You can also enter a script or a topic and Synthesia will generate a voiceover for you in over 120 languages. InVideo is an AI video generator that helps you create short videos from text, images, or video inputs. You can choose from thousands of templates ...

Best AI Tools To Create Stunning Short Videos (2023)

Synthesia Best for AI Avatars One free demo video generation $22.50 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly AI Studios Best for Text-to-Speech Quality One free demo video generation $24 per month, billed annually, or $30 billed monthly InVideo ...

5 Best AI Video Generators 2023

Looking to start a YouTube channel? Check out our list of the best AI tools to help you get started and grow your channel! From video editing to audience research, these tools will help you launch and run a successful YouTube channel.

Best AI Tools to Launch and Run a YouTube Channel

This guide breaks down the best AI powered short-form video makers available in 2023, and offers guidance on how to use each one.

How to Use AI Tools to Easily Make Short-Form TikTok and Reels Videos

However, if you use your own avatar (i.e. yourself), you can use it anywhere. Some restrictions for Personal plan users (e.g. only 90+ avatars instead of 130+) InVideo is a powerful video editing software that also lets you turn text into videos.

10 Best AI Video Generators to try in 2024 (paid and free)

UNITED STATES, October 10, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In the dynamic landscape of content creation, where visuals speak louder than words, invideo is excited to ...

Invideo Launches AI Video Generator Tool for Enhanced Video Creation

AI video generator invideo AI UNITED STATES, October 10, 2023 /EINPresswire / -- In the dynamic landscape of content creation, where

Invideo Launches AI Video Generator Tool For Enhanced Video Creation

InVideo Lifetime Deal: Is it Worth Investing in for Automated Video Creation? InVideo is an AI-powered online video creation platform that allows users to make professional videos in minutes using ...

InVideo Lifetime Deal 🛍️ To Create Ai Video Generator From Text

InVideo: 24-hour email and chat support, tutorial videos, blogs, and social media tips. Pictory: Email and chat support, Help Center with articles and tutorials. Winner: InVideo

Pictory vs. InVideo: The Difference Between These AI Video Editors?

Fortunately, the emergence of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as InVideo AI, has revolutionized the way we approach video creation, making it substantially more accessible ...

How to create AI generated YouTube videos with InVideo

InVideo

invideo

The rendering process of a .mp4 video created on InVideo involves piping a sequence of virtual framebuffers, containing the information of each frame of the composition, to the FFmpeg encoder, which sequentially stitches them into a video with standard H.264 encoding. A virtual framebuffer is just another fancy term for — the array of RGB values corresponding to the pixels of the frame of the video. It’s a ‘virtual image’ of sorts. Let’s also note here that all InVideos are rendered in HD resolution. Now this operation is very similar to taking a sequence of .png images and piping them to FFmpeg. Instead of .png images, we are just piping ‘virtual images’. (It might have minute differences, but for the scope of this discussion, we can assume that it’s the same.) The simplified FFmpeg command for stitching a video from a sequence of images is — ffmpeg -i img%03d.png -pix_fmt yuv420p video.mp4 The above converts a sequence of images ( , ) to a yuv420 chroma sub-sampled H.264 video at the standard 25 frames per second. ‘image001.png’ ‘image002.png’ (Replace the sequence of real .png images, with the virtual framebuffers and the result is the same.) Simple, no? Well, we thought so too until we started getting complains that the colours in the video seemed . So we did a visual comparison of our InVideo output with the output of the same composition from After Effects (via Adobe Media Encoder) in their export settings for videos. ‘washed out’, ‘faded’, ‘dull’ High Definition Visual Differences While the difference is minor (as you may notice on the cover image of this blog), you can notice how the colours in the AE render are richer as compared to the InVideo render; which seems more washed out. It took some research and closely inspecting the video metadata using FFprobe and MediaInfo to figure out that there was a difference in the between the two renders. colour spaces used Colour Spaces Before going further, it is important to touch base on the concept of colour spaces - Colour spaces are the mathematical profiles/ equations which transform a pixel value of a colour model (such as (255,255,255) of RGB) to a corresponding wavelength of light. These equations have been derived and re-derived from an empirical understanding of how we humans perceive light. In other words, colour spaces are responsible for creating the physical representation of the colour red (or green or blue or a combination) as we see it, on a device like an LCD or CRT screen. Without colour spaces, different display devices and screens, or even applications and browsers, would render the colours of the same image differently. To make this uniform, colour spaces were formalized and created by an international committee ( ). Today, it is incomplete to save an image or video with just the pixel information. A colourspace should be attached to the metadata of the media file to ensure uniform colour generation across the board. CIE To read more about colour spaces , do check out the following article . To read more about colour space support in FFmpeg , check out the following article . Popular Video Colour Spaces Among others, the 3 popular video colour spaces for encoded videos generated from FFmpeg are - YUV (“Standard-Definition” or SD) (“High-Definition” or HD) (“Ultra-High-Definition” or UHD) ​BT.601 ​BT.709 ​BT.2020 is done via the YUV/RGB transformation matrix mentioned above. The BT.601 is an old format for SD TV videos from the days of PAL and NTSC, while BT.709 is the newer most used format for HD videos. Converting an RGB signal to YUV that is different for the different colour spaces (It is interesting to note that BT.709 shares the same primaries and white point chromaticity as the sRGB space — which is the go-to colourspace for most images and web browsers. The BT.2020 is the latest format for UltraHD with a wider and richer gamut. However, we can leave it out of the scope of discussion until we start creating UltraHD videos with richer colours for large screens.) Coming back to the renders… Which Colour Space was the AE video rendered in? BT.709! This makes sense since the video was in HD resolution, and BT.709 is the wider accepted colour space for most HD videos today. Which Colour Space was the InVideo video rendered in? BT.601! After much digging, we realised that FFMPEG by default converts RGB to YUV using 601 matrices, irrespective of the resolution — if nothing is specified. So which one is better? Hmm, hard question. They were meant for different devices (BT.601 for CRTs and BT.709 for HD LCD screens) so we should not really compare. However, BT.709, being a newer format, has a slightly wider colour gamut and is closer to the human perception of colour and luminance than BT.601. It was also built for it and thus maps better than most HD formats used today. arguably And just based on the colour differences in the screenshots we saw above — . we like BT.709 better Rendering InVideos in the BT.709 Colour Space Now that we had identified the problem, we just had to figure out how to get FFmpeg to generate the video in the BT.709 colourspace. Attempt 1 A hasty attempt led us to run the following modified command: ffmpeg -i img%03d.png -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf colorspace=all=bt709:iall=bt601-6-625:fast=1 -colorspace 1 -color_primaries 1 -color_trc 1 video.mp4 We added the following parameters to the original command - -colorspace 1 -color_primaries 1 -color_trc 1 The “1” corresponds to BT.709. (More on the relevant FFmpeg documentation here .) However, we soon realised that — all that this did was . FFmpeg still encoded the video using the BT.601 transformation matrix. assign the BT.709 tags to the video metadata This was wrong and a double whammy! The video was still encoded using the BT.601 transformation matrix but was assigned BT.709 metadata tags. So a media player like VLC, would decode the video according to the BT.709 reverse transformation matrix — causing all sorts of . unwanted discolouration Attempt 2 Instead of simply assigning the metadata tags, we also needed to ensure that the BT.709 transformation matrix was used, or alternatively do the YUV to YUV colour space conversion from BT.601 to BT.709. For this, we used the feature (“-vf”). It could all implicitly be done in 1 FFmpeg pass using the command below - FFmpeg filters ffmpeg -i img%03d.png -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf colorspace=all=bt709:iall=bt601-6-625:fast=1 -colorspace 1 -color_primaries 1 -color_trc 1 video.mp4 The extra filters parameter takes care of the conversion to BT.709 - -vf colorspace=all=bt709:iall=bt601-6-625:fast=1 (fast=1 was used so that the correct gamma correction happens.) The metadata tags were still kept as a good practice. Many media players, by default, decode an HD video using the BT.709 colour space if nothing is specified, some still need the metadata tags for proper decoding. And voila! We had an output which was almost identical in colour to the AE render. Also published on: https://medium.com/invideo-io/talking-about-colorspaces-and-ffmpeg-f6d0b037cc2f

An Intro to Colorspaces and FFmpeg with InVideo

Written by Sanket Shah At , when we launched on April 10th, 2019, our product was not launch-ready. In fact, we were going through a pivot. Long story short, a broken product during a one-time campaign that will send us thousands of users within a week was scary, very scary. Sailing through it successfully was crucial for the survival and CUSTOMER SUPPORT came as our lifeline. Since then, we have strived to provide exceptional customer support. InVideo Our customer support replies within 2 mins 24*7 via chat for free as well as paid users. Here is a screenshot of all folks from our support team with their first response time and a few other metrics. This kind of customer support is unheard of, especially in a prosumer SAAS companies where ticket sizes are ~$10/mo for paid users and a conversion rate of only 3%. However, ‘Why did we start 24*7 customer support’ is for another day. Let’s focus on how we use customer support as a product management weapon. Some context first: Today, we handle ~500 customer chats/day. That is like talking to 15000 customers every single month, 1:1. Let’s see what we made out of it. Step 1: We bifurcated the support chats into Product Help, Feature Request, and Bugs. And then we went deep — Here is a screenshot of how the bifurcation (tag) of every chat looks like. Here is the read-only file, in case you cannot see the screenshot. We are also very disciplined to add new tags during a new feature release. That helps us keep the tags/taxonomy sane. Let’s see how deep we went with the tags — Example: At InVideo, we call this as a left panel: It has several components like , etc. as you can see here: music, text, effects Now, let’s look at how deep our tagging mechanism goes. Level 1: and then level 2: Basically, we are going to the root of the problem. The problem cannot just be ‘ ’ related, it needs to be further analyzed. And all this data is passed on to the product team. Image Step 2: Tagging. Ensuring that every chat is tagged right by our customer support team. Now come on, we are all humans and we all make mistakes — But hey, they are mostly accurate to 85% of the time, and that helps us with the best indicative feedback. Step 3: The weekly report from our head of customer support: We mainly focus on the percentage bifurcation of our macro-categories like Product Help, Bugs, and Feature requests. Then we go deeper. Here are some of the examples: (This image is from a product we just started experimenting with — Aavaz, I am excited and their alpha version looks promising.) Basically, we find out if there are specific spikes in a particular category very easily using this mechanism. We further go deeper to identify specific issues — Here are a few examples: The ones related to text — Or my projects page — Or feature request on a left panel Or feature request on the canvas This truly helps us understand what our users want, where are they suffering, and helps the product team to evaluate priorities through talking to 15000 customers/month. Our support presentations are 78 slides long, here is the link A lot of our decisions are driven from the feedback we get via support be it a response to the new release to solving a bug to improving the UX. We look at metrics like the total number of chats related to bugs, which feature gets the maximum number of product help queries, what are the most used support articles etc: Here is a screenshot of our most viewed articles in the last 7 days. It means that these features are difficult to understand and PM’s need to solve them. Good customer support is a moat. If we find an issue with a customer, we do not shy away from going all out. Here is one of the screenshots of that. Friday at ~1 AM — When I look back to see how obsessed the team is, I feel privileged. At InVideo, we believe we are changing how bottoms up companies are built for the world. We at InVideo strive to provide a consumer-grade product, enterprise-grade sales, service and support, and prosumer pricing. All this while maintaining healthy gross margins. SAAS I am deeply grateful to everyone who took support chats through the nights in April-July 2019 when we did not have the support team, worked in erratic shifts. I also am very grateful to Hrishikesh, Swapnil, Hemangi, Pratik, Akash, and Brandon who have been the backbone of our customer support. It was just not possible without any of you folks. Thank you. We hope you enjoyed the blog, we are obsessed and ! we are hiring Also published on: https://medium.com/invideo-io/customer-support-as-a-product-management-weapon-how-we-talk-1-1-with-15000-users-mo-to-take-the-3f153ad61072

How We Communicate with 15000 Users/mo to Make Product Decisions

Authors:
(1) Yuwei Guo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong;
(2) Ceyuan Yang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with Corresponding Author;
(3) Anyi Rao, Stanford University;
(4) Zhengyang Liang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
(5) Yaohui Wang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
(6) Yu Qiao, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
(7) Maneesh Agrawala, Stanford University;
(8) Dahua Lin, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
(9) Bo Dai, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Work Related 3 Preliminary AnimateDiff 4.1 Alleviate Negative Effects from Training Data with Domain Adapter 4.2 Learn Motion Priors with Motion Module 4.3 Adapt to New Motion Patterns with MotionLora 4.4 AnimateDiff in Practice 5 Experiments and 5.1 Qualitative Results 5.2 Qualitative Comparison 5.3 Ablative Study 5.4 Controllable Generation 6 Conclusion 7 Ethics Statement 8 Reproducibility Statement, Acknowledgement and References 5.2 QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON We conduct the quantitative comparison through user study and CLIP metrics. The comparison focuses on three key aspects: text alignment, domain similarity, and motion smoothness. The results are shown in Table 1. Detailed implementations can be found in supplementary materials. User study. In the user study, we generate animations using all three methods based on the same personalized T2I models. Participants are then asked to individually rank the results based on the above three aspects. We use the Average User Ranking (AUR) as a preference metric where a higher score indicates superior performance. Note that the corresponding prompts and images are provided for reference for text alignment and domain similarity evaluation. CLIP metric. We also employed the CLIP (Radford et al., 2021) metric, following the approach taken by previous studies (Wu et al., 2023; Khachatryan et al., 2023). When evaluating domain similarity, it is important to note that the CLIP score was computed between the animation frames and the reference images generated using the personalized T2Is. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Yuwei Guo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; (2) Ceyuan Yang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with Corresponding Author; (3) Anyi Rao, Stanford University; (4) Zhengyang Liang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (5) Yaohui Wang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (6) Yu Qiao, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (7) Maneesh Agrawala, Stanford University; (8) Dahua Lin, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (9) Bo Dai, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Authors: Authors: (1) Yuwei Guo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; (2) Ceyuan Yang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with Corresponding Author; (3) Anyi Rao, Stanford University; (4) Zhengyang Liang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (5) Yaohui Wang, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (6) Yu Qiao, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (7) Maneesh Agrawala, Stanford University; (8) Dahua Lin, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; (9) Bo Dai, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Work Related 2 Work Related 3 Preliminary 3 Preliminary AnimateDiff AnimateDiff 4.1 Alleviate Negative Effects from Training Data with Domain Adapter 4.1 Alleviate Negative Effects from Training Data with Domain Adapter 4.2 Learn Motion Priors with Motion Module 4.2 Learn Motion Priors with Motion Module 4.3 Adapt to New Motion Patterns with MotionLora 4.3 Adapt to New Motion Patterns with MotionLora 4.4 AnimateDiff in Practice 4.4 AnimateDiff in Practice 5 Experiments and 5.1 Qualitative Results 5 Experiments and 5.1 Qualitative Results 5.2 Qualitative Comparison 5.2 Qualitative Comparison 5.3 Ablative Study 5.3 Ablative Study 5.4 Controllable Generation 5.4 Controllable Generation 6 Conclusion 6 Conclusion 7 Ethics Statement 7 Ethics Statement 8 Reproducibility Statement, Acknowledgement and References 8 Reproducibility Statement, Acknowledgement and References 5.2 QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON We conduct the quantitative comparison through user study and CLIP metrics. The comparison focuses on three key aspects: text alignment, domain similarity, and motion smoothness. The results are shown in Table 1. Detailed implementations can be found in supplementary materials. User study. In the user study, we generate animations using all three methods based on the same personalized T2I models. Participants are then asked to individually rank the results based on the above three aspects. We use the Average User Ranking (AUR) as a preference metric where a higher score indicates superior performance. Note that the corresponding prompts and images are provided for reference for text alignment and domain similarity evaluation. User study. CLIP metric . We also employed the CLIP (Radford et al., 2021) metric, following the approach taken by previous studies (Wu et al., 2023; Khachatryan et al., 2023). When evaluating domain similarity, it is important to note that the CLIP score was computed between the animation frames and the reference images generated using the personalized T2Is. CLIP metric This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

User Preferences and CLIP Metrics: Results of AnimateDiff’s Performance in Video Generation

A Pixelated History of Gender Representation From the early stages of video game development, female characters were primarily portrayed as heroines needing rescue or as secondary NPCs. When they took on the role of main characters, their depictions were highly sexualized. The iconic image of with substantial triangular breasts in tiny shorts can be called a symbol of female depictions in the in Europe and the USA in the 90s. This decade marked the rise of female characters taking center stage, albeit often in a sexualized manner. from became a cultural icon, embodying empowerment and the era's limited portrayal of female characters. Tomb Raider (1996) games Lara Croft Tomb Raider Japanese video games reinforced this standard. and featured "excited" female characters in exceptionally revealing clothing, particularly notable in characters like from and from the eponymous series. JRPGs, fighting games, visual novels 2B NieR: Automata Bayonetta Nintendo and many other developers portrayed women as fragile princesses constantly needing rescue. Their famous princesses, Peach, Princess Daisy, and Rosalina, continue to present "feminine" images in traditional, bright, voluminous dresses. Video games like featured women as objectives rather than protagonists, embodying the "damsel in distress" trope. Donkey Kong First playable female characters The first ever playable female character is Billie Sue, from the Atari 2600 game , released in 1982. Billie Sue is depicted as a simple, pixelated character, typical of the era's graphical capabilities. She is characterized by basic, blocky graphics, with her gender being identifiable through minimalistic details that suggest traditional female attributes. Wabbit was the first commercial video game to involve many women as . It leads to the development of a sequel, , starring a female protagonist. And it would seem, is it possible to sexualize such a character? Let's get a look: Pac-Man (1980) players Ms. Pac-Man (1982) The 90s and early 2000s saw an influx of female characters who were both solid and sexualized, like Lara Croft of . Samus Aran's character ( ) proved that women could be powerful and strong in video games. But all this came in one pack with her sexuality. Especially in cut scenes. For example, In the first part, her spacesuit was removed like this: Tomb Raider Metroid This was a trend that continued for a long time in the next releases: Things started to change around 2010. The featured Faith Connors, a protagonist celebrated for her realistic physicality and depth of character. This era also saw a push towards more narrative-driven games that offered complex roles for female characters, such as Elizabeth. Mirror's Edge (2008) BioShock Infinite's Expanding Diversity and Inclusivity Over time, while not wholly disappearing, sexualization in games has decreased, and today's situation in the gaming industry seems more positive than in advertising or cinema. For example, Lara Croft has come a long way to becoming a strong and independent explorer in the latest series of reboots, which started in 2013. Deep and well-developed female characters like Senua from have appeared. In this case, the standard cliché of the male savior falls on the main heroine - Senua saves the soul of her deceased loved one. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Modern female game characters such as Ellie from , Clementine from , Aloy from , and Jesse Faden from are are widely known and famous. They are strong, evolving, and realistic heroines. The Last of Us The Walking Dead Horizon Control Traditional "bikini armor" are also becoming a thing of the past. In recent years, many developers have been paying more attention to the realism and practicality of character equipment, moving away from unrealistic and sexualized clothing. This change also reflects a desire to provide players with more diverse and respectful representations of women. For example, series has long equalized male and female characters regarding skills and clothing. Even the heroines of fighting games, traditionally bestowed by developers with a few centimeters of fabric, are now dressed diversely and fully. , with its vast variety of clothing, can be cited as an example. The Elder Scrolls Tekken 8 The industry has seen significant strides in inclusivity, with games like and featuring diverse characters across the gender spectrum. and its sequels explore LGBTQ+ themes with sensitivity and depth, marking a progressive step in storytelling. The industry's challenge is pushing boundaries, questioning stereotypes, and embracing a more inclusive vision of heroism and adventure. Video games can lead to inclusivity as we progress, reflecting the rich tapestry of human experience in all its forms. Overwatch Apex Legends Life is Strange (2015), The number of female gamers is increasing , directly affecting developers' approaches and the success of various games. Although some old male players are dissatisfied with such changes, the market remains oriented towards a younger and more progressive audience, which most actively consumes gaming content. yearly A survey by revealed that 46% of gamers worldwide are female, challenging the stereotype of gaming as a predominantly male hobby. Newzoo Conclusion Reactions to increased diversity in gaming have been mixed. While many players welcome the broader representation, some segments of the gaming community have pushed back against what they perceive as forced inclusivity. However, the commercial success of games with strong female leads and diverse casts suggest that most gaming audiences value and support these changes. In conclusion, it's important to note that despite modern heroines mostly wearing full armor and skins, in most cases, they are still represented in only one possible physique - very slim. There is still a long way to go in representing quality and diverse female characters. These should be women of different body types and backgrounds, realistic and complex, with their motivations, goals, and stories. It's crucial to move away from stereotypes of gender, skin color, and shapes and provide players with a wide range of characters that can represent various aspects of experience and identity.

Virtual Equality: Changing Women's Representation in Video Games

ভার্চুয়াল সমতা: ভিডিও গেমে নারীর প্রতিনিধিত্ব পরিবর্তন করা

Virtuelle Gleichstellung: Die Repräsentation von Frauen in Videospielen verändern

Igualdad virtual: cambiando la representación de las mujeres en los videojuegos

Égalité virtuelle : changer la représentation des femmes dans les jeux vidéo

आभासी समानता: वीडियो गेम में महिलाओं का प्रतिनिधित्व बदलना

事実上の平等: ビデオゲームにおける女性の代表の変化

가상 평등: 비디오 게임에서 여성의 대표성 변화

Igualdade virtual: mudando a representação das mulheres nos videogames

Виртуальное равенство: изменение представительства женщин в видеоиграх

Sanal Eşitlik: Video Oyunlarında Kadınların Temsilinin Değiştirilmesi

Bình đẳng ảo: Thay đổi sự đại diện của phụ nữ trong trò chơi điện tử

虚拟平等：改变视频游戏中的女性形象

The Noonification: The Importance of UX Design in Video Games (3/2/2023)

There are more aspects to creating a video game than its code; one core aspect is UX Design. The goal is to make the user “experience” the game in a more convenient and efficient way. While it sounds simple, there’s a unique amount of depth in the art of UX Design. UX design isn’t only for websites. It’s also essential for the video game industry as it is the first impression users get of a video game, and making a good first impression is crucial. Loan “Agony” Merlin has been studying and working in the field of UX design for the past five years, focusing on website design, social media, anime, and video games. Now, he’s joining me to explain the basics of game UX design and the overall importance of UX designers in the video game industry. We’ll Talk About: The Differences Between UX and UI Design What is a UX Game Design, and Why is it Important for Video Games Most Important Things to Consider While Working on a Gaming Design How to Get Started with UX Design? Wrapping up The Differences Between UX and UI Design The terms UX and UI design are often used interchangeably by many, which is a mistake. As Loan mentions, “indeed, people are often confused about the difference between UX and UI. UX, or User Experience, is focused on the experience of the user. For example, on a website, the goal of a UX designer is to manage the website by making it more ergonomic for new and returning users. By keeping track of metrics such as eye tracking, amount of clicks, and empathy maps, a UX designer integrates solutions via software such as Wireframe. Before using any software, the process begins by creating arborescence (the structural skeleton of the website/categorization), which sets the foundations for creating an optimal design. Overall, a UX designer is constantly thinking of ways to make navigating a website easier for users.” In short, UX design is the linking part between a consumer and a business; it’s how the consumer experiences or interacts with that business. A better UX design will make it easier for a user to buy, use, or experience whatever the business is promoting. “On the other hand, UI, or User Interface, is basically what users see on their screens. This includes the images on a website, the overall composition, the color, the animations, and more. For instance, a core concept in UI is having a great understanding of coloring and complementary colors”, Loan argues. Overall, UI is - to an extent - a part of UX. UI focuses on the visual aspect of UX, although it also includes other elements such as responsive design and information architecture. For a more in-depth look at the topic, consider checking out our . article on the major differences between UI and UX design What is UX Game Design, and Why is it Important for Video Games? According to Loan, “UX is a common term that is primarily used for websites with the goal of making everything easier for consumers and optimizing their overall experience. However, this can also apply to game design.” UX game design comes in between the actual gameplay and provides hints to the user regarding what to expect from the game. It sets the mood and atmosphere and encourages the user (if done right) to try out the game. For example, Loan argues “Take a moment to check the banner, website, or even the cover of any two video games you want. Try and notice the differences in the composition, color, and overall style. For instance, Valorant has a . You can see each agent and their name with a slightly distorted style and many pop effects. This showcases to the user that it’s going to be a fast-paced game with speedy gameplay and quick movement. Glitch Art style, a trend that has been on the rise recently But if we consider a game like Dead by Daylight, the overall look is darker with strong horror vibes. Based on that, users expect a scary, nerve-racking experience that will keep them on edge. The key part here is that users get an idea of what to expect and get in the mood that fits the game without even playing, only by looking at the game’s UX design.” Overall, while the core part of a video game is its gameplay, the UX game design is what motivates users to try out that gameplay. It helps improve their experience before and after playing by making sure the game maintains immersion from the moment users find out about it and see its banner on social media. The Most Important Things to Consider While Working on a Game Design UX game design comprises many key elements. As mentioned previously, a UX designer has to keep track of various metrics and use them to create a design optimized for the current project. The same is true for video game design. According to Loan, “One of the most important aspects of a UX gaming design is the previously mentioned idea of complementary color. Color is a key aspect in designing since it aims to bring out specific emotions. For instance, red symbolizes strong feelings such as passion, love, and anger, while green showcases purity, nature, and new beginnings. Colors in a game are used to target specific emotions. If we take the example of Dead by Daylight, we can see that every DLC pack’s banner has primarily dark colors that inspire anxiety and fear.” The key takeaway here is that not all colors fit together. Make sure to that fit with the purpose of your design. use the color wheel to find the right matching colors Overall, making the right choice about color, composition, and style is essential since the visual aspect is a user’s first experience with the game. After all, . the first impression is enough for most users to decide whether or not they’ll give the game a try How to Get Started with UX Design? If you’re interested in trying out the field of UX design, there are some useful tips to help you get started. As Loan suggests, “first, make sure to always look for inspiration. Check out other designs on Behance, Pinterest, and Dribble to find inspiration; be curious to find out why is each aspect of a design formatted in a certain way. Check the text, color, and overall composition, and try some of these elements on your design. Keep in mind not to reproduce any designs but only use them for inspiration. Through this, you will develop your way to design and make it easier to come up with unique ideas. Don’t be afraid to manipulate or edit certain parts of an image that you like. Try and isolate elements that appeal to you and fit your style and use them in your next design.” For instance, if an image that you overall dislike has a certain element that you enjoy (like a tree, a mountain, or any detail), use Photoshop to isolate that element and experiment with it. What is it that you like about it? Additionally, Loan recommends to “try and create a habit of always noticing color mapping and how the colors work in a design. Focus on the importance of complementary color, gradient maps, and how CC (color correction) works. Lastly, take your time to learn design software by looking at online tutorials. I highly recommend using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe XD.” UX Design is a challenging field to get into, and you’ll have to do a lot of research on your own. However, if it interests you and with the right training, you will be able to create unique designs that inspire emotions and motivate users to engage with your content. Wrapping up To summarize, UX game design is a crucial part of the video game industry since it influences a user’s emotions and motivates them to try out a game before even playing it. If you’re interested to learn more about UX Design, consider checking out our . This will be a great start to getting some inspiration if you’re motivated to create your own designs. list of the top five UX design trends to keep an eye on To find out more about what Loan has been working on lately, see more of his designs, and chat with him about any questions on UX design, you can . find him on Behance Lead image source: Loan MERLIN on Behance.

The Importance of UX Design in Video Games

ভিডিও গেমে ইউএক্স ডিজাইনের গুরুত্ব

Die Bedeutung von UX-Design in Videospielen

La importancia del diseño UX en los videojuegos

L'importance de la conception UX dans les jeux vidéo

वीडियो गेम में यूएक्स डिजाइन का महत्व

ビデオゲームにおけるUXデザインの重要性

비디오 게임에서 UX 디자인의 중요성

A importância do UX Design nos videogames

Video Oyunlarında UX Tasarımının Önemi

Tầm quan trọng của thiết kế UX trong trò chơi điện tử

UX 设计在视频游戏中的重要性

Weapons in video games are an important way to immerse yourself in a gaming world. From Super Mario Bros’ fireballs that kill those hammer-throwing tortoises to Doom’s BFG 9000s that tear a spider demon in half, Dane Lyons showed that . video game weapons can make you feel like a god After introducing you to our game characters' initial conceptualization in the previous DevBlog, it is now time to design the weapons that the characters use. First, we researched which weapon categories (Melee, Pistols, Shotguns, Sub-Machine Guns, Rifles, Machine Guns, and so on) to include, as well as which ones are most commonly used by players in FPS games. We start with four weapon categories: melee, pistols, shotguns and rifles. Despite the fact that submachine guns and machine guns seem to be a lot of fun, they are not available in the first proof-of-concept. (Unless the community expresses a strong desire for it.) The most common melee weapon in most FPS games is a knife, but having a katana instead of a regular knife  is far more fun for our game. A katana is a type of Japanese sword with a curved, single-edged blade, a circular or squared guard, and a long grip that can accommodate two hands. (in case you didn’t know that :) ) Pistols are perhaps the most difficult category to choose a specific model from, because of the many iconic models, such as Glock, Desert Eagle, Beretta and many more. In the end, it came down to a personal team decision to go with the Colt M1911, which was created in the United States of America in 1911, thus the name M1911, and was used in both World Wars. In contrast to the pistol, the shotgun is an easy choice. The team unanimously decided on a Sawed-Off Shotgun. The only element we debated was whether it should be a double or single barrel shotgun, but we settled on a single barrel. This type of shotgun is famous for its compact size, which makes it easy to carry and ideal for close combat. Last but not least, we have rifles, which are often the most used weapon in FPS games.  There are two types of rifles, depending on the range. We have assault weapons for medium/long range (M4, AK-47, Steyr AUG, etc.) and sniper rifles for long range (SIG SSG 3000, M24, Steyr SSG, etc). We thought that the AK-47 was the most recognizable weapon among assault rifles and that it had to be included in the game. As a result, despite the fact that there were several iconic and iconic assault rifles, we chose the AK-47. We chose the Sniper M24 for the Sniper Rifles. The M24 was the United States' first weapon . It is referred to as a "weapon system" rather than a "weapon" since it comes with a removable telescopic sight as well as a range of tools and attachments. designed specifically for sniping In the coming stages of development, we focus on importing these weapons into Unity and grant them the attributes and animations needed to interact with the game characters shown in DevBlog 02. What is your favorite video game weapon of all-time? Would you opt for the same weapons as us? Which weapon would you like to have available once the game comes out? Share with us through our discord and telegram channels.

On Weapon Design in Video Games

Cutscenes can add a lot to a video game's story and add some visual flair that breaks up a game's perspective. We talked about some of the most interesting cutscenes in video games. And be careful! Here be spoilers. What are some of the best cutscenes in video games? Developers like Blizzard and Bungie have made some incredible cutscenes and the latest Modern Warfare's cutscenes look almost movie like. Which ones stand out to you the most? Nicolas Ng Apr 10, 2021, 1:12 PM Devil May Cry 5's opening made my jaw drop the first time I saw it. The "live action" version reaches its own level of amazing I'm a broken record here but the Last of Us Cutscenes....too good. Too emotional. Let me drop a few SPOILERS AHEAD (obvious Limarc Ambalina Apr 11, 2021, 2:57 PM And yeah, here I go again. Definitely the Onimusha 3 intro sequence. Onimusha series needs more attention and recognition. JeffreyHarris Apr 11, 2021, 3:35 PM JeffreyHarris you seem to like lots of samurai/Japan themed games hey? Limarc Ambalina Apr 11, 2021, 4:26 PM Oh yeah, I love Japan, and I've always dreamed of traveling there one day. I've always been big into Japanese anime and manga, samurai culture, and Japanese gaming. I hope to get to travel there and tour around the country some day. JeffreyHarris Apr 12, 2021, 9:02 PM I watched the Onimusha intro and am not really sure what I've watched but I'm a little curious about the game now. Are there any cutscenes that come to mind, Jos Nicolas Ng Apr 13, 2021, 8:03 PM Mortal Kombat: Armageddon’s intro always got me hyped up. Seeing every character from the franchise fight in an epic battle blew me away every time I booted up the game Jose Hernandez Apr 14, 2021, 5:20 AM The Mortal Kombat cutscenes always look so great! What's your opinion on the newer cutscenes like this one? Nicolas Ng Apr 15, 2021, 10:43 AM I still think they’re incredible, and I love that fight scene. It’s similar to the Mortal Kombat: Deception intro Jose Hernandez Apr 15, 2021, 7:25 PM I recently bought Legend of Dragoon on PS VITA before the store closes, and the opening sequence is one of the best of all time for me: Limarc Ambalina Apr 9, 2021, 7:31 PM The music of Legend of Dragoon all throughout is so good. Reminds me of Ghibli even. I don't know why the sound composer ( ) wasn't hired for more games Limarc Ambalina Apr 9, 2021, 7:32 PM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeo_Miratsu I don't think that I've actually played any games with FMV sequences but I did watch the Command and Conquer ones out of curiosity and appreciation for how games used to be. I find it funny, to be honest. As strange as it sounds, it seems sort of quaint Nicolas Ng Apr 10, 2021, 1:10 PM

The Best Cutscenes in Video Game History

Think back to the year of 1986. You are an excited child sprinting through the arcade so you can be the first to get to the amazing new game, ”Outrun”. What was it that was so special about this game? The cars? The quirky characters? The endless crashing into things? Probably. But I recently played it for the first time, and the one thing that stood out to me was the music. I love the sounds of the ’80s. I wasn’t around to be there first-hand, but that soundtrack was the best part for me. And, to be honest, it usually is with gaming. The music you hear in gaming is important, whether they are the sweet shooty-tunes of Doom, or the defining Western soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption 2’s solitary free roam. But why is it actually important apart from being something to listen to if you get bored of constantly getting destroyed by mad 12 year olds on Call Of Duty who scream every swear in the English dictionary when you finally manage to get them back? Let’s chew the fat then, shall we? Music is one of the main objects in a video game that controls the emotion of a story and can change the tone of how something may feel. After the scene of Arthur Morgan’s death in Red Dead Redemption 2, a song called “Unshaken” plays, a sad, lonely tune of unfortunate demise. Within film, many fans look at soundtracks as a foundation to set the scene. The video game industry is no different. Dead Space is a frightening game with a frightening concept, and as you may have already guessed, with that comes a frightening soundtrack. Would being chased around by Necromorphs be half as terrifying without the high-pitched, orchestral tunes? Hardly likely. And how about Doom Eternal, the latest demon-slasher? Take the track “The Only Thing They Fear Is You”. It combines metal with scream-like noises, and it’s designed to enhance your gameplay. It’s the kind of music that’s going to turn you on, make you feel the next fight coming on. But the game isn‘t all metal along with guts and glory. When your enemies are all gone and the violence has all but temporarily paused, you are left to wander around the level with a change to more calm, atmospheric tunes. In a way, the music is reborn in this gorgeous reboot. It keeps some of the original tracks in mind while mixing it up with some epic metal. After the battle is won, the calmer music is appreciated by many players and brings a forgiving contrast into the mix. That’s not all, though. Have you ever played a Grand Theft Auto title? My guess is, yes. The games soundtrack is very interesting. First, there is the original music. We have some brilliant examples that collide Electronic with the Hip Hop scene, such as “Welcome to Los Santos” and “We Were Set Up”, along with many other favourites. These songs were created in collaboration of Oh No, Tangerine Dream, The Alchemist, Woody Jackson and DJ Shadow. These intense, modern-style tracks perfectly represent the crime theme. The game also has many brilliant licensed songs such as “Night Nurse”, “Smokin’ and ridin’“ and “I’m in Love”. The game uniquely sorts them into radio stations, which was a very bold move for 2013. And finally, we are going to end on the music of Red Dead Redemption 2. The official score of this game is an impressive 70 minutes long, containing the games most memorable pieces. But 70 minutes is only a small fraction of all the music in the game. There is music not included in the score that plays in the background during random insignificant moments that are only to keep the immersion. The expansive online option has hundreds upon hundreds of hours of music unfortunately not included in the official score. Red Dead Redemption 2 truly is a musical journey, clearly inspired by the likes of Ennio Morricone. Thank you for coming on this journey with me and listening to my verdict. Please come again soon and read my future reviews!

The Importance of Music in Video Games

Recently, I attended a virtual conference on the use of neuro technology and BCI (Brain Computer Interfaces or BMI, Brain Machine Interfaces) in gaming, put on by NeurotechX. I’ve been casually following the space for some time since BCI’s played an important role in my roadmap to the Simulation Point, which I described in my book, . At this theoretical point, we would be able to beam simulations directly into the brain and get responses from the brain, just like in the movie, The Matrix. The Simulation Hypothesis This discussion made me recall the first time I really thought semi-seriously about BCIs. It was while watching the 80s movie , starring Clint Eastwood as a spy/pilot who is tasked with stealing a super-secret jet from the Soviet Union. What made the jet special was that it could respond to the mental commands of the pilot; the idea was that if you could cut off even a second (or perhaps milliseconds) of response time, the fighter jet would have an advantage over NATO’s fighters,  which still used handheld controls. The one catch when Eastwood finally steals the jet is that it won’t respond to his commands — unless he thinks in Russian! Firefox While we’re not at either level or level BCI’s just yet, there were presentations from a number of interesting companies which helped shed light on the current state of the industry and methods. Matrix- Firefox- The first thing I noticed was that all of these companies were working on non-invasive neural interfaces. This is in contrast to Neuralink, company funded by Elon Musk which is creating a chip that can be implanted into the brain by drilling a small hole into the skull. This much vaunted chip promises magical properties — including stimulating the brain’s pleasure centers and increasing human intelligence with AI. The first versions, though will be targeted towards those with brain disorders. Personally, I don’t know of any gamers who are ready to drill holes into their heads at this time, but that may change in the near future! Figure 1: In the Matrix, humans could plug into simulations via a connecting port and wire More importantly, unlike in , which had a full two-way connection with the brain, these companies were mostly focused on getting input from the player through brain (or biofeedback or muscle)  interfaces, though one of them also was interested in having the user receive signals to the body for a more immersive  experience. the Matrix There were six companies doing interesting things in the field of Neuro-gaming  tech that presented at the virtual conference, in two sessions: — The first presentation was by Mike Abinder, an experimental psychologist associated with the University of Washington, who has been working at Valve on some mysterious thing related to BCI and gaming. He basically gave an overview of how BCI’s could help in developing and improving gameplay experiences. While Abinder was coy about what Valve was actually doing in this space, he did make some good arguments about real-time data that could be gathered on the player’s experience and emotions while playing, which could lead to a whole new level of adaptive gameplay. He also gave an overview of “what we can measure today” — which was mostly EEGs in different permutations — his technical terminology was that we can measure “EEG correlates of Task/Engagement and Mental Workload in Vigilance, Learning and Memory Tasks”. What I got out of it was that the basic idea is to measure the EEG signals coming from the brain while the player is doing different things — competitive play, strategy games, etc., measuring things such as “valence, arousal and dominance". Valve Figure 2: The new EEG device from Brainattach that is touted as Biotactical Gameware — The second presentation was from Maciej Rudzinski of Branattach, who delivered a talk on “Introducing Survival Instinct to the game play”, and we now moved to talking about hardware. Brainattach has created a personal EEG device that is specifically for gamers which they call “Biotactical Gameware”. It’s basically a biofeedback device that can be used to improve your performance by “syncing” your emotions and state of mind with your gameplay. Biofeedback has been around for a while in many forms — consider that if you are measuring your heart rate while you breathe to see how it changes, you are basically doing. Biofeedback . Brainattach does this with EEG signals from its clinical grade-device. His presentation wasn’t so much about his device, as much as it was similar to Valve’s, about the ways that EEG signals and other biofeedback can be used by gamers and game developers to maintain the “flow state” — that state in between “frustration” and “boredom” that makes playing a game fun. Their device has not yet been released but you can sign up here at Brainattach www.brainattach.com Figure 3: The fully immersive haptic Teslasuit provides a full immersion — The most fun presentation on the first day came from Dmitri Mikhalchuk of Teslasuit, company that is technically not a BCI at all — unless you replace the word “brain” with “body”. for a BBI. The Teslasuit is a fully immersive haptic suit that, when combined with a VR headset, is meant to not only immerse you in a world, but let you feel the gameplay through stimulating different parts of the body. The Teslasuit, which debuted and made waves at CES in 2018 and 2019, looks more like something straight out of Ready Player One. The way that it works is that it emits electric impulses to different parts of your body, and uses and advanced motion capture system and biometrics to see what you are doing as input. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t using EEGs or brain interfaces strictly, but the field seems to merge with biometric feedback. Teslasuit In addition to the full suit, they have introduced a high fidelity haptic glove, which let you feel objects you are seeing in virtual reality, and combined with the Luminas XR glasses, let you get a fully immersive experience. For example, with a racing car demonstration the company did, you could not just see the road as you moved, but feel the g-forces on different parts of your body. In 2019, to show off the potential, they demonstrated the “contactless tackle” or “haptic tackle” demo They had a rugby player with motion capture on simulating tackling another player. While motion capture has generally been used to make animations more realistic, they were really interested to know which parts of the body make contact with the opponent during the tackle. Now, anyone who puts on the Teslasuit can experience what it’s like being tackled by a professional Rugby player! While innovative, I think I’ll pass as those rugby players look pretty fit! But you can see the gaming applications that could be built. The suit, which was originally funded on Kickstarter, costs several thousand dollars — read more about it . here During the second session, there were presentations from three more companies, which shed even more light on the state of the industry and some of the challenges  to get wider adoption of BCI’s. Figure 4:  Getting input for gaming today (controller) vs the future, Brain and Biometrics, via Erin Reynolds of Flying Mollusk — Flying mollusk’s founder and CEO, Erin Reynolds, presented, giving a history of her company and the state of BCI and Biofeedback from a game developers perspective. She built a version of biofeedback based games as part of an academic project, and then started Flying Mollusk after graduating to build , which was released on steam a few years later. Originally she was measuring heart-rate and other biometric feedback and using this feedback to increase or decrease the rate of “stress” that the player experiences — just the kind of “dynamic adaptability" that Mike Abinder from Valve was talking about. She then also included the Affective Emotions SDK, which can help a game developer detect what emotions the player is feeling using AI techniques. It turns out there is a whole industry of companies that use facial recognition techniques to look at a user’s face and detect whether they are happy or sad or angry — called . It wasn’t clear how much actual Brain interfaces were being used in her games, but she definitely mentioned EEGs and brain input as a future area for development. Erin also pointed out some of the obstacles to BCI’s getting adopted in gaming — namely that there aren’t enough sensors out there and there needs to better tools for game developers. Find out more about Flying Mollusk and their game , . Flying Mollusk Nevermind Emotion API’s or affective computing Nevermind here Figure 5:  The evolution of Hardware for BCI’s according to Neurable’s Adam Molnar — next cam Adam Molnar from Neurable, a company which has had impressive demos of being able to move objects in VR through thought alone. Neurable, which grew out of research at the University of Michigan, is a Boston based company that is bringing neural interfaces to VR worlds with modified VR headsets that can detect EEG signals. That’s not all they use — they also use eye tracking information and other information, though the focus is on different EEG signal processing. Adam gave an overview of the history of BCI for gaming and the road left to travel. This included devices like the Star Wars Force Trainer from Mattel, which let you feel like you were actually using the Force. Neurable Figure 6: Adam Molnar talked about the history of BCI in games, including the Star Wars Force Trainer! Adam, like many of the other panelists, believes that mind interfaces are the next logical step in gaming interfaces which went from typed commands to joystick/mouse, to gesture and touch control. Adam also gave an overview of their history development, from wet sensors in the lab to dry sensors that could be attached to VR, to the future which will include integrated sensors. One of the dangers that Adam pointed out for BCI as an industry was the setting of expectations too high. When people saw the Neurable demo a few years ago, it’s easy to assume that BCI is really here — when there is a lot of work still to be done. This “lofty expectations” can actually be a problem because the reality rarely matches the hype that can come from these demos. In other words, it’s easy to think we are at Firefox like mind-reading, but we really aren’t there yet and the whole field of BCI could be labelled as “missing its potential” and/or a “dud”.  Neurable's goal is an "everday BCI" - see more . here Figure 7: The Brink Bionics Glove senses movements and gives gamers an edge! — the Final presentation was like taking the Firefox like usecase and making it very specific to gaming, given by Erik Lloyd of Brink Bionics. They assert that in games which require fast responses and spectacular hand-eye coordination, like in first person shooters and similar genre action games, the milliseconds that it takes for the signal to go from the brain to the hands to the mouse/keyboard/joystick/input device, can make a difference. Their technology, which fits into a fingerless glove, can detect small electrical impulses in the nerves ,resulting in muscle twitching which indicates what command the user has decided to implement in the game. Rather than using a mouse, though, their product can translate the muscular input directly into an existing command in existing games! This is perhaps the most practical of the products on display — although there is new hardware, you don’t have to reprogram existing games, since they convert the muscle signals to existing commands form the mouse or other controllers.  Find out more Brink Bionics here. Figure 8: Erik Lloyd talked about the state of BCI today vs. the future Erik also talked about the evolution of neural technology in gaming and made the point that today we are in phase I — where a stimulus is presented by the game to the user, and then we measure the result ( or the reaction of the user), and then map it to some known reactions. He calls this “dependent” BCI and that there will eventually be “independent” BCI which wont’ require presenting a scenario to the user (as in VR) but will allow machines to directly pick up on any of our thoughts and we can use those thoughts to control the machines. Conclusion Erik’s distinction between “dependent” and “independent” BCI was perhaps a good place to end the discussion of the state of the industry today. You’ll notice I watched the conference not in VR or AR or through a BCI, but simply on Youtube. Today’s BCIs use a combination of biofeedback (heart rate, skin/stress response), affective computing (emotions based on facial recognition), EEG signals detection (and there is a lot of research on different ways to interpret these signals), eye tracking (for intention inside VR), motion capture (for the teslasuit), and electrical impulses to simulate touch. While the state of the industry is no longer research lab only, it still has a long way to go to directly control any game from your mind. It may not be long that the impact of these technologies goes way beyond gaming — who knows there may be a Firefox like fighter jet on the way! . A graduate of MIT and Stanford, Rizwan Virk is a futurist, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, video game pioneer, indie filmmaker and bestselling author. His books include The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics Agree We Are In A Video Game , and Startup Myths & Models What You Won’t Learn in Business School He is the founder of Play Labs @ MIT, and is a venture partner at several venture capital firms, including Griffin Gaming Partners. Visit his website at www.zenentrepreneur.com

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