An interactive, graphical coding environment for EarSketch online using Blockly and Web Audio API

Presented at the 2nd Web Audio Conference (WAC), April 4-6, 2016, Atlanta, Georgia.This paper presents an interactive graphical programming environment for EarSketch, using Blockly and Web Audio API. This visual programming element sidesteps syntac- tical challenges common to learning text-based languages, thereby targeting a wider range of users in both informal and academic settings. The implementation allows seamless integration with the existing EarSketch web environment, saving block-based code to the cloud as well as exporting it to Python and JavaScript

AI-based game design patterns

This paper proposes a model for designing games around Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI-based games put AI in the foreground of the player experience rather than in a supporting role as is often the case in many commercial games. We analyze the use of AI in a number of existing games and identify design patterns for AI in games. We propose a generative ideation technique to combine a design pattern with an AI technique or capacity to make new AI-based games. Finally, we demonstrate this technique through two examples of AI-based game prototypes created using these patterns

A Comparative Analysis of Story Representations for Interactive Narrative Systems

Interactive narrative is a blossoming field, with new systems and approaches being developed each year. However, despite this burgeoning array of designs, little work has been done in empirically evaluating and comparing them (Weyhrauch 1997; Nelson and Mateas 2005; Magerko 2007). Such a comparison is complicated by the fact that different systems are used to create different narratives; it is difficult to differentiate between the authored content and the system capabilities in an empirical setting. This paper proposes a comparative analysis approach to determining the strengths and weaknesses of interactive narrative systems. Such a comparison is a positive first step towards understanding and evaluating current and future interactive narrative systems

Creativity, Cognition, and Computation

Presented on February 28, 2013 in the DramaTech Theater.Runtime: 16:07 minutes.This talk will focus on the relationship between the practice of programming and creative expression within the context of performance. It will borrow from the canonical domains of improvisational theatre, pretend play, and movement studies as lenses for discussing the relationship between creative practice, computation, and cognition in both humans and machines. Several prototypes of computational systems that work within these domains will be presented that illustrate this relationship and highlight future challenges in digital performanceFunded by Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, The School of Literature, Media and Communication, The GVU Center, DramaTech, and The Ferst Center for the Art

Story Representation and Interactive Drama

When building a story-intensive game, there is always the question of how much freedom to give the player. Give the player too little, and he may feel constrained and disconnected from the character he is controlling. Give him too much freedom, and the progression of the story may lag or stop altogether. The field of interactive drama attempts to strike a balance between interaction and authorship. The story experienced in an interactive drama is dependent both on the plot content authored as well as the player’s choices in the story. Which story representation is appropriate for a particular approach to interactive drama and the relationship between that language and other elements of the architecture is a key factor in design. This paper introduces our interactive drama architecture, IDA, and addresses the requirements it has for a story representation. How those requirements are met by our representational choices is the focus of the rest of the paper

Player Modeling in the Interactive Drama Architecture

ii.. to my loving kitty and our infant daughter Acknowledgments The work presented here is the culmination of nearly a seven year journey from start to finish; far longer than I would have guessed when arriving in Michigan in the summer of 1999. I would like to thank my advisor, Professor John E. Laird, who has proven to be an excellent mentor and guide during my time as a graduate student. Without him, my writing would be much more obfuscated, my reasoning would be more poorly constructed, and I definitely would not have been as able to pursue such a non-traditional research topic. Prof. Laird gave me the perfect opportunity to apply my academic interests in creativity, improvisation, and artificial intelligence in an exciting new way, which I am wholly grateful for. I would like to thank Professor Edmund H. Durfee, as well as the rest of my committee, for pushing me to improve my work and to think about this research in a more critical light. Thanks to the Institute for Creative Technologies for funding th