Mihail Morosan

A diplomatic online strategy game has been designed by PhD student, Mihail Morosan, as part of a collaboration between the University of Essex and two other universities.

The game, Genesis Dei, is a complex strategy game which requires tactical coordination between players.

Mihail, who has been working on the project for the past eight months, is researching all sorts of computational intelligence to aid the design of video games.

“Developing the game has been a tough process but definitely exciting,” explained Mihail. “What’s really interesting about it is that only one player, out of hundreds, can win but a player can’t win on their own.”

Genesis Dei is also developed to collect data which will be used to push artificial intelligence and games research further.

The project has been made possible thanks to the EPSRC’s Centre for Doctoral Training Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence (IGGI) - a partnership between the universities of Essex, York and Goldsmiths which trains the next generation of researchers, designers, developers and entrepreneurs in digital games.

IGGI has provided Mihail with a unique opportunity to undertake his PhD research in collaboration with 60 industrial games partners and world-leading academics.

“Co-operation between academics is not something new, but a full partnership of this calibre between students, academics and the industry is quite the novelty. I think this collaboration can only bring good results for all parties involved.” said Mihail.

He added: “What’s really great about being part of IGGI is that my main supervisor is based at Essex but I also have a second supervisor based at the University of York which allows me access to a breadth of expertise.”