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International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764)
Volume 02– Issue 03, May 2013
www.ijcit.com 376
The 3D Gaming Simulation for a Real-World
University Experience
Mbarani Echaminya, Sowon Karen, Shibwabo Bernard Kasamani*
Faculty of Information Technology, Strathmore University
Nairobi- Kenya
*bshibwabo {at} strathmore.edu
Abstract— This paper presents a gaming system which simulates
the life of an ordinary University student. The University selected
is Strathmore University. The simulation gives the player an idea
of life experience in the University as it would be in the real
world. In addition to simulating how various aspects affect
student life, the simulation also acts as a good way of exploring
the university without actually having to be there. Therefore one
can learn a lot about the university at the comfort of their seats
without suffering too much time expense whilst at the same time
enjoying the experience of gameplay.
To achieve the set goal Object Oriented Analysis and Design
Methodology with Python scripting programming were used as
to facilitate interactivity of the player. Blender 2.5 Beta software
was used to model the virtual environment.
This simulation would be great to both explorers, researchers,
lecturers, parents, students and aspiring students alike among
others. Many love the experience of gameplay whilst at the same
time gaining other learning benefits, depending on the learning
intentions of the individual player, for instance, knowing their
way around the university.
Keywords— Virtual Reality, 3D Game, Gameplay, Strathmore
University, Simulation
I. INTRODUCTION
Potential students who aspire to join certain universities
usually have little or no idea how life is in the university or
how it looks like. In most cases they only have the opportunity
to know all this once they join the university. It is impossible
to know how life is in a certain place unless you experience it
for a period of time. They may also not be granted access into
the university unless they become students. Also, they may
have little or no motivation to join an institution because they
have no idea how amazing the facilities are. The available
facilities can be a big motivating factor that contributes to the
choice of an institution of higher learning.
In addition to that, people who have already acquired
jobs would want to know the proper whereabouts in the
university but usually have no little or no time to do so. It is
too time-consuming. There are also people who may want to
explore a University e.g. Student Architects in order to get
ideas from the great designs of the buildings but their busy
lifestyle hinders them the opportunity to do so. It is not only
about time but also a myriad of possible restrictions in order
to access some locations or designs of the institution.
Architects are just one of the many who may want to have a
good view of what a University environment has for display.
II. RELATED WORK
The most reported effects of games appear to focus on the
negative consequences for instance game addiction, increased
aggressiveness and the various medical and psychosocial
effects. However, there are many references to the positive
benefits of games. Research dating right back to the early
1980s has consistently shown that playing computer games
(irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times,
improved hand eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-
esteem. Ref. [3] adds that curiosity, fun and the nature of the
challenge also appear to add to a game’s educational potential.
According to [3], games have numerous advantages as
educational and research tools. They provide elements of
interactivity that may stimulate learning in a number of ways.
They also allow participants to experience curiosity and
challenge. This may stimulate learning and they also equip
children with state-of-the art technology as they would be
forced to purchase them if they were to play the game. Games
may help overcome technophobia (a condition well-known
among many adults). Over time games may also help
eliminate gender imbalance in Information Technology (IT)
use (as males tend to be more avid IT users). Games may also
help in the development of transferable IT skills and can also
act as simulations which allow participants to engage in
extraordinary activities and to destroy or even die without real
consequences. That would help to know by simulation
whether actually taking part in a certain venture is beneficial
or detrimental.
In accordance with [2], Children are more exposed to
games nowadays while they are still in school. There are
several schools that make use of the medium of games in
order to help the children to have better knowledge and
understanding of the subjects that they are being taught. In
fact, it is being considered as one of the most popular methods
of teaching nowadays simply because there are a few games
that help the children to improve their creativity and
imagination.
It is also stated that playing games results to lots of
improvements in the reflexes and experts say that those who
play games are able to coordinate the hand and eye
movements in a more flexible manner than others. Ref. [2]
International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764)
Volume 02– Issue 03, May 2013
www.ijcit.com 377
concurs, gaming is now considered as a form of physiotherapy
and they are being recommended by the medical associations.
Those people who are trying to make a comeback after
fighting with some major illness or accident can actually
experience a lot of improvements in their health if they start
by playing computer games.
Video games also assist players to modify their problem
solving abilities. Most games have different levels that go on
becoming tougher and the player is supposed to take these
challenges head on and strive for excellence as they try to
complete the game too.
There are different types of games of many variations that
come into play for example Puzzles, mazes, fantasy/adventure
and simulation games [3]. Some games require physical skill
and strategy, while others are games of chance. Some are
board or adventure game, while others involve simulation
involving real events or fantasy. However, no evidence
supports a greater therapeutic or educational effect in either
situation.
III. THE 3D GAMING SIMULATION
A. The Way Forward
Gaming can be applied to simulate a learning institution.
This way, people would recall more about the physical
institution for instance through something which is enjoyable.
It would also be of great aid to new first year students for
orientation purposes. Any student who missed the orientation
or any who would like to know more about the Institution
would easily explore it from the comfort of their seats whilst
at the same time enjoy the experience of game play.
The proposed game has been developed using python and
the Blender game engine. An extraordinary example of the
practical usefulness of Python and the Blender Game Engine
(BGE) can be seen in the collaborative fish population
visualization project carried out by the University of British
Columbia (UBC) Fisheries Centre and students in the UBC
Masters of Digital Media program. The ambitious project
focused on taking large amounts of complex statistical data
describing projected populations of marine life and the results
of fishing policies on the populations. Although the collected
data was compelling, the researchers of the Fisheries Centre
needed a way to make it accessible to non-biologists and non-
statisticians.
The result of the collaboration is a dynamic 3D
underwater environment with animated marine life in
densities reflecting actual projections of the data. The user can
select marine species and set parameters for fishing policy in
real time, and the projected effect on the fish population will
become immediately visible. The team at UBC hopes that this
unique collaboration of game technology and intuitive data
visualization can help to influence how fishing policy is made
in the future.
Ref. [1] states, “Here’s a use for Blender that you haven’t
seen before: the Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver,
BC, Canada, has been quietly working with Blender and the
Blender Game Engine to produce scientific data visualizations
on the effect of fishing policy on fish populations. In addition,
they’re looking for summer interns who can work with
Blender”.
The proposed game begins with an attractive presentation
of a University in 3D. A player can navigate to various
location of the University. As the player navigates around,
there are a set of variables that are known to influence the
academic success of a typical student. Some of the variables
are drugs and crime which are expected to lower the mean of
the student in a semester. A combination of these factors then
later sum up to present the player with a score after the game
session is over. In order to deal with monotony, various levels
of the game are provided with varying degree of complexity.
B. Game Analysis and Design
This section further elaborates the analysis and design
methods. The proposed system intends to use OOADM due to
its data orientation. Object Oriented Analysis and Design
(OOAD) is used through its various Unified Modelling
Language (UML) diagrams. The goal of object-oriented
design (OOD) is to design the classes identified during the
analysis phase, the user interface and data access and illustrate
the relationships and the responsibilities that these different
classes have. A class diagram can be used to bring out the
graphical output of the relationships between these classes.
Fig. 1 presents the main use case diagram.
Fig. 1: Main Use Case Diagram
International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764)
Volume 02– Issue 03, May 2013
www.ijcit.com 378
Fig. 2 presents the class diagram for the 3D gaming
application.
Fig. 2: Class Diagram
Fig. 3 presents the sequence diagram for the 3D gaming
application.
Fig. 3: Sequence Diagram
Fig.4 shows the interaction between scenes. For clarity of
the database, it can be taken as the scene representing the
whole database, a cube (the grey box with a dotted outline)
being added to the scene and cube data (the box with a
triangular shape within) assigned to the cube. A material
(different colours e.g. red, blue) is assigned to the cube and a
texture e.g. (stripes, chequered boxes, reflection properties,
different modifications to the cubes appearance among other
factors) is assigned to the material. The lines within the
diagram create the relationships between the data within the
database. Note that all models within the database assume the
same diagrammatic form of representation.
Fig. 4: Scene Interaction
C. Game Playing
The game consists of certain things that a player must do.
Once the player starts playing the player is assigned a
character, which is a wolf in this case. Fig. 5 shows the home
screen. The player is then assigned a starting mark of 40
which represents the pass mark for selected units in
Strathmore, and the maximum number of points that can be
attained is 100. If at any point of the game, the student’s
marks drop below 40, then he or she fails and is supposed to
“retake” the level. This symbolizes what happens when a
student fails to attain a minimum of 40% in any unit exam.
He/she is usually required to retake that exam.
International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764)
Volume 02– Issue 03, May 2013
www.ijcit.com 379
Fig. 5: The Opening Screen
So how does one attain points in the game? There are
certain hidden documents in the game that symbolize the
assignments, Continuous Assessment Tests (CATs) and
exams that usually enable a student to score marks. Once the
player finds any document in the game, he/she is assigned
marks. Assignments are the easiest to find and usually carry
the least marks. In this case, it is about 2 points. CATs are
even harder to find in the game and they contribute to 5 points.
The hardest to find are exams and they contribute to 10 points.
The search for these documents shows that for a student to
attain marks, they don’t come easy. They have to be earned.
Additionally, it also symbolizes, that assignments and CATs
are more easily done than exams as exams are the hardest to
find in the game, while assignment and CATs are more easily
accessible. Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 present the game play progress
models that are subsequent to the first scene. Fig. 8 shows a
Game-play scene with the wolf running across a corridor.
Fig. 6: A Game-play progress model scene representing a university section
of focus.
Fig. 7: A Game-play progress model scene representing a university main
entrance.
Fig. 8: A Game-play scene with the wolf running at the stairs that leads to the
FIT section
The direction of the game is also controlled by the
differences in the points that a person attains from
assignments, cats and exams. The weighting or degree of
influence shows that assignments in the school actually
contribute fewer marks than CATS, while exams actually
contribute the most.
There are also obstacles within the game that can cause the
player to drop in points. Such are objects such as alcohol,
cigarettes and weed which when accidentally picked, cause a
drop in points. A drug like cocaine for instance can lead to a
drop in 10 points. This symbolizes how a certain things are
detrimental student life and how they can lead to a drop in
grades. It might also not be easy to avoid them as they may be
placed near assignments, exams or CATS and picked up
accidentally. That difficulty to avoid them is a symbolism of
the difficulty to avoid temptation to detrimental substances by
some students and it also adds some challenge to the game.
Once the player feels that they have attained certain marks
within the game and cannot survive any longer to maintain
this due to the various variables that are bound to reduce the
cumulative score such as weed and alcohol, they are supposed
to flee to a certain exit point in the game and given merit
based on the points they were able to score and maintain.
International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764)
Volume 02– Issue 03, May 2013
www.ijcit.com 380
The game also contains instructions and credits. Credits
contain information on those who were involved in the
making of the game either directly or indirectly e.g. developer
(see Fig. 9), those who sang the music that was used in the
game, and so on. Exit basically terminates the application.
The following section presents sample code that enables
movement of the character (wolf):
from bge import logic
from bge import events
#import aud
def Player():
cont = logic.getCurrentController()
obj = cont.owner
motion = cont.actuators['Motion']
key = logic.keyboard.events
kbleft = key[events.LEFTARROWKEY]
kbright = key[events.RIGHTARROWKEY]
kbup = key[events.UPARROWKEY]
kbdown = key[events.DOWNARROWKEY]
def Init():
if not 'init' in obj:
obj['init'] = 1
def Update():
movespd = 0.9
mx = 0.0
my = 0.0
if kbleft > 0:
mx = movespd
if kbup > 0:
my = -movespd
elif kbdown > 0:
my = movespd
motion.dLoc = [mx, my, 0.0]
cont.activate(motion)
Init()
Update()
Fig. 9: A Credits Scene
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
In summary, the development of gaming systems is an
interesting and innovative way to solve real world problems
such as simulation matters, educational matters and so on.
This paper presents a combination of gaming, simulation and
moral values in an effort to solve an existing challenge which
is lack of first-hand experience. The solution has been
demonstrated by the 3D simulation gaming system that forms
the key output presented in this paper.
The idea is with no doubt a great way of facing the reality.
It is therefore recommended that more effort is directed
towards the use of this approach in trying to solve real world
problems.
The design of the phase 1 wing of the institution was
achieved while other parts of the institution particularly the
student centre were not included in the project. It is therefore
also recommended that further work may be done to help
improve upon the project or work towards developing similar
projects in future in various institutions globally.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank Strathmore University for
facilitating the project process. Further thanks to the National
Commission for Science & Technology and Innovation
(NCSTI), Kenya for the research support.
REFERENCES
[1] Bart (2008). Fish Population Data Visualisation, Internships at Great
Northern Way Campus, Vancouver Retrieved February, 2012, from
http://www.blendernation.com/2008/04/09/fish-population-data-
visualisation-internships-at-great-northern-way-campus-vancouver/
[2] Game, lifeisjustagame.com (2011) http://lifeisjustagame.com .
[3] Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Adolescent video game playing: Issues for the
classroom. Education Today: Quarterly Journal of the College of
Teachers, 60(4), 31-34
