teaching. However, up until the present, learning outcomes with VR tools have yet to prove their advantageous aspects over conventional teaching. The project presents a VR serious game for teaching concepts associated with computer hardware assembly. These concepts are often included in any undergraduate’s introduction to Computer Science. The learning outcomes are evaluated using a pre-test of previous knowledge, a satisfaction/usability test, and a post-test on knowledge acquisition, structured with questions on different knowledge areas. The results of the VR serious game are compared with another two learning methodologies adapted to online learning: (1) an online conventional lecture; and (2) playing the same serious game on a desktop PC. An extensive sample of students (n = 77) was formed for this purpose. The results showed the strong potential of VR serious games to improve student well-being during spells of confinement, due to higher learning satisfaction. Besides, ease of usability and the use of in-game tutorials are directly related with game-user satisfaction and performance. The main novelty of this research is related to academic performance. Although a very limited effect was noted for learning theoretical knowledge with the VR application in comparison with the other methodologies, this effect was significantly improved through visual knowledge, understanding and making connections between different concepts. It can therefore be concluded that the proposed VR serious game has the potential to increase student learning and therefore student satisfaction, by imparting a deeper understanding of the subject matter to students.

Serious games are effective tools defined as games designed with a focus on explicit utility rather than the generally construed notion of games purely as a source of entertainment. Decision-making games are a type of serious game that can be developed with the intent of studying behavior, educating, appraising or other similar applications that benefit through the information collected from the decision-making process. Digital versions of serious games are gaining prominence due to a higher level of interactivity and complexity, especially in Human-Agent Interaction (HAI) applications. The development of digital serious games generally extends beyond software developers, typically involving individuals from diverse backgrounds who may not possess the necessary programming skills required for the development process. The paper proposed the use of Ren’Py, an open-source visual novel game engine as a platform to develop decision-making games. The study examined the Ren'Py game engine’s potential through an assessment of the development process for the production of a decision-making serious game. Findings showed that Ren’Py satisfies the need for a relatively easy-to-develop platform for decision-making-based serious games due to its built-in systems that conform to currently applied serious decision-making game design principles.

The process of video game development is complex, requiring proficiency in various technologies for design and implementation, including mastery of game engines and associated programming languages. Defining the behaviors of game elements within the necessary subprocesses poses a significant challenge. This challenge arises partly due to the utilization of general-purpose programming languages, which offer a wide range of options and allow tasks to be approached from different angles. This study introduces GameScript, a simplified scripting language designed for video game development. Based on principles of structured programming and inspired by the While language, GameScript focuses on essential game behavior definitions using a limited set of statements, including IF-THEN-ELSE selection and operations related to game elements to create and destroy them, or to modify properties. By using only numeric variables and simple arithmetic and relational operators, GameScript simplifies data handling and allows for the creation of various arcade games with straightforward syntax. Integrated into a multi-agent system game engine, GameScript has been validated through the successful implementation of diverse arcade game mechanics, demonstrating its effectiveness.

This paper describes an experience to incorporate the realization of virtual routes about the sculptural heritage of a city in the classroom by developing a simulation of the urban environment using a video game engine. Video game engines not only allow the creation of video games but also the creation and navigation of in-teractive three-dimensional worlds. For this research, Roblox Studio has been used, a simple and intuitive program in which no previous programming skills are required. During the 2018/2019 academic year, a pilot experience was carried out with 53 secondary school students who were given the task of designing a virtual environment in which they had to include 3D models of the sculptural her-itage of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Before starting the experience, the par-ticipants answered a questionnaire to obtain a previous idea of the students' knowledge about the creation of video games. Once the activity was finished and in order to evaluate the result of the activity, the participants answered a final questionnaire. The students emphasized that after the activity they are more aware of the sculptural heritage of Santa Cruz and that they consider themselves capable of creating their own interactive worlds with Roblox.

Two teaching methodologies are presented and compared in this study: on the one hand, semi-guided tours in immersive virtual reality and, on the other, viewing video renderings of 3D environments. The two techniques are contrasted through 3D modeling of a fifteenth-century Spanish town called Briviesca, in an immersive environment, viewed with Oculus Rift. The suitability of virtual reality for teaching is assessed through questions on historical knowledge and urban layout. The understanding of the undergraduate students is evaluated, through questionnaires, after the viewing sessions. The responses of the students underline the effectiveness of the two methodologies: Video screenings received higher scores for historical ideas and the virtual tour was the most effective method at conveying knowledge learnt while viewing. Additionally, two user movements for controlling the virtual reality environment were tested: (1) gamepad locomotion and (2) roomscale movements combined with teleporting. The clear advantage of the second option was the total lack of motion sickness effects. However, the natural tendency using teleporting was to move very quickly through the city areas with no singular buildings and to spend more time in front of these types of buildings. They therefore missed visual information related to the first areas while retaining more information related to those buildings. Finally, the spatial location of singular buildings was clearly better acquired with the virtual tour.

The skirmish between game engines Unity and Unreal presents a new front in the platformization of cultural production. This article argues that such programs are “platform tools.” They enable amateurs and professionals to not only build content for platforms but also “lock-in” industry ideologies in the ideation, production, implementation, and distribution of digital creative work, resulting in a homogeneity of developers, practices, and products. The Unity engine’s history, features, and place in the game production pipeline makes it a paradigmatic “platform tool.” Findings from 90 interviews with VR enthusiasts show that Unity set the boundaries or “rules” for developers’ everyday activities and, despite enthusiasm about the medium’s potential, compelled them to create content which conformed to popular gaming genres and standards.