Human-Human Touch Interaction in Games

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A little sneak peek from the results of our analysis! More will be revealed after publication ;)

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Open positions for MA/PhD

(Applicable for both BA or MA degree holders.)

KUAR Design Lab is working on a novel interactive environment (Sensation) which enables users to control devices by skin-touch gestures (i.e. touching their own hands). We are looking for a candidate for our product development based MA and PhD in Design Program.

The DubTouch project was first published at NordiCHI ’14 presenting the outcomes of user studies and an expert workshop with a conceptual experience prototype. The next step, implemented working prototype was presented and demonstrated at the CHI ‘16 in San Jose, the most prestigious conference in the field of human-computer interaction. In this regard, the candidate who will work in this project will have chance to be a part of a study which is already adopted by the HCI field as a novel and original application.

The accepted candidate will:

Work in collaboration with other grad students for the design, implementation and development of a device which needs to recognize different kinds of hand-specific on-skin gestures.

Be part of user experience studies in collaboration with research psychologists

And develop applications for this novel interactive system.

During the post-grad education, successful students may meet outstanding universities and labs which we have relationships such as Carnegie Mellon University and Chalmers Institute of Technology.

More information including application requirements and benefits are published on the website for the Design, Technology and Society Graduate Program and the information page for MA/MDes/PhD applicants on our website. The project Human-to-Human Touch Interaction in Games should be specified in the pre-application form.

The following requirements apply to this project:

BA or MA degree preferably in Engineering fields,

Experience in programming and electronics

Minimum GPA of 3.00/4.00

Financial Aid:

Scholarships and funding opportunities are available for qualified candidates, through Koç University and/or externally funded research projects. Decisions regarding a candidate’s suitability for financial aid will be made on an individual basis .

If you are found eligible for financial aid, these rates will apply.

Proof of English language proficiency:

TOEFL: IBT min. 80, CBT min. 213, PBT min. 550

ÜDS: min. 87

KPDS: min. 87

IELTS: min. 6.5

Standardized tests:

ALES: min. 80 equally weighted (EA)

GRE: min. 685/154 Quantitative (for non-Turkish citizens)

Important Dates:

2016 Fall ALES applications: 10.10.2016

2016 Fall ALES Exam Date: 18.12.2016

Exam Date: 30 January 2017

Deadline for submission of all application documents: 25 January , 2017

Click here for Application form.

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See how the participants of CHI ‘16 enjoyed the Sensation and Shape Destroy. New way of playing by touching other players. If you are curious about the talk then go here. If you are a more reader type then go there.

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We presented the paper at CHI ‘16 in Silicon Valley. You can watch the video and read the paper from here. Wanna see it in action? Click here!

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Our project that will be presented at CHI has been chosen for the CHI’16 Teaser. You can watch it here.

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Sensation will be presented at CHI ‘16

Sensation, which is the controller developed for detecting touch patterns, is accepted by CHI ‘16 committee and the concept of human-to-human touch in games were found immensely innovative by reviewers. We will be presenting the concept at San Jose, where CHI ‘16 will be held, in May 2016. CHI is the most popular and prestigious conference in human-computer interaction field with the“h5-index: 84″ and %23 acceptance rate. This year it will be organized at Silicon Valley and we will have chance to introduce our concept and the product, Sensation, in the heart of innovation. 

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(Applicable for both BA or MA degree holders.)

Koç University’s Design Lab is working on a novel interactive environment (DubTouch) which enables playing games by physically touching other players. We are looking for a candidate for our product development based MA and PhD in Design Program to work in this project. 

The DubTouch project was published at NordiCHI ’14 presenting the outcomes resulting from user studies and an expert workshop with a conceptual experience prototype. Its working prototype will be presented at the 2016 CHI, the most prestigious conference in the field of human-computer interaction.

The accepted candidate will:

Work in collaboration with a research engineer and other grad students for the design, implementation and development of DubTouch gaming environment

Design and develop games for DubTouch

Conduct player experience studies, with the help of a research psychologist, on games and DubTouch

During the post-grad education, successful students may meet outstanding universities and labs which we have relationships such as Carnegie Mellon University and Chalmers Institute of Technology.

More information including application requirements and benefits are published on the website for the Design, Technology and Society Graduate Program and the information page for MA/MDes/PhD applicants on our website. The project Human-to-Human Touch Interaction in Games should be specified in the pre-application form.

The following requirements apply to this project:

BA or MA degree preferably in Engineering or Design fields

Experience in programming and electronics

Minimum GPA of 3.00/4.00

Proof of English language proficiency:

TOEFL: IBT min. 80, CBT min. 213, PBT min. 550

ÜDS: min. 87

KPDS: min. 87

IELTS: min. 6.5

Standardized tests:

ALES: min. 70 equally weighted (EA)

GRE: min. 685/154 Quantitative (for non-Turkish citizens)

Application deadline: 10 January 2016 17:00

Click here for Application form.

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The future projection of the DubTouch Concept took place among 15 futuristic projects in alt.CHI section of CHI’14. You can reach the paper here.

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Sensation, a device which can detect several different touch patterns between players, is developed by the engineering team consisting of Koç University Engineering Students, who continue their undergrad education currently. We have conducted user tests to understand its effects on player immersion while playing games.  We used the game Worm Hole which had been developed in the last year’s workshop and used two displays to simulate the DubTouch environment which is normally comprised of a double sided display.

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Participants of the Workshop

Can Ürük: 3d Modeler – Portfolio

Emre Ünsal: Illustrator – Portfolio

Erdin Kaçan: Programmer – Portfolio

Güney Özsan: Sound Designer / Composer – Web Site

Kerem Oktay Bilgici: Sound Designer / Composer – Soundcloud

Mert Kütükoğlu: 3d Modeler – Portfolio

Murat İnan: Interaction Designer – Portfolio

Nice Uysal: Illustrator – Portfolio

Onur Olgaç: Interaction Designer – Portfolio

Stanislav Ursache: Programmer

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After user studies resulted we organized a workshop with the participation of 2 sound designers, 2 programmers, 2 illustrators, 2 modelers and 2 interaction designers. Our aim was to see if we can design fun and engaging games for the DubTouch interactive environment and to see if these games satisfy the results which we got in the user studies. At the end of the workshop, two games named “d-Coder” and “Worm Hole” is produced by the participants. These two games proved that the emergence of an unique control mechanism and an unconventional game play style is possible with DubTouch. Moreover, we were able to satisfy the users’ needs and expectations according to User Tests. You can peek at the games and the workshop from the following videos. The detail about the games can be found in the article.

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User Tests are conducted with 10 users and as a result, in total 340 touch patterns proposed by users. These patterns are categorized under 6 different categories called “Direct Manipulation”, “Two Hand”,  “Hand Posture”, “Two Users”, “3D Space” and “Physical Impact”. We also defined the most intuitive and exclusive patterns among these 6. The details of the categories can be found in the article.

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Project: DubTouch

Main Concept and Coordination: Oğuz Turan Buruk - PhD Researcher Principal Investigator: Prof. Oğuzhan Özcan  Team: İdil Bostan, Mert Canat, Mustafa Ozan Tezcan, Celalettin Yurdakul, Eran Tiza, Buğra Can Sefercik 

NOTICE: Sensation, which is the controller developed for detecting touch patterns, is presented at CHI ‘16 in San Jose and the concept of human-to-human touch in games were found immensely innovative by participants. You can reach the talk, paper and the demo trailer from the links. CHI is the most popular and prestigious conference in human-computer interaction field with the “h5-index: 84″ and %23 acceptance rate. This year it will be organized at Silicon Valley and we will have chance to introduce our concept and the product, Sensation, in the heart of innovation.

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DubTouch started as an conceptual interactive environment comprised of double sided display and touch areas where two players can touch each other. Human to human touch interaction (social touch) has not been investigated thoroughly as a control apparatus for gaming purposes although it holds potential. Therefore, we wanted to explore this area by developing a experience prototype and test it together with users. Afterwards, upon our knowledge gained from user tests, we conducted the workshop “Designing Games Based on Human to Human Touch Interaction” on 21-23 Februrary 2014. Two game prototypes were produced in the workshop. Results of the user studies and the workshop is reported. (ResearchGate Version)

The initial design process of the DubTouch Interactive Environment and the results which categorizes the intuitive and exclusive touch patterns published and presented at one of the most prominent conferences in the field of HCI “NordiCHI 2014”

The user oriented outcomes and the ideas of experts showed us that DubTouch environment holds a great potential for the collaborative social gaming. Therefore, we implemented a working prototype with a device called Sensation for detecting touch patterns between two players. Through this setup, we conducted a user study with 30 participants to measure the effects of social touch on player immersion. You can reach the results of the study from here.