Good Moods: Outlook, Affect and Mood in Dynemotion and the Mind Module

In this article we describe two systems for autonomous characters intended to simulate the minds of characters in virtual game worlds. These systems, the Dynemotion People Engine (DPE) and the Mind Module (MM), are here presented with special focus placed on the design and implementation of the parts of the architecture that simulate what is colloquially called mood. The mood feature is presented to the user in both applications as a fine-grained matrix that summarizes the character's state of mind, typically a complex state. Thus in both systems the mood feature functions as a qualitative guide describing the affordances for the interaction with one's own avatar or another character at a given moment. This simplifies the design and balancing of game design in terms of authorial affordances and provides a more familiar context for user-character interactions

Smart Games: Emergent Game Design

Gaming is a rapidly growing recreational activity. Over the last two decades we have seen a proliferation of games across all genres and user demographics. The consumption of content in modern games has grown as a result of the advancing technology available to game designers, as well as the growing expectations of the audience. The need for increasing the value of the content and expanding potential audience grows every day. Using dynamic adjustments to the underlying game systems as the player experiences the game, this paper will demonstrate how using emergent principles combined with other foundational systems, such as evolutionary algorithms, can increase the value of the content created for any game. This added value is of benefit to both those who have made the game, and the users who experience the results

Players Imbuing Meaning: Co-creation of Challenges in a prototype MMO

This article discusses how components in a game world can carry meaning relevant to individual players. The discussion is grounded in work with a massively multi-player online (MMO) proto- type where players in guided play-tests created their own opponents that they battled in groups of three. The opponents are called Manifestations, and can be compared to the “boss monsters” that in adventure and role-playing games pose the greatest challenges in terms of tactical game play, or battle. When creating Manifestations players define how these shall behave in play, and what they say under different circumstances. The game play mechanics in the world is centred on emotions and social relations. One of the design goals in the creation of the prototype was to cater for a system where tactical game play can be closely tied to the potential narrative contents. The Manifestations players created in the play tests were of four main categories; reflec- tions of persons they had complicated relationships with in real life, difficult situations, abstract concepts, or purely fictional entities. In several cases players brought material into the game that had personal meaning to them. These meanings were developed further when players saw how their Manifestation behaved within the rule system of the world. For example, one player created a Manifestation of an anticipated exam, while another made a Manifestation called “Mother”. The Mother cast spells called “Focused Aggression” and “Cold Ripple of Fear”. It was able to perform acts called “Blame”, “Threaten”, and “Disagree”. The group experimented with tactical choices, while reasoning about the Mother’s potential motivations. They managed to overcome the Mother by alternating between giving each other resistance and casting spells, the winning stroke being a rapid series of spells called “Forgive”