Matching Items (51)
Description
Distant is a Game Design Document describing an original game by the same name. The game was designed around the principle of core aesthetics, where the user experience is defined first and then the game is built from that experience. Distant is an action-exploration game set on a huge megastructure

Distant is a Game Design Document describing an original game by the same name. The game was designed around the principle of core aesthetics, where the user experience is defined first and then the game is built from that experience. Distant is an action-exploration game set on a huge megastructure floating in the atmosphere of Saturn. Players take on the role of HUE, an artificial intelligence trapped in the body of a maintenance robot, as he explores this strange world and uncovers its secrets. Using acrobatic movement abilities, players will solve puzzles, evade enemies, and explore the world from top to bottom. The world, known as the Strobilus Megastructure, is conical in shape, with living quarters and environmental system in the upper sections and factories and resource mining in the lower sections. The game world is split up into 10 major areas and countless minor and connecting areas. Special movement abilities like wall running and anti-gravity allow players to progress further down in the world. These abilities also allow players to solve more complicated puzzles, and to find more difficult to reach items. The story revolves around six artificial intelligences that were created to maintain the station. Many centuries ago, these AI helped humankind maintain their day-to-day lives and helped researchers working on new scientific breakthroughs. This led to the discovery of faster-than-light travel, and humanity left the station and our solar system to explore the cosmos. HUE, the AI in charge of human relations, fell into depression and shut down. Awakening several hundred years in the future, HUE sets out to find the other AI. Along the way he helps them reconnect and discovers the history and secrets of the station. Distant is intended for players looking for three things: A fantastic world full of discovery, a rich, character driven narrative, and challenging acrobatic gameplay. Players of any age or background are recommended to give it a try, but it will require investment and a willingness to improve. Distant is intended to change players, to force them to confront difficulty and different perspectives. Most games involve upgrading a character; Distant is a game that upgrades the player.
ContributorsGarttmeier, Colin Reiser (Author) / Collins, Daniel (Thesis director) / Amresh, Ashish (Committee member) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
The objective of this project concentrates on the game Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2). In this game, players are constantly striving to improve their skills, which are fueled by the competitive nature of the game. The design influences the community to engage in this interaction as they play

The objective of this project concentrates on the game Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2). In this game, players are constantly striving to improve their skills, which are fueled by the competitive nature of the game. The design influences the community to engage in this interaction as they play the game cooperatively. This thesis illustrates the importance of player interaction in influencing design as well as how imperative design is in affecting player interaction. These two concepts are not separate, but are deeply entwined. Every action performed within a game has to interact with some element of design. Both determine how games become defined as competitive, casual, or creative. Game designers can benefit from this study as it reinforces the basics of developing a game for players to interact with. However, it is impossible to predict exactly how players will react to a designed element. Designers should remember to tailor the game towards their audience, but also react and change the game depending on how players are using the elements of design. In addition, players should continue to push the boundaries of games to help designers adapt their product to their audience. If there is not constant communication between players and designers, games will not be tailored appropriately. Pushing the limits of a game benefits the players as well as the designers to make a more complete game. Designers do not solely create a game for the players. Rather, players design the game for themselves. Keywords: game design, player interaction, affinity space, emergent behavior, Dota 2
ContributorsLarsen, Austin James (Author) / Gee, James Paul (Thesis director) / Holmes, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
Bots tamper with social media networks by artificially inflating the popularity of certain topics. In this paper, we define what a bot is, we detail different motivations for bots, we describe previous work in bot detection and observation, and then we perform bot detection of our own. For our bot

Bots tamper with social media networks by artificially inflating the popularity of certain topics. In this paper, we define what a bot is, we detail different motivations for bots, we describe previous work in bot detection and observation, and then we perform bot detection of our own. For our bot detection, we are interested in bots on Twitter that tweet Arabic extremist-like phrases. A testing dataset is collected using the honeypot method, and five different heuristics are measured for their effectiveness in detecting bots. The model underperformed, but we have laid the ground-work for a vastly untapped focus on bot detection: extremist ideal diffusion through bots.
ContributorsKarlsrud, Mark C. (Author) / Liu, Huan (Thesis director) / Morstatter, Fred (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
In 2010, two gamma-ray /x-ray bubbles were detected in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. These bubbles extend symmetrically ≈ 30, 000 light years above and below the Galactic Center, with a width of ≈ 27, 000 light years. These bubbles emit gamma-rays at energies between 1 and 100

In 2010, two gamma-ray /x-ray bubbles were detected in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. These bubbles extend symmetrically ≈ 30, 000 light years above and below the Galactic Center, with a width of ≈ 27, 000 light years. These bubbles emit gamma-rays at energies between 1 and 100 giga-electronvolts, have approximately uniform surface brightness, and are expanding at ≈ 30, 000 km/s. We believe that these Fermi Bubbles are the result of an astrophysical jet pulse that occurred millions of years ago. Utilizing high-performance computing and Euler’s Gas Dynamics Equations, we hope to find a realistic simulation that will tell us more about the age of these Fermi Bubbles and better understand the mechanism that powers the bubbles.
ContributorsWagner, Benjamin Leng (Author) / Gardner, Carl (Thesis director) / Jones, Jeremiah (Committee member) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
Along with the number of technologies that have been introduced over a few years ago, gesture-based human-computer interactions are becoming the new phase in encompassing the creativity and abilities for users to communicate and interact with devices. Because of how the nature of defining free-space gestures influence user's preference and

Along with the number of technologies that have been introduced over a few years ago, gesture-based human-computer interactions are becoming the new phase in encompassing the creativity and abilities for users to communicate and interact with devices. Because of how the nature of defining free-space gestures influence user's preference and the length of usability of gesture-driven devices, defined low-stress and intuitive gestures for users to interact with gesture recognition systems are necessary to consider. To measure stress, a Galvanic Skin Response instrument was used as a primary indicator, which provided evidence of the relationship between stress and intuitive gestures, as well as user preferences towards certain tasks and gestures during performance. Fifteen participants engaged in creating and performing their own gestures for specified tasks that would be required during the use of free-space gesture-driven devices. The tasks include "activation of the display," scroll, page, selection, undo, and "return to main menu." They were also asked to repeat their gestures for around ten seconds each, which would give them time and further insight of how their gestures would be appropriate or not for them and any given task. Surveys were given at different time to the users: one after they had defined their gestures and another after they had repeated their gestures. In the surveys, they ranked their gestures based on comfort, intuition, and the ease of communication. Out of those user-ranked gestures, health-efficient gestures, given that the participants' rankings were based on comfort and intuition, were chosen in regards to the highest ranked gestures.
ContributorsLam, Christine (Author) / Walker, Erin (Thesis director) / Danielescu, Andreea (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
This project serves as an extra learning tool for students enrolled in HEB 101 (Hebrew) at Arizona State University. This tool was developed using Axure Prototyping Software and can be used by anyone. The tool follows the HEB 101 course curriculum which also works alongside the textbook for the class

This project serves as an extra learning tool for students enrolled in HEB 101 (Hebrew) at Arizona State University. This tool was developed using Axure Prototyping Software and can be used by anyone. The tool follows the HEB 101 course curriculum which also works alongside the textbook for the class (Hebrew From Scratch part 1). The tool fully covers the seven units that students learn in HEB 101. Each unit follows a standard structure. There is a unit title page which lays out the major concepts covered in the unit (i.e. personal pronouns, question words, prepositions, etc.) and links to different pages within the unit. Each unit has seven to ten lesson pages which introduce Hebrew concepts and provide exercises and examples to help the students practice the material they learned both in class and in the tool. Each unit also has links to Quizlet pages that have the units' vocab set up in a flashcard format so that they can study for upcoming quizzes and exams in the class. The Quizlet page for each unit also provides a randomly generated vocab quiz for the students. There is also a unit quiz for every unit which tests the students on the major concepts of the unit. There are also unit vocab pages that provide all the vocab covered in the unit. This tool provides students with numerous ways of practicing and mastering the material covered in the lectures. The main benefit of this tool for students is that it provides audio files for each vocabulary word learned in HEB 101 which will allow them to have quick access to the pronunciation of the words they are learning. This tool will be used in future HEB 101 classes.
ContributorsOsuna, Esteban Rene (Author) / Shemer, Judith (Thesis director) / Mirguet, Francoise (Committee member) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
Speech recognition in games is rarely seen. This work presents a project, a 2D computer game named "The Emblems" which utilizes speech recognition as input. The game itself is a two person strategy game whose goal is to defeat the opposing player's army. This report focuses on the speech-recognition aspect

Speech recognition in games is rarely seen. This work presents a project, a 2D computer game named "The Emblems" which utilizes speech recognition as input. The game itself is a two person strategy game whose goal is to defeat the opposing player's army. This report focuses on the speech-recognition aspect of the project. The players interact on a turn-by-turn basis by speaking commands into the computer's microphone. When the computer recognizes a command, it will respond accordingly by having the player's unit perform an action on screen.
ContributorsNguyen, Jordan Ngoc (Author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Maciejewski, Ross (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
Methane (CH4) is very important in the environment as it is a greenhouse gas and important for the degradation of organic matter. During the last 200 years the atmospheric concentration of CH4 has tripled. Methanogens are methane-producing microbes from the Archaea domain that complete the final step in breaking down

Methane (CH4) is very important in the environment as it is a greenhouse gas and important for the degradation of organic matter. During the last 200 years the atmospheric concentration of CH4 has tripled. Methanogens are methane-producing microbes from the Archaea domain that complete the final step in breaking down organic matter to generate methane through a process called methanogenesis. They contribute to about 74% of the CH4 present on the Earth's atmosphere, producing 1 billion tons of methane annually. The purpose of this work is to generate a preliminary metabolic reconstruction model of two methanogens: Methanoregula boonei 6A8 and Methanosphaerula palustris E1-9c. M. boonei and M. palustris are part of the Methanomicrobiales order and perform hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, which means that they reduce CO2 to CH4 by using H2 as their major electron donor. Metabolic models are frameworks for understanding a cell as a system and they provide the means to assess the changes in gene regulation in response in various environmental and physiological constraints. The Pathway-Tools software v16 was used to generate these draft models. The models were manually curated using literature searches, the KEGG database and homology methods with the Methanosarcina acetivorans strain, the closest methanogen strain with a nearly complete metabolic reconstruction. These preliminary models attempt to complete the pathways required for amino acid biosynthesis, methanogenesis, and major cofactors related to methanogenesis. The M. boonei reconstruction currently includes 99 pathways and has 82% of its reactions completed, while the M. palustris reconstruction includes 102 pathways and has 89% of its reactions completed.
ContributorsMahendra, Divya (Author) / Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby (Thesis director) / Wang, Xuan (Committee member) / Stout, Valerie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Biomedical Informatics Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
Valley Fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, is a respiratory disease that affects 10,000 people annually, primarily in Arizona and California. Due to a lack of gene annotation, diagnosis and treatment of Valley Fever is severely limited. In turn, gene annotation efforts are also hampered by incomplete genome sequencing. We intend

Valley Fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, is a respiratory disease that affects 10,000 people annually, primarily in Arizona and California. Due to a lack of gene annotation, diagnosis and treatment of Valley Fever is severely limited. In turn, gene annotation efforts are also hampered by incomplete genome sequencing. We intend to use proteogenomic analysis to reannotate the Coccidioides posadasii str. Silveira genome from protein-level data. Protein samples extracted from both phases of Silveira were fragmented into peptides, sequenced, and compared against databases of known and predicted proteins sequences, as well as a de novo six-frame translation of the genome. 288 unique peptides were located that did not match a known Silveira annotation, and of those 169 were associated with another Coccidioides strain. Additionally, 17 peptides were found at the boundary of, or outside of, the current gene annotation comprising four distinct clusters. For one of these clusters, we were able to calculate a lower bound and an estimate for the size of the gap between two Silveira contigs using the Coccidioides immitis RS transcript associated with that cluster's peptides \u2014 these predictions were consistent with the current annotation's scaffold structure. Three peptides were associated with an actively translated transposon, and a putative active site was located within an intact LTR retrotransposon. We note that gene annotation is necessarily hindered by the quality and level of detail in prior genome sequencing efforts, and recommend that future studies involving reannotation include additional sequencing as well as gene annotation via proteogenomics or other methods.
ContributorsSherrard, Andrew (Author) / Lake, Douglas (Thesis director) / Grys, Thomas (Committee member) / Mitchell, Natalie (Committee member) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Description
The objective of this creative project was to gain experience in digital modeling, animation, coding, shader development and implementation, model integration techniques, and application of gaming principles and design through developing a professional educational game. The team collaborated with Glendale Community College (GCC) to produce an interactive product intended to

The objective of this creative project was to gain experience in digital modeling, animation, coding, shader development and implementation, model integration techniques, and application of gaming principles and design through developing a professional educational game. The team collaborated with Glendale Community College (GCC) to produce an interactive product intended to supplement educational instructions regarding nutrition. The educational game developed, "Nutribots" features the player acting as a nutrition based nanobot sent to the small intestine to help the body. Throughout the game the player will be asked nutrition based questions to test their knowledge of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. If the player is unable to answer the question, they must use game mechanics to progress and receive the information as a reward. The level is completed as soon as the question is answered correctly. If the player answers the questions incorrectly twenty times within the entirety of the game, the team loses faith in the player, and the player must reset from title screen. This is to limit guessing and to make sure the player retains the information through repetition once it is demonstrated that they do not know the answers. The team was split into two different groups for the development of this game. The first part of the team developed models, animations, and textures using Autodesk Maya 2016 and Marvelous Designer. The second part of the team developed code and shaders, and implemented products from the first team using Unity and Visual Studio. Once a prototype of the game was developed, it was show-cased amongst peers to gain feedback. Upon receiving feedback, the team implemented the desired changes accordingly. Development for this project began on November 2015 and ended on April 2017. Special thanks to Laura Avila Department Chair and Jennifer Nolz from Glendale Community College Technology and Consumer Sciences, Food and Nutrition Department.
ContributorsNolz, Daisy (Co-author) / Martin, Austin (Co-author) / Quinio, Santiago (Co-author) / Armstrong, Jessica (Co-author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Valderrama, Jamie (Committee member) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05