- Annex Detail -

NATO PRESENTATION


I created these slides for the 2018 NATO e‑Learning Conference in Virginia Beach, USA. The concept derives from my 2017 EDUDEV blog post, "Making A Puzzle App With Unity". BOXXER was voted Best Industrial e‑Learning Product by attendees of this international event.

This is BOXXER, a concept visualization by T.M.Wilcox, developer of educational game software prototypes.

Spatial reasoning ability is a predictor of successful STEM careers and education. BOXXER is a virtual reality app to enhance spatial reasoning ability.

BOXXER challenges players to fill a large box with smaller boxes leaving the least possible unfilled space.

The control interface affords picking up small boxes and placing them inside of a larger box with dual VR controllers.

A player's score factors total attempts, elapsed time, and the unfilled space remaining inside the box at the end of a round.

The BOXXER app generates box sizes and shapes in real time with heuristics instead of a lookup table.

A box generator code object spawns subsidiary code objects defining boxes by their dimensions and scale.

This box making parent object generates child objects with characteristics of game world objects, all in code.

The game engine uses the generated box dimensions to create a visible box with added surface characteristics.

To avoid weirdly shaped boxes, dimensions are constrained by an algorithm that tests for game-world eligibility.

The procedural box generator adapts dynamically to the player's strategy, making challenges more or less difficult.

Box dimensions derive from a player’s tendency to choose certain boxes relative to an ideal performance model.

The app's artificial intelligence controls box variability and complexity, keeping pace with a player's predicted skill level.

The more use it gets, the more effective the app's box generator becomes, evolving its player performance model over time.

Ideally, it seems like a sentient box maker learns from and responds competitively to a player's method and style.

Target platforms for the BOXXER app are Oculus Rift and HTC Vive HMDs, and their respective dual controllers.

An experimental port targets the Oculus Go paired with Microsoft's XBox Bluetooth-enabled game controller.

The integrated development environment and game engine for BOXXER is Unity 2018 and the C# programming language.

Boxes and other vector art assets are created in Autodesk 3D Studio Max with texture maps made in Adobe Photoshop.

Audio is developed with Adobe Audition while spatializtion effects harness the Oculus Spatialized Audio SDK.

BOXXER research and development continues. A beta release could soon be available on Oculus and Steam app stores.

tmwilcox@gmail.com wilcoxmedia.com