Multiplayer online games usually rely on verbal input (e.g. voice, text) for communication between players during gameplay. However, players can experience contexts where verbal input modalities are inconvenient, unavailable, or not as ready to hand. In the popular game ‘Among Us’, players need to either rely on third-party software to enable voice-chat or use text input to negotiate a polling system. Yet, these methods might not be equally convenient for different platforms players can use to play the game – e.g., desktop vs mobile.

This project aims to explore how non-verbal input (e.g. mouse, gaze) could be used to indicate intention or deception and influence players’ decisions during negotiation events in games. The objectives of the project include a review of state of the art, the design and development of a multiplayer game system based on negotiation using non-verbal input (either a simple game built from scratch or an application that works on top of an existing game) and the evaluation of the system with users.

*Desired Skills: Knowledge of C#, Unity; experience creating multiuser applications or willingness to learn, a can-do attitude and ambition to accept new challenges.