1. Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto
2. FEUP - Faculdade de Engenharia
3. FEUP - Dissertação

Author(s):	Tiago Furtado Rossini Paula Pinto
Title:	Procedural Modeling of an Immersive Educational Escape Room
Issue Date:	2022-10-17
Description:	Immersive Educational Escape Room (IEER) can be a tool for teachers to use in their teaching methods because it is adaptable to any type of topic, theme, difficulty, objective, and many other parametrized factors. These factors allow students to immerse themselves in an activity that can induce learning content in a learning process with less frustrating and boring feelings. A technique for the IEER procedural modeling was developed through procedural content generation (PCG) methods, which were applied by using Houdini as its main software to propel the project forward. PCG methods function as a way to simplify the complex methodology that is required to create a game. It also works to automatically generate new assets that can make the experience unique each time the game is played. We chose Houdini as the main engine in the makings of this project because it is fully procedural software with a friendly learning curve, capable of generating any type of procedural assets, from single models to a whole set consisting of many elements. The implementation of this software began by understanding its main features, followed by adapting the collected information and techniques to target aspects in the construction of the Escape Room. The prototype achieved resulted from a methodology consisting of many iterations, each one to increase its flexibility and adaptability. Also, in the makings of this prototype, some limitations were faced regarding permission to fully utilize Houdini to link with Unity in order to explore the capabilities of syncing these two platforms fully. Further difficulties appeared when the group selected to help in the makings of this project failed to maintain solid cooperation, resulting in delays and rough decisions. Nonetheless, the conclusion of a low-fidelity tool to procedurally generate a division was achieved. This low-fidelity tool functions as a controller that manipulates the division, non-architectural assets, its contents, layout, and overall looks so that it can function as an everchanging method to generate new divisions for all types of purposes. In conclusion, to generate an educational tool such as an IEER, it is needed a deep understanding of what drives the player to seek further knowledge by embracing the methods applied in the gamified didactic exercise. This project proves to be a decisive tool for teachers and educational purposes due to its flexibility and adaptation properties.
Subject:	Outras ciências da engenharia e tecnologias Other engineering and technologies
Scientific areas:	Ciências da engenharia e tecnologias::Outras ciências da engenharia e tecnologias Engineering and technology::Other engineering and technologies
DOI:	10.34626/5gcj-3388
TID identifier:	203172574
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/10216/145071
Document Type:	Dissertação
Rights:	openAccess
Appears in Collections:	FEUP - Dissertação

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