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Loutfouz Zaman

Loutfouz Zaman
PhD

Associate Professor

Game Development and Interactive Media

Faculty of Business and Information Technology

Contact information

Software and Informatics Research Centre (SIRC) - Room 4388
North Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 6515

loutfouz.zaman@ontariotechu.ca

Background

Dr. Loutfouz Zaman's passion for game development was sparked during his final year as an undergraduate student, where an advanced computer graphics course introducing OpenGL programming captivated his interest. This newfound enthusiasm led him to focus his capstone project on developing a DirectX application. After earning his bachelor's degree, Dr. Zaman gained practical experience as a C++ mobile game developer, creating 3D games for the then-emerging Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC platform. His academic journey continued at York University, where he pursued a M.Sc. and subsequently a Ph.D. in Computer Science. During his graduate studies, Dr. Zaman also imparted his knowledge as a part-time instructor in game development at Humber College.

 

At Ontario Tech University, Dr. Zaman has been at the forefront of research in visual programming interfaces, exploring alternative and differential visualizations in game development—a direct extension of his doctoral research. His supervision of ten Master's students' research projects reflects a broad spectrum of interests within the field, including serious games, exergames, digital board game tutoring via chatbots, user research in gaming, emotion analysis of players using computer vision, visual game analytics, and the use of deep learning for bug detection in games.

 

Dr. Zaman's collaborative efforts with the industry are evidenced by his involvement in projects funded by MITACS, NSERC, and industry contributions. These projects have been diverse, ranging from automated systems for incident management in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic to the gamification of CRM software and language learning. His work has also ventured into the use of computer vision for pet identification and the enhancement of air traffic control simulation training. These initiatives have not only advanced practical applications but have also contributed to academic literature.

 

As an educator, Dr. Zaman covers a wide array of subjects, from introductory statistics in game development to more specialized graduate-level courses on human-computer interaction, machine learning for game analytics, and advanced game development and evaluation.

 

Dr. Zaman is currently seeking doctoral candidates with relevant expertise to join his research team, focusing on visual game analytics, virtual/augmented/mixed reality technologies, and automated bug detection in gaming.

 

For those interested in delving deeper into Dr. Zaman's research or discussing potential collaborations, he welcomes direct contact.

Education

  • Bachelor of Science, Computer Science: Software Systems Concordia University, Montreal
  • Master of Science, Computer Science: Human-Computer Interaction York University, Toronto
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Science: Human-Computer Interaction York University, Toronto

Courses taught

Advanced Topics in Digital Media (CSCI 6520)

Topics in Digital Media (CSCI 5550)

Human-Computer Interaction for Games (INFR 4350)

Game Analytics (INFR 4345) 

Essential Math for Games II (INFR 1030) 

Visual Programming for Games (INFR 4336)

Visual Programming Languages (INFR 4335)

Social and Multiplayer Game Design (INFR 3335)

Social Network Games (INFR 4310)

Research and expertise

Dr. Zaman's research interests include:

  • User research in gaming, 
  • Game analytics and data science, 
  • Game evaluation and testing, 
  • Extended reality and emerging technologies, 
  • Applied gaming and gamification

Involvement

  • Selected publications
    • Elham Azizi and Loutfouz Zaman. “Automatic Bug Detection in Games using LSTM Networks”. In: 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG). In Press. IEEE. Boston, United States of America, 2023. 
    • Daniel MacCormick and Loutfouz Zaman. “Echoing the Gameplay: Analyzing Gameplay Sessions across Genres by Reconstructing Them from Recorded Data”. In: International Journal of Human– Computer Interaction 39.1 (Jan. 2, 2023). Publisher: Taylor & Francis, pp. 52–84. issn: 1044-7318. doi: 10.1080/10447318.2021.2016237. url: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2021.2016237 
    • Daniel MacCormick and Loutfouz Zaman. Echo: Analyzing Gameplay Sessions by Reconstructing Them From Recorded Data. In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 281–293. https://doi-org.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/10.1145/3410404.3414254
    • Md. Yousuf Hossain and Loutfouz Zaman. “NCAlt: Alternatives and Difference Visualizations for Behavior Trees in Game Development Learning”. In: Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 6.CHI PLAY (Oct. 2022). doi: 10.1145/3549508. url: https://doi.org/10.1145/3549508.
    • Eric Chu and Loutfouz Zaman. “Exploring alternatives with Unreal Engine’s Blueprints Visual Scripting System”. In: Entertainment Computing 36 (Jan. 1, 2021), p. 100388. issn: 1875-9521. doi: 10.1016 / j.entcom.2020.100388. 
    • Daniel MacCormick and Loutfouz Zaman. SuBViS: the use of subjunctive visual programming environments for exploring alternatives in game development. FDG '19: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. 1-11. 10.1145/3337722.3337740.