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Game Research at Tech

Game Research at Tech. Michael Mateas Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing School of Literature, Communication and Culture. Experimental Game Lab (EGL). Premise: Computer-based gaming is the major emerging art form of the 21 st century

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Game Research at Tech

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  1. Game Research at Tech Michael Mateas Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing School of Literature, Communication and Culture

  2. Experimental Game Lab (EGL) • Premise: Computer-based gaming is the major emerging art form of the 21st century • Like cinema, as games mature as a medium, requires major efforts in • Technology research • Experimentation in design • Cultural research

  3. Open House

  4. EGL: Activities • Playing games • To study literature, you read • To study cinema, you watch movies • To study games, you play games • Developing a cultural understanding of games • Technology research and design • What could games be in the future? • Excellent domains for AI research

  5. EGL: Samples of current projects • Technology • Character AI – ABL/UT(Lamstein, Logas, Wolff) • Search-based drama management (Lamstein) • Culture • Game ontology (Hochhalter, Lichti, Zagal) • Game blog (Zagal) • Design • Swarm General (Lichti) • Triad (Hochhalter) • Agency (Logas) • Catharsis (Muller)

  6. Thesis Project Nolan Lichti 4 March 2004 Swarm General

  7. Target: Casual Gamer • Low time commitment • Desire simple controls • Need action or a good story • Often play socially

  8. Medium: Strategy Game • Do not (need to) require high dexterity • Challenge lies in planning and adapting • Can have action • Usually competitive

  9. Digital War Strategy Games • Real-time Strategy (RTS) games • Warcraft • Command and Conquer • Black and White • Turn-based Strategy games • Civilization • Warlords

  10. Real-time Strategy • Benefits • Short games (on average) • Exciting action • Problems • Micromanagement

  11. Turn-based Strategy • Benefits • Micromanagement occurs outside of action • Less micromanagement • Problems • Games too long • Very little action is not very exciting

  12. Solution for length • Small-scale • Limiting times of “no action” • Use the RTS model!

  13. Solutions for micromanagement • No direct control over units • Player determines rules for unit types • Conditions based on surroundings • Actions defined for each condition

  14. AI Programming Games • Benefits • Hands off approach to unit control • Problems of digital versions (Core War, AI Wars, Robocode) • Complicated programming required

  15. Position of Swarm General

  16. Focus on Interface, not Strategy Game • Uses standard RTS elements • Borrows numbers from Warcraft III for balancing

  17. Programming by example • Programming simplified • Avoid modal interface • Allen Cypher, Stagecast

  18. Java Expert System Shell • Rule language • Uses a Rete network • Very fast pattern matching

  19. User creates rules • Interface uses recognizable icons • User creates JESS rules without writing any code • Units use the Rete network to determine actions

  20. Issues to be addressed • Easy to translate simple rules • Complex rules hard to recognize • Is that a pincer attack? Or just two units nearby?

  21. Triad a game of short love stories Brian Hochhalter

  22. Objectives • Create a story-based game using ai-based story generation techniques • Blend the strengths of existing relationship game subgenres

  23. Character based story AI • Intelligent agents with goals and plans • Agents execute plans to meet their goals • Interesting agents !== Story

  24. Triad

  25. Triad • Author simulation approach • Based on Lebowitz’s UNIVERSE • Author goals • Plot fragments with preconditions • Characters with attributes • Execution of plot fragments influences characters’ state

  26. Sample author goals • Separate Kimiko and suitor • Suitor plays dirty • Suitor intimidates rival • Kimiko unavailable • Join Kimiko and suitor • Suitor aids Kimiko • Suitor initiates romance

  27. Design issues • Where to locate the interactivity • Play as author • Play as character • Odd person out

  28. Intended outcomes • Entertaining game experience that blends strengths of existing relationship games • Illustrate one way that strongly narrative games can benefit from AI-based story generation

  29. Agency: A Character –Centric Role Playing Game Heather Logas

  30. Role Playing The transportive interaction between a player controlled character and the world in which that character lives.

  31. Table Top and Live Action RPGs have: • Player Characters controlled by the players • Consequences for player character actions • Interesting and deep non-player characters with memory • A game world that is consistent with player’s expectations of it as a world • Occasional deep experiences of being lost in the act of being another character (transportation)

  32. Computer and Console RPGs have: • Player Characters marginally controlled by the players • Consequences for some player character actions • Shallow non-player characters, most without memory • A game world with “CRPG” expectations • Occasional experiences of being lost in strategy or story (immersion)

  33. Character Centric Approach • Focus on the experience of playing a character that is not you • Allow player to make a character with customizable personality • Choices available to player based on character’s personality • Allow character “growth” • Provide a world that is consistent with NPCs that act like people, (avoid jarring the sense of place)

  34. Personality-derived choices • Hunt down the cop and kill them • Just Pay • Throw away the ticket • Throw away ticket • Kill nearest cop • Hunt down ticket giver and kill them • Collect evidence that you were right • Wait for court date • Just pay

  35. Mechanics • Decision Points • Character Personality Traits • Assigned at character creation • Change what decisions are available • Changeable (character growth through edge decisions) • Pre-Conditions • Brownie Points (NPC memory)

  36. Fig. 1

  37. Presentation • Small to allow for time • Still images and text • “Decision point” presented very literally • Techniques scalable to bigger projects • What would a character-centric Final Fantasy game look like?

  38. Previous Work • Mark Bernstein’s Thespis and Card Shark • Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern’s Façade • Chris Crawford’s Erasmatron • Bioware’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic • Bethesda Softwork’s Morrowind • Origin’s Ultima Series • LucasArts Adventure Games • White Wolf’s World of Darkness series • Chaosium’s Call of Cthulu series

  39. For more information hlogas@jetgirl.net

  40. Catharsis in Video Games A Thesis Project By Danny Muller

  41. Game Project My project is to create a PC-based computer game that allows the player to experience emotional catharsis through gameplay. The cathartic effect has been successfully used in plays, television shows, and movies to give the viewer an emotional release and to forge an emotional bond with the fictional characters.

  42. Aristotle’s Definition of Catharsis Aristotle refers to catharsis in his seminal work on drama, THE POETICS. “Tragedy, then, is the imitation of good action, which is complete and of a certain length, by means of language made pleasing for each part separately; it relies in its various elements not on narrative but on acting; through pity and fear it achieves the purgation (catharsis) of such emotions.” Aristotle (1958). On Poetry and Style (pp.11-12). Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.

  43. Examples of Catharsis in Cinema • Bambi – the trauma of a child experiencing the death of his mother • Bonnie and Clyde - the trauma of violent death • City Lights – the trauma of homelessness • Forrest Gump – the trauma of sexual abuse, war, overcoming a disability • Kramer vs. Kramer – the trauma of divorce • Old Yeller – the trauma of losing a pet • Ordinary People – the trauma of suicide and divorce • Saving Private Ryan – the trauma of war • Sophie’s Choice – the trauma of the Holocaust

  44. The Experience of Tragic Emotion Screenwriters have used Aristotle’s definition of catharsis to create compelling narratives. Audiences see tragic events unfold on screen and become engaged on an emotional level with the characters, empathizing with their situations. The purging of emotion comes through the experience of tragic emotion.

  45. Mise-en-scene vs. Level Design mise-en-scene: film theory term regarding the use of space within the film frame • the placement of actors and props • the relationship of the camera to the space in front of it • camera movement • the use of color or black and white • lighting • the size of the screen frame itself In cinema, the mise-en-scene reinforces the narrative. How can this be done with level design in games?

  46. Landscape as Character Antonioni’s Red Desert, Kaige’s Yellow Earth, Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala and Ford’s The Searchers

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