Journal of Game Development

THE VIRTUAL HUMAN IN THE LOOP-ENGAGING IN SOCIAL GAMES USING TANGIBLE INTERACTION DEVICES
Matthias Rehm, Elisabeth André

ABSTRACT

Conversing with nonplayer characters is most of the time a very unnatural experience, restricted to some pre-specified verbal phrases or actions. This article presents a different type of virtual character that engages in a small social game with two players and draws them into rich verbal and non-verbal faceto- face interactions. The key ingredients of the character comprise social and emotional capabilities, and the capability to control gestures and facial expressions dynamically in synchrony with its speech. Two types of interaction devices were created and tested in the game environment. Handheld devices offer some advantages because specific information can be sent to each participant, but unfortunately, they draw too much attention of the user away from the agent or the other player. A tangible device was created that allows for natural interaction in combination with speech recognition. Two user studies emphasized the differences in the players’ behaviors induced by the interaction devices and shed light on the question of to what extent the users accept the synthetic agent as an equal game mate.

EVALUATING PREEMPTIVE STORY DIRECTION IN THE INTERACTIVE DRAMA ARCHITECTURE
Brian Magerko, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

In an author-centric interactive drama, both the player’s decisions and the author’s desires should coherently influence the player’s individual story experience. Different player interactions with the system should yield different stories, just as different authored content would. By defining experiences covered by the authored content (the set of which I call a story space), the author is creating an artistic vision for the player to take part in. As opposed to having explicit choices for the player and constraining those choices, interactive drama attempts to offer the player a fluid, continuous dramatic experience, akin to taking part in an improvisational play in which the player is the protagonist in the story (Kelso et al. 1993; Laurel 1986).

DESIGNING INTENTIONAL, EMOTIONAL CHARACTERS PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY DYNAMICS IN VIDEO GAMES
Erik Henry Vick, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

Video game developers are interested in facilitating more intense emotional experiences in their games. In this article, I review reasons for including emotional content, including arguments from the business case, the perspective of players, and the perspective of designers. The question of what is required to instill strong emotional engagement by video game characters is examined by a review of synthetic character research, psychological and cognitive science theories, and a comparison to characters in traditional media. I look at a previously proposed system of synthetic personality and personality dynamics along with four necessary and sufficient conditions for the creation of believable video game characters, and present an implementation of this system with a review of lessons learned.