RePlay is interested in all Game and Simulation research leveraging Digital Media (DIGM) and Computer Science (CS) skills in cooperation with other departments. Please contact us for sponsored research opportunities. Some such past and continuing projects include:

Lazybrains is a 3D game with both a bridge between a neuro-monitoring device and a gaming engine. The game explores the influence that new methods of interfacing may have on a user's immersion in an interactive 3D world, as well as new elements of game-play that may arise. The game is to be an exploratory, level-based experience where the user guides their character through different chambers, each offering a challenge which uses feedback from the player's brain as an additional input device. Utilizing the fNIR device, the user's brain activity becomes an additional "controller". In addition to standard controls on a traditional keyboard and mouse interface, the user's biofeedback output manipulates factors in the game's environment. For example, the user's particular concentration level may manipulate the height of platforms, slow down the motion of obstacles, or even change the color of virtual puzzle pieces to complete objectives. This game was designed and created by a collaboration between a digital media senior project team and a BioMedical Engineering Ph.D. student.

Team Members: Jordan Santell (DIGM), James Borden (DIGM), Aaron Bohenick (DIGM), Zachary Brooks (DIGM), Keneth Oum (DIGM), and Hasay Ayaz of BioMedical Engineering

Adviser: Dr. Paul Diefenbach



Practical Applications for Multitouch Gaming Technology in the Middle School Classroom. Continuing research from Planet Diggum, this project adapts and builds upon our previous framework, resulting in a platform for creating multitouch applications for the classroom environment. By harnessing the current strengths of X3D and developing new extensions for the engine, we have created a modular system where educators can load learning simulations on the multitouch display, including an adaptation of Justin Dobies' FISH. Each simulation can communicate with a web portal allowing greater access to students and ease of administrator for educators.

Team Members: Will Muto, Justin Dobies

Adviser: Dr. Paul Diefenbach



Inversion is an Alternative Reality Game engine that allows users to play in both the real and virtual worlds in competitive, team-based games. A deterministic, central server acts as a bridge which links GPS-enabled mobile devices to a 3D representation of the physical game space in which the mobile users are playing. Users playing in the physical world, called Agents, must accomplish location based tasks given to them from their Operator (a user playing from the 3D interface) via in-game text messages. Domination is a specific game-type developed for Inversion. In Domination, Agents are guided by their Operators to physical locations, which they must occupy for a brief period of time in order to capture that location for their team. Teams are capable of capturing a location currently held by another team, and locations can become briefly unobtainable if opposing players attempt to occupy the same location for too long a period. Teams accumulate points by capturing and holding waypoints. The winning team is the one who reaches the point threshold first or has the most points when the time runs out.

Advisers: Dr. Paul Diefenbach, Dr. Frank Lee



While devices such as the Wii and Playstation's Eye (formerly EyeToy) have expanded user interface possibilities in the gaming world, there is still a traditional disconnect between the user and the physical screen image. The advance of gesture computing and the new availability of multi-point touch screens permit a novel mechanism and universal vocabulary for direct interaction with a virtual world. Planet Diggum is a multi-user god-game which uses a novel combination of finger and hand-stroke gestures. The goal of this project is to create a testbed kiosk where multiple users can interact with the system without need of training. Planet Diggum uses a Drexel-built Frusrated Total Internal Reflection multi-point touch screen, stanadards-based software, and custom media assets, and brings together teams from Digital Media, Computer Science, and Engineering to provide a unique and fun user experience.

Team Members: Dr. Paul Diefenbach, William Muto, Matthew Smith, Chester Cunanan, Justin Dobies, Arvind Neelakantan, Sara Colucci, James Grow, Dr. Frank Lee, Louis Kratz, Dr. Ko Nishino, Craig Polakoff, Boris Block, Dan Hennessey, Zenko Klapko, David Millar, William Morgan, Electrical Engineering, Dr. Youngmoo Kim, Timothy Kurzweg, Vijay Balchandani, Eric Effinger, Jeevan Kotha, Pannha Prak, Joseph Romeo

Adviser: Dr. Paul Diefenbach

There has historically been a disconnect between the engineering of robotic behaviors and the artistic creation of fluid, human-like motions. This work discusses an approach which leverages 3D tools originally created for computer graphics animators and repurposes them for humanoid robotics. Initial proof-of-concept work on a simple off-the-shelf humanoid built from simple servos and brackets provides a testbed prior to migration of the techniques to a larger, complex, reactionary biped robot, the HUBO.

Team Members: Daniel Letarte (DIGM), Joyce Tong (DIGM), Robert Ellengberg (Mechanical Engineering)

Advisers: Dr. Paul Diefenbach (DIGM), Christopher Redmann (DIGM), Dr. Paul Oh (Mechanical Engineering)