Westside students share coding expertise with local dignitaries

While video and computer games capture of the interest of many young kids, the designing process that goes into them is something Angleton ISD Assistant Superintendent Adam Stephens wants to emphasize as a part of a growing computer science and engineering world.

During Computer Science Education Week, fifth-grade students at Westside Elementary took an hour of class time to meet with local dignitaries, including County Judge Matt Sebesta, Superintendent Phil Edwards and Angleton Mayor Jason Perez, to take part in coding activities.

“In order to get more students and community members excited about computer science, the national nonprofit Code.org is encouraging students to complete one hour of coding,” Stephens said. “It’s done through the lens of cute games, kind of fun, interactive activities, and it uses block-based coding, which is entry-level coding.”

The students each partnered with a community member and chose an activity to code during the event. With dancing and popular Disney-themed games, students were able to work their way through increasingly challenging levels of code.

“Once you get the hang of it, it’s kind of easy,” Perez said. He was assisted by fifth-grader Keira Cooke. The two created an avatar that performed a sequence of fun dance moves.

“Right now in Texas, we know there are 30,000 vacant computer science jobs, so whatever we can do to get kids interested and kind of prepare them for that path is our goal,” Stephens said.

All 7,000 Angleton ISD students are being asked to complete the hour of code as a part of the education week, Stephens said.

Those students who go online and complete a 10-part coding process through a district initiative called Code Front will be eligible to participate in a pizza party in January, Stephens said.

“For my mindset, it just shows them they can do more and achieve more,” Robotics Club director Katie Medina said. “This, for them, looks like a game, but in real life they can go farther and achieve careers in STEM.”

Starting early and incorporating small amounts of coding early on is beneficial to the leaning process, Medina said.

“It lets me be creative, and it’s mainly just fun,” fifth-grade student Andrew Aasletten said.

Aasletten and the county judge worked on code for a dancing game that was a few minutes long.

“This is something anyone in the world can do,” Stephens said. “We want to instill in our kids that learning is messy. It’s fun and it’s hard and you’re gonna make mistakes, and so, you know, this is something a lot of adults haven’t tried. And it’s not so much just about computer science but computational thinking.”

The Making of the TERA Valkyrie

The Valkyrie has a bit of a history here at En Masse Entertainment, and like the class itself, her story needs a little explanation.

Whenever we get new content for TERA, be it new classes, costumes, or battlegrounds, we start a “top-down” process of localization, thoroughly studying any changes to the game before changing any translated terms, and then writing all text relating to the change at the same time.

But for the Valkyrie, we faced a few more challenges than usual. The class name was originally translated as “glaiver,” which didn’t fit in well with the class names we already had in the game. So, before we could start in on skills, items, costumes, or quests, we needed a new name for the high-flying female Castanic fighter.

After a lengthy internal debate, and with some feedback from the TERA community, we put the matter up for a vote, asking players to choose between several new names. Valkyrie won out, and we could finally begin the localization process.

Only how do you fit the Valkyrie, a uniquely Germanic concept, into a Korean MMO? With a looming deadline and a few thousand words of writing ahead of me, I decided to break the character down to its core elements. Valkyries are a race-restricted class, reserved to castanic female characters only. And since Castanics are an intensely matriarchal society, it stood to reason that NPC valkyries would be very powerful in castanic society.

So, where were they? Why had we, TERA fans (and writers, though the two are interchangeable), never heard of them before now? They had to be a secret martial order known only to Castanics—specifically NPC castanic matriarchs, who are never seen in-game. And they had to be a very, very old secret order, since the quest describing their origins starts in a section of the map that had been cut off from the rest of the world for generations.

Everybody loves a good conspiracy, so I combed back through all our lore (published and unpublished) on Castanics, looking for “story holes” in which to write. It didn’t take very long at all, and within the week I’d written some micro-flash fiction for in-game story books, and three scripts for my frequent collaborator, EME Senior Artist Josh Fulmore, to turn into comic book pages.

With the name and background squared away, I could now turn my attention to her skills. With the fiction we’d written, we could easily explain why her skills were so different from the more “modern” classes. Her ancient origins let us use Norse terms like Ragnarok, Bloodflower, and Gjallar Horn as skill names, alongside skills like Spinning Death, Shining Crescent, and Maelstrom. We even included lore in the skill descriptions, mentioning how the Valkyrie manipulates dream energy to explosive effects.

I could go on, but I don’t want to spoil your fun. So, I’ll sign off with a bit of Valkyrie lore to tease your appetite, and I’ll see you in game!

I leave you with this, my sister of the storm. The sour smell of blood stays with you, no matter how many times you wash.

The memories of dead, black eyes, of twisted bodies with the faces of friends, will never leave you.

My grandmother was wrong, and most likely yours as well. Patience, tolerance, acceptance...these are not our ways.

We are no longer the guardians of history. We are vengeance, the choosers of the slain.

We are valkyries, and as foretold in prophecy, thrice carved in stone, our time will come again.

How Simulation Games Prepare the Military for More Than Just Combat

Before signing up for active duty, today's generation of armed forces recruits have usually played hours of branded RPGs such as Call of Duty. But while engaging in simulated battescapes improves motor skills and familiarity with military jargon, it can't prepare them for what's ahead. Or can it?

Peter Morrison, a veteran of the Australian Army and Chief Commercial Officer of Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), says virtual exposure is vital to the success of tomorrow's warfighters in the field. His company, which recently scored a $5 million contract from the US Marines, takes it to the next level. We spoke with Morrison from his HQ in Orlando, Florida. Here are edited and condensed excerpts from our conversation.

Peter, have you always been into RPG and SIMs?
I have always loved computer games and I was a gamer well before I was an Army officer. I discovered Operation Flashpoint from Bohemia Interactive Studio back in 2001, while I was studying computer science at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). I realized, as did many others at the time, that this particular computer game was especially suited to military training. It supported large, open environments and it included a mission editor that allowed a non-programmer to build very complex scenarios.

After graduation, I looked for positions in the Army that allowed me to work with simulations, and eventually I ended up at the Australian Defence Simulation Office (ADSO). I worked primarily as a Project Manager on many different simulations. It was very fulfilling for me to witness firsthand the adoption of game-based training in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) from 2003 to 2005.

Did BISim recruit you before you left active duty? What was your first role there and when did you become CEO?
I resigned from the Army in 2005 and approached BIS to advise them on the development of VBS2 and work on various components of the software. I didn't officially join the company until 2007, when I became CEO. In the meantime I had my own business, consulting for BIS and providing guidance on how to build the game based upon my knowledge of military training.

When did the company win its first US military contract and what was the product?
BIS had actually been contracted to deliver a military training game well before I joined, way back around 2003. The USMC funded the development of VBS1, which was a game-based desktop training tool used for squad-level training and call for fire. The next major contract was with the Australian Defence Force in 2005, when the VBS1 product was used to train soldiers deploying to Iraq. The USMC upgraded to the next version of VBS—VBS2—in 2006 on an enterprise-wide basis. Since then, VBS has been sold to more than 50 military organizations, including the US Army, where VBS3 is referred to as the US Army's "Game for Training."

Almost every veteran I've interviewed credits Call of Duty with helping them develop great motor skills before signing up. Explain how BISim does this on a whole other level.
A key point is that game-based training in the military focuses on cognitive learning—or "how to think" training. While certain games—like Call of Duty—might help with certain motor skills, they certainly don't improve the use of a real rifle, for example. Games are used in huge Battle Simulation Centers across the US Army (and many other military organizations), and soldiers sit at the computers and play collectively. But in the game, they are primarily practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures, and most importantly they are practicing making decisions. Yes, they move through and conduct the mission virtually—including shooting simulated rifles in the computer game—but the real point is to practice decision-making skills that will lead to better decisions in the real world.

Explain how you're able to recreate virtual Afghanistan, or elsewhere, to a level of fidelity unseen before?
What we do is combine the best of what the game industry offers—photo-realistic graphics and technologies like normal mapping and inverse kinematic animation—and apply this to meet military training needs, in the form of a game. So we have developed tens of thousands of high-fidelity 3D models over the years, and we (or the Army) can procedurally / automatically place this high-fidelity content based upon the best information available, [such as] the real-world location of roads, buildings, etc.

One of the most exciting things we're doing now is supporting the direct import of drone-collected 3D data into the game. This means that the military can fly a drone at a low level, and using photogrammetry, a highly realistic 3D model of a huge area can be constructed. Our users can quickly pull that data into the game and use it as the basis of training, which is really cutting-edge. We are actually working on this with the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), part of University of Southern California.

Which HMDs are used for engaging in your products—just military-grade, or have you integrated with commercial products such as Oculus too?
We have focused on commercial headsets but some of these are very high-end—for example the Varjo VR-1. The main issue with commercial VR has been relatively low resolution, making it difficult to read text or identify distant objects in the headset, but now we are seeing new headsets like the Vive Pro and the Varjo VR-1 providing resolutions that are close to acceptable. We are excited about the future and it's only a matter of time before we have 4K resolution in commercial VR devices.

Can you learn a language playing video games?

Online gaming has become a concern for some parents in the past few years and there are worries children might become addicted, with negative effects on their socialisation. This has led some parents to think of creative ways to reduce gaming, including rationing the time children spend online.

It’s important to remember though, that not all the research into children playing video games paints a bleak picture. In fact, there is a growing body of research that suggests such worries might be unfounded and that gaming could be an incredibly useful educational tool which might actually make children more sociable, not less.

In the same way that many schools use other forms of technology to get students more excited about learning – such as interactive whiteboards and tablets – both of which seem popular with students, video games might also offer similar benefits.

How gaming could help

Language learning in particular seems a perfect place to try “gamified” classes. Some schools are already using Minecraft in French classes – the idea is that students work together to build a “learning zone” in the Minecraft space – finding new words to help them along the way.

Indeed, James Paul Gee, a leading researcher in the area of video games as language learning tools, suggests that role-playing games such as The Elder Scrolls series or World of Warcraft, offer an ideal learning space for what he calls “at-risk” learners. In theory, there is just enough challenge, just enough support, just enough room for players to be themselves and, possibly most important, students have just enough “ownership” of the learning process.

“At-risk” language learners, by Gee’s definition, could be anyone. They may be learners with special educational needs, but equally they may also simply be learners who feel more vulnerable in a language classroom. Learning a language, after all, is a huge departure from some students’ comfort zones. Students, for example, can get nervous and inhibited in a classroom. Language learning researchers describe this as an “affective filter” – a fear of making a mistake and losing face literally affects how far a student joins in the class.

My research specifically looks at language learning – a subject area that appears to be one that students seem to endure rather than necessarily enjoy. It builds on the ideas of Philip Hubbard, a leading researcher in the field of using technology to enhance language learning. He has previously suggested that while technology in classrooms is seen as useful there is no strategy for using it – and this is where my research comes in. What I’m aiming to do is find that strategy and try to answer the following questions: how video games might help, why some students might prefer playing a video game to being in class and what areas of language learning a teacher could improve with this technology.

The power of gaming

Video games, especially massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs) such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV and Runescape tend to cut through all the reasons for someone to be self-conscious. Players have to communicate in real-time, with no opportunity to agonise over what to say, or how to speak perfectly.

As a result, they may force themselves to become better at communicating so they can level up quicker – and this drive might go deeper still. Gamers are often encouraged to repeat levels several times, so that they can perform better.

Building connections

This is what the prominent motivation researcher, Zoltan Dörnyei, describes as “directed motivational currents”. The concept implies that motivation, for some students, may be driven entirely by their personal view of what success entails.

This is important because if the commonly held theory that many students learn languages to “tick a box” needed for graduation is correct, then they may only be motivated to study just enough to pass. On the other hand, if success in the language classroom is aligned with success in a gaming space, then harnessing this drive may be a powerful way to foster continued interest in language learning and developing language skills.

Video games may also have the potential to help learners develop more complex social skills. This view is inspired by the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, who believed that truly meaningful communication came from negotiating cultural differences and finding solutions.

This happens a lot in a video game, as players try to find their roles, but more significant is what the negotiations seem to lead to: relatedness – finding shared meaning and a sense of belonging. A study conducted in Japan found that players seemed to play MMOs mainly for the purpose of forming social connections.

So will schools of the future all be learning languages through gaming? This remains to be seen, but given that the evidence suggests gaming can encourage social skills and teamwork – as well as incredible scope to share ideas and build knowledge – there may be a good argument for ditching the textbooks and logging into another world for a while.

Artificial intelligence is helping old video games look like new

The recent AI boom has had all sorts of weird and wonderful side effects as amateur tinkerers find ways to repurpose research from universities and tech companies. But one of the more unexpected applications has been in the world of video game mods. Fans have discovered that machine learning is the perfect tool to improve the graphics of classic games.

The technique being used is known as “AI upscaling.” In essence, you feed an algorithm a low-resolution image, and, based on training data it’s seen, it spits out a version that looks the same but has more pixels in it. Upscaling, as a general technique, has been around for a long time, but the use of AI has drastically improved the speed and quality of results.

“It was like witchcraft,” says Daniel Trolie, a teacher and student from Norway who used AI to update the visuals of 2002 RPG classic The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. “[It] looked like I just downloaded a hi-res texture pack from [game developers] Bethesda themselves.”

Trolie is a moderator at the r/GameUpscale subreddit where, along with specialist forums and chat apps like Discord, fans share tips and tricks on how to best use these AI tools.

Browsing these forums, it’s apparent that the modding process is a lot like restoring old furniture or works of art. It’s a job for skilled craftspeople, requiring patience and knowledge. Not every game is a good fit for upscaling, and not every upscaling algorithm produces similar results. Modders have to pick the right tool for the job before putting in hundreds of hours of work to polish the final results. It’s a labor of love, not a quick fix.

Despite the work involved, it’s still much faster than previous methods. It means restoring the graphics can be done in a few weeks by a single dedicated modder, rather than a team that has to work for years. As a consequence, there’s been an explosion of new graphics for old games over the past six months or so.

The range of titles is impressive, including Doom, Half-Life 2, Metroid Prime 2, Final Fantasy VII, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Even more recent fare like 2010’s Mass Effect 2 has got the AI-upscaling treatment. In each case, though, these are unsanctioned upgrades, meaning it takes a bit of extra know-how to install the new visuals.

Actually creating these AI graphics takes a lot of work, explains a modder who goes by the name hidfan. He tells The Verge that the updated Doom visuals he made took at least 200 hours of work to tweak the algorithm’s output and clean up final images by hand.

In Doom, as with many video games, the majority of the visuals are stored as texture packs. These are images of rocks, metal, grass, and so on that are pasted onto the game’s 3D maps like wallpaper onto the walls of a house. Just as with wallpaper, these textures have to tesselate perfectly, or players can spot where one image starts and another begins.

Because the output from AI upscaling algorithms tends to introduce a lot of noise, says hidfan, a lot of manual editing is still required. The same is true when it comes to the visuals for characters and enemies. Hidfan says that cleaning up just a single monster takes between five and 15 hours, depending on how complex their animation is.

That’s something to remember when looking at these updates or any project that uses machine learning. Just because AI is involved, doesn’t mean human labor isn’t.

But how does the process actually work? Albert Yang, CTO of Topaz Labs, a startup that offers a popular upscaling service used by many modders, says it’s pretty straightforward.

You start by taking a type of algorithm known as a generative adversarial network (GAN) and train it on millions of pairs of low-res and high-res images. “After it’s seen these millions of photos many, many times it starts to learn what a high resolution image looks like when it sees a low resolution image,” Yang tells The Verge.

One part of the algorithm tries to re-create this transition from low-res to high-res, while another part compares its work against the training data, seeing if it can spot the difference and rejecting the output if not. This feedback loop is how GANs improve over time.

Using AI to upscale images is a relatively simple task, but it perfectly illustrates the core advantage of machine learning. While traditional algorithms rely on rules defined by humans, machine learning techniques create their own rules by learning from data.

In the case of upscaling algorithms, these rules are often pretty simple. If you want to upscale a 50 x 50-pixel image to double its size, for example, a traditional algorithm just inserts new pixels between the existing ones, selecting the new pixels’ color based on an average of its neighbors. To give a very simplified example: if you have a red pixel on one side and a blue pixel on the other, the new pixel in the middle comes out purple.

This sort of method is simple to code and execute, but it’s a one-size-fits-all approach that produces mixed results, says Yang.

The algorithms created by machine learning are much more dynamic by comparison. Topaz Labs’ Gigapixel upscaling doesn’t just look at neighboring pixels; it looks at whole sections of images at a time. That allows it to better re-create larger structures, like the outlines of buildings and furniture or the edges of a racetrack in Mario Kart.

“This larger perceptual field is the major reason [AI upscaling algorithms] perform so much better,” says Yang.