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This deliverable deals with the asset integration methodology employed in the RAGE project. A considerable amount of the effort of the RAGE project has been directed towards addressing the technical challenges of asset integration and interoperability. All RAGE partners engaged in asset development adopted a pragmatic approach to integration and interoperability and where practical adopted the use of Open Standards and Specifications supported by a defined project architecture. Asset developers adopted a consistent approach to development languages. The four RAGE Game development partners each included a number of assets within their development processes and in producing the RAGE pilot Games. Their experience of the asset-based development methodology is detailed in this deliverable. Where potential gaps in the interoperability integration activity were identified, specifically in interoperability between the output of games data and Learning Management systems, the project undertook specific “proof of concept” work to address this. Where proposed activity was identified by the development community or through consultation as being problematic or as a potential barrier to adoption, for example the case of a formal nomenclature, effort was directed to more productive activity. This approach unearthed technical challenges, which were managed by the RAGE project Integration and interoperability group All issues were successfully resolved during the research and development phase of the project. Ultimately only minor integration problems occurred and these are documented within the Game development partners input into this deliverable. The RAGE project’s pragmatic approach to integration and interoperability has been very well received by those engaging with the project also serving to “cross the chasm” from both technical and philosophical perspectives and between academia and Industry. In doing so the project has achieved a number of the key primary objectives. Conceptually, from a technical perspective, the RAGE asset-based approach to Applied Game development has been validated.

We introduce the Adaptation and Assessment (TwoA) component, an open-source tool for serious games, capable of adjusting game difficulty to player skill level. Technically, TwoA is compliant with the RAGE (Horizon 2020) game component architecture, which offers seamless portability to a variety of popular game development platforms. Conceptually, TwoA uses a modified version of the Computer Adaptive Practice algorithm. Our version offers two improvements over the original algorithm. First, the TwoA improves balancing of player's motivation and game challenge. Second, TwoA reduces the selection bias that may arise for items of similar difficulty by adopting a fuzzy selection rule. These improvements are validated using multi-agent simulations.

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 facilitate integration and interoperability, all of these assets adhere to a common model, which describes their properties through a set of metadata. In this paper the RAGE asset model and asset metadata model is presented, capturing the detail of assets and their potential usage within three distinct dimensions – technological, gaming and pedagogical. The paper highlights key issues and challenges in constructing the RAGE asset and asset metadata model and details the process and design of a flexible metadata editor that facilitates both adaptation and improvement of the asset metadata model.

This paper presents and validates a methodology for integrating reusable software components in diverse game engines. While conforming to the RAGE com-ponent-based architecture described elsewhere, the paper explains how the interac-tions and data exchange processes between a reusable software component and a game engine should be implemented for procuring seamless integration. To this end, a RAGE-compliant C# software component providing a difficulty adaptation routine was integrated with an exemplary strategic tile-based game “TileZero”. Implementa-tions in MonoGame, Unity and Xamarin, respectively, have demonstrated successful portability of the adaptation component. Also, portability across various delivery platforms (Windows desktop, iOS, Android, Windows Phone) was established. Thereby this study has established the validity of the RAGE architecture and its un-derlying interaction processes for the cross-platform and cross-game engine reuse of software components. The RAGE architecture thereby accommodates the large scale development and application of reusable software components for serious gaming.

Digital game technologies are a promising way to enable training providers to reach other target groups, namely those who are not interested in traditional learning technologies. Theoretically, through using digital game technologies we are able to foster the acquisition of any competence by specifying competency structures, offering adequate problem solving support while maintaining motivation and taking personality into consideration as part of the tailored game experience. In this paper, we illustrate how this is done within the RAGE project, which aims to develop, transform, and enrich advanced technologies into self-contained gaming assets for the leisure games industry to support game studios in developing applied games easier, faster, and more cost effectively. The software assets discussed here represent a modular approach for fostering learning in applied games. These assets address four main pedagogical functions: competency structures (i.e., logical order for learning), motivation, performance support (i.e., guidance to maintain learning), and adaption to the player’s personality.