Sword fights are often the weak link in virtual reality (VR) fighting games, with digital avatars engaging in battle using imprecise, pre-recorded movements that barely reflect the player鈥檚 actions or intentions. Now a team at the (CDE) at the VR成人视频, in collaboration with the game development studio , has found a solution to the challenges of creating realistic VR sword fights: Touch茅 鈥� a data-driven computer model based on machine learning.
, who created Touch茅 with colleague Dr Julian Padget and EngD student Javier Dehesa, said: 鈥淭ouch茅 increases the realism of a sword fight by generating responsive animations against attacks and eliminating non-reactive behaviour from characters.
鈥淯sing our model, a game character can anticipate all possible fight situations and react to them, resulting in a more enjoyable and immersive game experience.鈥�
The unpredictability of user actions presents a major conundrum for designers of VR games, explained Dr Lutteroth, who is a senior lecturer in Computer Science, director of Real and Virtual Environments Augmentation Labs (REVEAL) and co-investigator at the (CAMERA). 鈥淰R games offer new freedom for players to interact naturally using motion, but this makes it harder to design games that react to player motions convincingly,鈥� he said.
He added: 鈥淭here are different expectations for screen-based video games. With these, a player presses 鈥榓ttack鈥� and their character displays a sequence of animations. But in a VR game, the player input is much harder to process.鈥�
The Touch茅 framework for VR sword 铿乬hting simpli铿乪s the necessary technical work to achieve a convincing simulation. It eliminates the need for game designers to add layer upon layer of detail when programming how a character should move in a particular situation (for instance, to block a particular sword attack). Instead, actors wearing motion capture equipment are asked to perform a range of sword fighting movements, and Touch茅 builds a model from these movements. The virtual version of the actor is able to react to different situations in a similar fashion to a flesh-and-blood fighter. Game designers can then fine-tune this model to meet their needs by adjusting high-level parameters, such as how skilled and aggressive the game character should be. All this saves game developers a lot of time and leads to more realistic results.
For the Bath study, 12 volunteers were asked to take part in two three-minute sword fights: for the first fight, they used technology that is currently available and for the second, they used Touch茅. Touch茅 had a strong positive effect on realism and the perceived sword fighting skills of game characters. Feedback from participants pointed to a convincing preference for Touch茅, with current sword fights being described as 鈥榰nresponsive鈥� and 鈥榗lumsy鈥� by comparison.
鈥淏ased on this, we are convinced that Touch茅 can deliver more enjoyable, realistic and immersive sword-铿乬hting experiences, presenting a more skilled and less repetitive opponent behaviour,鈥� said Dr Padget. 鈥淚鈥檓 convinced this framework is the future for games 鈥� not only for sword fighting but also for other types of interaction between game characters. It will save developers a lot of time.鈥�
Javier Dehesa Javier, who is centred at the CDE and is basing his EngD project on Touch茅, interviewed game developers who had tested this new technology. He said: 鈥淒evelopers see the Touch茅 framework as an important practical step in the industry towards data-driven interaction techniques. We could see this technology appear in commercial games very soon.鈥�
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