Research Interests

Currently, I am focusing my research on the following topics:

• Virtual Worlds The design engineering process of virtual worlds, including topics such as level design, formal gamespaces and game engineering.
• Games The design engineering process of games in the context of game design, game engineering, and software engineering. This includes topics from the decision-making process during development, to documentation and prototyping, to the actual game and beyond.
• Behavior Specification for Reactive Systems The design engineering process of complex reactive systems with focus on behavior and structure.
• Humans & Machines Everything about the intersection of humans and machines, including Human-Computer Interaction, User Interfaces, and User Experience.
• Graphs & State Diagrams The formalisms and semantics of graphs and state diagrams, including topics such as the specification process, understanding process, patterns, and graph drawing in the context of state diagrams.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Everything related to the question: How can we create solutions that represent our society?

If you are interested in working with me, check out my Collaborate and Open Topics pages.

Education

I have a Master of Science in "Informatics: Games Engineering". At the moment I am a doctoral candidate at the Technical University of Munich.

• Master of Science in "Informatics: Games Engineering" from the Technical University of Munich (2019). The topic of the master thesis is "Behavior Specification for Reactive Systems".
• Bachelor of Science in "Informatics: Games Engineering" from the Technical University of Munich (2016). The topic of the bachelor thesis is "Multi Kinect Fusion for Virtual Environments".

Recognitions

In recent years I have received the following recognitions:

• TeachInf Award 2021/2022 for excellence in teaching (german title: "TeachInf Award für die Beste Pflichtveranstaltung Wintersemester 2021/2022") for my contribution to the course "Interaction Methods and Devices" awarded by the MPI Student Council from the Faculty of Informatics at TUM.
• TeachInf Award 2020 for excellence in teaching for my contribution to the course "Interaction Methods and Devices" awarded by the MPI Student Council from the Faculty of Informatics at TUM.
• TeachInf Award 2020 for excellence in teaching for my contribution to the course "Introduction to Audio for Games" awarded by the MPI Student Council from the Faculty of Informatics at TUM.
• Auszeichnung für hervorragende Studierendenprojekte im Studienjahr 2015 (Award for outstanding student projects in the 2015 academic year) for the "Semester Game Jam" awarded by the MPI Student Council through the Student Representatives in the Faculty Council of Informatics at TUM.

Publications

In recent years, I have contributed to a number of scientific publications:

• Dyrda, D., Klusmann, J., Rudolph, L., Stieglbauer, F., Amougou, M., Pantförder, D., Vogel-Heuser, B., and Klinker, G. (2023). Specifying Volumes of Interest for Industrial Use Cases. 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR). Internal Project Page
• Neske, M., and Dyrda, D. (2023). Playtesting Without Humans: Agent-Based Modeling as Testing Tool for Game Spaces. SKILL 2023 - Studierendenkonferenz Informatik. Internal Project Page
• Weber, S., Rudolph, L., Eichhorn, C., Dyrda, D., Plecher, D. A., and Klinker, G. (2022). Frameworks Enabling Ubiquitous Mixed Reality Applications Across Dynamically Adaptable Device Configurations. Frontiers in Virtual Reality. Internal Project Page
• Rudolph, L., Dyrda, D., Plecher, D. A., and Klinker, G. (2022). Retrospective on Teaching Game Analysis for Games Engineering Students. Game Analysis Perspectives Conference (pp. 25-34). Internal Project Page. Document
• Weber, S., Dyrda, D., Ludwig, M., and Klinker, G. (2020). Ubi-Interact. MobiQuitous 2020 - 17th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services (pp. 291-300). Internal Project Page. Database Entry

Teaching

I have been teaching at the university since 2014. Starting out as a tutor, I have been working as a researcher at the university since 2019. In 2020, I turned my professional focus toward teaching. I work with students of all majors, with many of my subjects and topics focusing on informatics and game engineering. As part of my teaching, I am involved in several lectures and courses: I lead the exercises for the lectures Interaction Methods and Devices and 3D User Interfaces; I teach the courses Introduction to Audio for Games and Level Engineering; and I am involved in the seminar Game Analysis and practical courses for the master's programs.

Many of the courses I am involved in were awarded the Teaching Award for excellence in teaching at our faculty. Interaction Methods and Devices was awarded as the best compulsory lecture and Audio for Games was awarded as the best elective. I am very pleased that the hard work we put into our teaching is being recognized by our students.

Below you can find a detailed list of my teaching activities.

• Interaction Methods and Devices at TUM as exercise instructor in the following semesters (WiSe 2023/2024, WiSe 2022/2023 WiSe 2021/2022, WiSe 2020/2021, WiSe 2019/2020, WiSe 2017/2018 as tutor, WiSe 2014/2015 as tutor)
• 3D User Interfaces at TUM as exercise instructor in the following semesters (SoSe 2022, SoSe 2021)
• Level Engineering: Methods and Tools for Creating Game Environments and Level Design at TUM as lecturer in the following semesters (WiSe 2023/2024, WiSe 2022/2023, WiSe 2021/2022)
• Introduction to Audio for Games at TUM as lecturer in the following semesters (SoSe 2023, SoSe 2022, WiSe 2021/2022, SoSe 2021, WiSe 2020/2021, SoSe 2020, WiSe 2019/2020, WiSe 2016/2017)
• Seminar - Game Analysis at TUM as advisor in the following semesters (WiSe 2021/2022, WiSe 2020/2021, WiSe 2019/2020)
• Master Praktikum Games Engineering at TUM as advisor since SoSe 2020.
• Nachprojekte at TUM in the following semesters (WiSe 2015/2016)
• Introduction to Software Engineering at TUM as tutor in the following semesters (SoSe 2015)

Student Projects

Besides teaching in lecture and course formats, I advise many scientific theses and research projects. I'm really proud to have advised over 100 amazing scientific student projects, including bachelor's and master's theses, seminar papers, and some really cool research programs. You can find an incomplete list here on my student project page.