Boyan Bontchev

Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" · Department of Software Technologies

Purpose This paper presents an in-depth study of learners’ learning and playing styles and their implications for educational video games. This study aims to scrutinize the manifestation of learning and playing styles among learners, to identify the style predispositions and dominance and to assess the implication of these results for educational v...

Contemporary climate change affects not only human beings and natural ecosystems but tangible cultural heritage, too. Understanding and appreciating climate change’s influence on built cultural heritage involves raising awareness of vulnerability and resilience issues. Hence, educators need to develop integrated approaches to teaching the protectio...

In last twenty years, STEM teaching methods are in the focus of regulation bodies, visionaries, decision-makers and practitioners in K12 and university education worldwide. Among the traditional approaches for STEM teaching based on problem solving, projects, collaboration and inquiries, nowadays gamification and game-based learning started gaining...

Contemporary teaching at schools and universities aims to enhance learners’ understanding of interrelated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) issues by solving real-world problems. To increase the effectiveness of STEM education, personalized teaching methods should be considered and implemented. This research is focused on the...

This chapter presents and compares video games about climate resilience and the vulnerability of built cultural heritage regarding modern climate changes, together with some results about user experience received through their experimental validation. Usually, game-based learning is considered a subcategory of serious games (SG). Educational video...

Context-aware information systems count on sensors for establishing the user situation and adjusting their behavior accordingly. Nevertheless, there are quite some situations where sensors would be insufficiently effective: (a) Sometimes it is physically challenging to mount sensors at the optimal position, resulting in lower quality of the gathere...

The increasing use of game-based learning necessitates software platforms and technological tools to create serious video learning games. This article presents the APOGEE process for the automated creation of maze video learning games and describes the development methodology. This methodology has been applied to the design of four educational vide...

Personalized learning has gained in popularity over the past decade. It provides learners with learning resources that comply with their characteristics and preferences or offers them tasks and quizzes adapted to their performance. This research presents how we apply this concept to an educational video maze game created and generated on the APOGEE...

Video games for education still remain unpopular educational resources and tools for learning. One of the reasons is that teachers do not understand the efficiency of video games for learning. In this perspective, the game assessment reports such as scores, points, and statistics have to provide meaningful information not only to players but as wel...

All computing systems nowadays are collecting and processing data from various sources, ranges, and applications. This, in turn, leads to new kinds of problems for the software engineering community to focus on. As a result, there is a shift from software-intensive systems toward data-intensive systems. More challenges reside in size (e.g., amount...

Climate resilience competencies improve people’s capacity to recognize and adopt strategies for mitigating negative climate effects. Especially concerning the built cultural heritage protection in the coastal areas, both professionals and citizens have to be prepared for water-related extreme events, such as floods, sea-level rise, and altered prec...

Designing and creating educational video games is very complex, time-consuming, and expensive. For applying game-based learning in mass, teachers and educators need software platforms and tools for an easy and straightforward design and construction of games for learning. Therefore, the growing need for such software instruments suitable for non-IC...

With the development of technology, the consumer requirements of users of educational video games are constantly changing, determining the need for integration and use of tools for monitoring information, data, activity related to the processes of creating, designing, managing, and playing educational video games. This paper is based on the authors...

Technology-enhanced learning applies more and more educational video games for increasing students’ motivation and engagement, for achieving better learning outcomes. This paper presents the designed functionalities of several software instruments created as analytics and visualization tools for analysing and evaluating both learning and playing ou...

The use of educational video games in the learning process and the benefits to consumers have been the subject of research and interest in many current studies. The APOGEE (smArt adaPtive videO GamEs for Education) online platform for the generation of educational video games tries to automatize the overall process of game design, creation, deploym...

The use of software tools for automated video game development is crucial in both entertainment games and serious games. The article presents aspects of the practical application of a software platform for generating three-dimensional video games for learning, which are mazes enriched with different types of didactic mini-games. The halls in the ma...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present principles for personalization of both learning content and gameplay in serious games for learning, which are based on a combined model of the student that comprises user, learner and player-related aspects of the student’s profile. Each of the considered user, learner and player sub-models has a stat...

The design and development of educational video games, and the realization of a successful video game project, often requires the research and analysis of data as a key element for success. Increasingly companies are integrating analytics tools into their structures, taking advantage of the analytics capabilities. The focus of this paper is on the...

The paper presents a brief scientific study of the capabilities of the APOGEE software platform to facilitate the automated creation of an educational video maze game. It presents the developed within Heritage BG project experimental educational video maze game dedicated to the work and legacy of Bulgarian rebel Valchan Voivoda and their impact on...

Software design patterns incarnate expert knowledge distilled from the practical experience in object-oriented design, in a compact and reusable form. The article presents a quantitative study of the usability of the object-oriented software design patterns (known as Gang of Four patterns) applied for improving the testability, maintainability, ext...

Educational video games are considered interactive, user-oriented, and motivating learning instruments, allowing delivery of tailored learning experiences. Designing and implementing adaptive and personalized educational video games can become a suitable tool for teachers in student-centric learning. In this context, the present research aims to ou...

Gamification of education is a fact in recent years. This method for imperceptible learning is used in many countries and schools all over the world. The advantages and disadvantages of the educational games according, to students and teachers, are shortly explained here. The paper describes an intelligent video maze-game that is a container for va...

The focus of this paper is on the development of a taxonomy of software instruments that will facilitate the management and evaluation of the design of video games for education. For that reason, we aim to propose such a taxonomy that will be useful to users (especially to designers/creators) in the processes of the creation of educational video ga...

The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provides new m-learning solutions for "learning-on-the-go", packing in one educational content, pedagogical framework and community support. Reaching millions of users worldwide , the MOOCs have the potential to fully transform educational landscape. However, the spread of the MOOCs is still limited, the rete...

Thanks to their impressive interactive abilities, video games are applied for decades as an engaging means for effective and efficient game-based learning. This paper presents the vision of applying rich educational video mazes as a visual environment for game-based learning. It defines a rich educational maze as a 3D maze video game providing rich...

Smart services extend the level of human-computer interaction (HCI) by automating service' personalization and adaptation, based on end-user profiling, analytics, and context of use. On the other hand, the design of adaptable solutions such as educational video games is a challenging and demanding task. By adopting smart services functionality on a...

Puzzles are popular learning instruments and teachers easily adopt them in class, raising students’ motivation and engagement. Furthermore, puzzle-based learning has many advantages for developing complex transversal skills. Therefore, the APOGEE (smArt adaPtive videO GamEs for Education) research project exploits puzzles as building blocks for sup...

Персонализация и адаптация в образователни видео игри от тип пъзел (in Bulgarian) Presented at the 12th National Conference with International Participation „Education and Research in the Information Society”, Plovdiv, 30-31 May 2019

Nowadays, the integration of serious video games into educational and training processes tends to be more and more popular. The present paper outlines the software architecture of an innovative online platform for an automatized construction of educational video games, which is going to allow non-IT professionals such as teachers, pedagogues, and e...

In the last decades, game-based learning has gained an increasing popularity in many countries worldwide. Learning by playing computer games gives school students some undeniable advantages over classical teaching: students are motivated to learn; they are an active part of the learning process; information is acquired in a pleasant way and is reme...

Serious games based on video mazes can be easily and effectively applied for learning purposes with the goal of facilitating technology-enhanced education. In order to practice game-based learning for various curriculums, educators need software platforms for automatized construction and flexible customization of such games. This article presents a...

Dynamic player-centric adaptation continues being a challenge for software applications and, in particular, in video games. The paper presents a dynamic adjustment of difficulty and visual effects in a car driving 3D video game based on changes of both the player performance (outcomes) shown within the game session and, on the other hand, the playe...

In recent years, researchers have reported positive outcomes and effects from applying computer games to the educational process. The preconditions for an effective game-based learning process include the presence of high learning interest and the desire to study hard. Therefore, educational video game design has to tailor gameplay to the style of...

In last decade, educational games such as quizzes, puzzles and quests have provoked an increasing interest in new methods of learning and appeared to be an appeal motivating students to study in a way rather different than the traditional one. Board games use rule-driven approaches for both presentation and control. Traditional quizzes, puzzles and...

Modern content development is not feasible without collaborative methods, techniques and workspaces. A collaborative working environment may incorporate various services for content provisioning, design, re-mastering, search and delivery. The paper is focused on the collaborative content development based on ontology and suitable for implementation...

Detection of learning curves of player metrics is very important for the serious (or so called applied) games, because it provides an indicator representing how players master the game tasks by acquiring cognitive abilities, knowledge, and necessary skills for solving the game challenges. Real time identification of specific patterns in the learnin...

Playing style recognition is crucially important for style-based adaptation of digital games. Unlike traditional ways for measuring of styles by means of self-reports, automatic style estimation incorporated into a video game appears to be a more efficient and ecologically valid method. The article presents a model for in-game recognition of four p...

Serious games based on video mazes can be easily and effectively applied for learning purposes with the goal of facilitating technology-enhanced education. In order to practice game-based learning for various curriculums, educators need software platforms for automatized construction and flexible customization of such games. This article presents a...

Business software systems and applications use business process management concepts to organize and automate processes. Incorporating a business process management system in existing business applications is a pretty complex task and, as well, is very expensive in terms of time and human resources. The article presents a newly conceived Framework f...

This paper presents the architecture of the RAGE repository, which is a unique and dedicated infrastructure that provides access to a wide variety of advanced technology components for applied game development. The RAGE project, which is the principal Horizon2020 research and innovation project on applied gaming, develops up to three dozens of soft...

In technology-enhanced education, the "serious games" method is accepted as a research, pedagogic, and evaluative tool. The method helps instructors to motivate student learning, curiosity, creative and logical thought, as well as develop a variety of skills and competencies. Serious educational games aim to cultivate better comprehension strategie...

Serious video games applied for learning purposes play a significant and important role for the modern technology enhanced education. The paper presents an educational 3D maze video game dedicated to the development of carpet fabrication in Bulgaria since 17 th century until modern days. The game was automatically generated by means of declarative...

In technology-enhanced education, the “serious games” method is accepted as a research, pedagogic, and evaluative tool. The method helps instructors to motivate student learning, curiosity, creative and logical thought, as well as develop a variety of skills and competencies. Serious educational games aim to cultivate better comprehension strategie...

Serious video games applied for learning purposes play a significant and important role for the modern technology enhanced education. The paper presents an educational 3D maze video game dedicated to the development of carpet fabrication in Bulgaria since 17 th century until modern days. The game was automatically generated by means of declarative...

Business software systems and applications use business process management concepts to organize and automate processes. Incorporating a business process management system in existing business applications is a pretty complex task and, as well, is very expensive in terms of time and human resources. The article presents a newly conceived Framework f...

Purpose This paper aims to clarify how affect-based adaptation can improve implicit recognition of playing style of individuals during game sessions. This study presents the “Rush for Gold” game using dynamic difficulty adjustment of tasks based on both player performance and affectation inferred through electrodermal activity and facial expression...

This paper describes the structural architecture of the RAGE repository, which is a unique and dedicated infrastructure that provides access to a wide variety of advanced technologies (RAGE software assets) for applied game development. These software assets are reusable across a wide diversity of game engines, game platforms and programming langua...

In recent years, the interest to the area of computer games for educational purposes increased due to their positive outcomes and effects in technology-enhanced learning. One of their chief merits is retaining the learning motivation and engagement of players during all time of the game. Therefore, it is necessary educational games to be able to ad...

Thanks to their specific characteristics, educational video games make game-based learning more effective than traditional teaching approaches with regard of students’ motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. This demonstrator presents an educational 3D maze video game introducing Bulgarian Orthodox iconography. The structure and learning con...

Thanks to their specific characteristics, educational video games make game-based learning more effective than traditional teaching approaches with regard of students’ motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. This demonstrator presents an educational 3D maze video game introducing Bulgarian Orthodox iconography. The structure and learning con...

Video games proved to be an attractive media for presenting cultural heritage issues. They can use virtual worlds to present cultural and historic information in amazing and highly appealing way. Each video game is implemented using set of valuable artifacts (components) reflecting technological, socioeconomic and historical issues. These software...

Software assets are key output of the RAGE project and they can be used by applied game developers to enhance the pedagogical and educational value of their games. These software assets cover a broad spectrum of functionalities – from player analytics including emotion detection to intelligent adaptation and social gamification. In order to facilit...

Attractive and realistic content has always played a crucial role in the penetration and popularity of digital games, virtual environments, and other multimedia applications. Procedural content generation enables the automatization of production of any type of game content including not only landscapes and narratives but also game mechanics and gen...

Playing computer games is a predominantly emotional than rational process. Video games with affect-based adaptation measure player’s behavior signals and recognize player’s emotional states in order to adapt specific game features in a dynamic manner and to improve player’s engagement, immersion, excitement, and challenge. The present review deals...

Contemporary methods of preserving cultural heritage rely highly on digitization and archiving as foundations for developing various virtual heritage applications. During last two decades, video games proved to be an interactive visual media able to incorporate virtual heritage in amazing and highly appealing ways. At the same time, each video game...

Contemporary methods of preserving cultural heritage rely highly on digitization and archiving as foundations for developing various virtual heritage applications. During last two decades, video games proved to be an interactive visual media able to incorporate virtual heritage in amazing and highly appealing way. At the same time, each video game...

In last two decades, educational video games have been proven as a modern platform able to enhance substantially traditional e-learning in K12 and higher education. Many recent studies demonstrate using such video games tends to be effective in helping students to obtain new knowledge and to develop useful practical skills; however, lacking free to...

Many universities have designed specialized Learning Management Systems in order to facilitate the management of education, the access to knowledge and educational resources, and the communications with all stakeholders involved. With the wide spread of mobile technologies nowadays, new challenges emerge for adapting the available systems to the de...

1 Knowledge Management (KM) has gained special attention among researchers and practitioners. Its importance for competitiveness and growth was widely recognised. Many universities launched specialised courses on KM, and later full educational programmes. In Bulgaria, teaching KM started in 2007 as a follow-up of a study among small and medium ente...

Modern blended learning relies more and more on new methodologies and core technologies for increasing effectiveness of teaching. Using video lectures is one of the prerequisites for a better success rate and higher student satisfaction. The paper provides a description of main characteristics of video lectures and discusses their structure, types...

Knowledge management (KM) is a new scientific discipline based on the rapid changes in information and communication technologies (ICT). In the knowledge-based economy, knowledge has become a key resource and success factor. Subsequently KM has gained a special attention among academic and business community during the last decades. This paper pres...

The evolution of metadata standards used for building the Semantic Web makes possible single, integrated access to regional digital libraries. The ambition of Europeana project is focused at realisation of such an integrated, secured multilingual access to digital collections of European cultural heritage artifacts distributed at various European c...

The evolution of metadata standards used for building the Semantic Web makes possible single, integrated access to regional digital libraries. The ambition of Europeana project is focused at realisation of such an integrated, secured multilingual access to digital collections of European cultural heritage artifacts distributed at various European c...

Modern information visualization in focussed on new methods for visual mappings and novel strategies for interaction and navigation through various types of view of a visual form. The paper presents the Bloom platform for visualization of complex networks with highly related entities and aggregations, both able to possess complex data attributes. I...

Traditionally, adaptive assessment methods and tools have been addressed only by application of computerized adaptive testing and item response theory as a key instrument for practical construction of adaptive test assessments. The present paper tries to give a broader view of adaptive assessment, where tests are not the only instrument for evaluat...

Modern technology enhanced learning methods often are based on non-traditional instructional paradigms. Mass invasion of educational games feeds edutaiment grow, however, it suffers from a lack of cheap and effective implementations of eLearning games of various types making use of domain content of given course. The article describes a software fr...

Modern technology enhanced learning is inconceivable without mobile games. Mass invasion of mobile games in education is hampered by a lack of cheap and effective ways for implementation of various e-learning games using content and knowledge in specific courseware domain. The paper proposes a simple, light-weight semantic model of content organiza...

Currently available web search engines and social media websites stick to their specific web traffic trends and do not provide generic overview of the whole web. We can better understand the current market and user interest about a specific product or topic or any term by analyzing all the trends from search engines and social media. Unfortunately,...

Creation of business plans helps entrepreneurs in managing identification of business opportunities and committing necessary resources for process evolution. Applying patterns in business plan creation facilitates the identification of effective solutions that were adopted in the past and may provide a basis for adopting similar solutions in the fu...

Internet computer games turn to be more and more attractive within the context of technology enhanced learning. Educational games as quizzes and quests have gained significant success in appealing and motivating learners to study in a different way and provoke steadily increasing interest in new methods of application. Board games are specific grou...

Adaptive e-learning systems try to improve teaching processes on Internet by providing different educational content and activities for different learners. Modern tendencies of adaptation require usage of learning styles on student grouping. Main idea of adaptive e-learning applications is to use a different pedagogical approach for each of these g...

In last twenty years, researchers have conducted intensive research in the area of principal models, software architectures and practical system development of adaptive e-learning platforms. Brains are fascinated by great opportunities for radical improvement of the teaching process by means of applying adaptability at different levels. There are t...

In last decade, educational games such as quizzes, puzzles and quests have provoked an increasing interest in new methods of learning and appeared to be an appeal motivating students to study in a way rather different than the traditional one. Board games manipulate figures a surface according predefined rules in a competitive play mode with race c...

During last years, Quality of Service (QoS) aspects in service-based applications tend to be more and more challenging issues. The paper is focused on various aspects of QoS contracts and especially on these being parts of Service Level Agreements (SLAs). SLA parameters present statements about the levels of services' quality which should be agreed...