Graduate students from the gLab presented approaches to generate realistic collision sounds for games at the Austrian science fair “Lange Nacht der Forschung” on November 7, 2009.

Collision sounds are an essential part of physics-based computer games, such as racing simulations. Playing the appropriate sound when two cars collide or a solid object hits a wall is no trivial task and usually requires a large number of different, prerecorded sounds.
gLab students Martina Karrer and Wolfgang Lenzelbauer presented an alternative approach where collision sounds are generated dynamically, based on actual physical parameters. Their application (based on gLab’s engine Cogaen) enables the use of a tablet pen to scratch a variety of different objects. This triggers the generation of an appropriate sound based on the intensity of the interaction.

“Lange Nacht der Forschung” is an initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research to display current research topics of universities and research facilities to a wider audience.

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Ten members of the GLab will attend this year’s Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig. Arriving on August 19 we will start off with the trade vistor day on August 20 giving our students and especially the newly graduates a unique chance to get in touch with some of Europe’s most important players in the gaming industry.
From 21st to 22nd we will visit the regular GC exhibition and get a glimpse on the lastest innovations and releases on the game market.

Visiting the Games Convention as trade visitors is a special offer for students participating in the computer games development branch of the Digital Media program. A successful education in computer games has to be tied closely to the industry and the well renowned Games Convention is an ideal opportunity to achieve just this.

YO!Tech is a fair designed to give high-school students an overview of the various technical studies they can pursue after finishing school. Most of the well-known Austrian educational institutions will present themselves to the students.

The campus in Hagenberg will be represented by two groups, one from the course Mobile Computing and the other from the Digital Media game development major.
Our lab will present , a multiplayer strategy game developed by three students (and currently at heavy beta testing) and our component-based game engine . The system of Cogaen represents an approach of teaching continuous game development in class. The system is developed further by various student projects and also used as a basis for games developed in the courses.

Interested? Visit us at the YO!Tech fair, June 24, 2008 from 9 am to 2 pm at the Aula der Wissenschaften, Wollzeile 27a, 1010 Vienna. Find our stand (FH OOE Logo) at the map included in this article.