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Automatized Summarization of Multiplayer Games

P. Mindek, L. Čmolík, I. Viola, M. E. Gröller, and S. Bruckner

Abstract

We present a novel method for creating automatized gameplay dramatization of multiplayer video games. The dramatization serves as a visual form of guidance through dynamic 3D scenes with multiple foci, typical for such games. Our goal is to convey interesting aspects of the gameplay by animated sequences creating a summary of events which occurred during the game. Our technique is based on processing many cameras, which we refer to as a flock of cameras, and events captured during the gameplay, which we organize into a so-called event graph. Each camera has a lifespan with a certain time interval and its parameters such as position or look-up vector are changing over time. Additionally, during its lifespan each camera is assigned an importance function, which is dependent on the significance of the structures that are being captured by the camera. The images captured by the cameras are composed into a single continuous video using a set of operators based on cinematographic effects. The sequence of operators is selected by traversing the event graph and looking for specific patterns corresponding to the respective operators. In this way, a large number of cameras can be processed to generate an informative visual story presenting the gameplay. Our compositing approach supports insets of camera views to account for several important cameras simultaneously. Additionally, we create seamless transitions between individual selected camera views in order to preserve temporal continuity, which helps the user to follow the virtual story of the gameplay.

P. Mindek, L. Čmolík, I. Viola, M. E. Gröller, and S. Bruckner, "Automatized Summarization of Multiplayer Games," in Proceedings of SCCG 2015, 2015, p. 93–100. doi:10.1145/2788539.2788549
[BibTeX]

We present a novel method for creating automatized gameplay dramatization of multiplayer video games. The dramatization serves as a visual form of guidance through dynamic 3D scenes with multiple foci, typical for such games. Our goal is to convey interesting aspects of the gameplay by animated sequences creating a summary of events which occurred during the game. Our technique is based on processing many cameras, which we refer to as a flock of cameras, and events captured during the gameplay, which we organize into a so-called event graph. Each camera has a lifespan with a certain time interval and its parameters such as position or look-up vector are changing over time. Additionally, during its lifespan each camera is assigned an importance function, which is dependent on the significance of the structures that are being captured by the camera. The images captured by the cameras are composed into a single continuous video using a set of operators based on cinematographic effects. The sequence of operators is selected by traversing the event graph and looking for specific patterns corresponding to the respective operators. In this way, a large number of cameras can be processed to generate an informative visual story presenting the gameplay. Our compositing approach supports insets of camera views to account for several important cameras simultaneously. Additionally, we create seamless transitions between individual selected camera views in order to preserve temporal continuity, which helps the user to follow the virtual story of the gameplay.
@INPROCEEDINGS {Mindek-2015-ASM,
author = "Peter Mindek and Ladislav \v{C}mol{\'i}k and Ivan Viola and Meister Eduard Gr{\"o}ller and Stefan Bruckner",
title = "Automatized Summarization of Multiplayer Games",
booktitle = "Proceedings of SCCG 2015",
year = "2015",
pages = "93--100",
month = "apr",
abstract = "We present a novel method for creating automatized gameplay dramatization  of multiplayer video games. The dramatization serves as a visual  form of guidance through dynamic 3D scenes with multiple foci, typical  for such games. Our goal is to convey interesting aspects of the  gameplay by animated sequences creating a summary of events which  occurred during the game. Our technique is based on processing many  cameras, which we refer to as a flock of cameras, and events captured  during the gameplay, which we organize into a so-called event graph.  Each camera has a lifespan with a certain time interval and its parameters  such as position or look-up vector are changing over time. Additionally,  during its lifespan each camera is assigned an importance function,  which is dependent on the significance of the structures that are  being captured by the camera. The images captured by the cameras  are composed into a single continuous video using a set of operators  based on cinematographic effects. The sequence of operators is selected  by traversing the event graph and looking for specific patterns corresponding  to the respective operators. In this way, a large number of cameras  can be processed to generate an informative visual story presenting  the gameplay. Our compositing approach supports insets of camera  views to account for several important cameras simultaneously. Additionally,  we create seamless transitions between individual selected camera  views in order to preserve temporal continuity, which helps the user  to follow the virtual story of the gameplay.",
pdf = "pdfs/Mindek-2015-ASM.pdf",
images = "images/Mindek-2015-ASM.jpg",
thumbnails = "images/Mindek-2015-ASM.png",
note = "SCCG 2015 Best Paper Award",
doi = "10.1145/2788539.2788549",
keywords = "animation, storytelling, game visualization",
location = "Smolenice, Slovakia",
owner = "bruckner",
timestamp = "2015.06.08",
url = "//www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2015/mindek-2015-mc/"
}
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