Abstract:
Artificial intelligence methods open up new possibilities in game
design, enabling the creation of believable characters with rich
personalities and emotions, interactive story systems that incorporate
player interaction into the construction of dynamic plots, and authoring
systems that assist human designers in creating games. Games are fast
becoming a major medium of the 21st century, being used for everything
from education, to editorial news commentary, to expressing public
policy and political opinions. Game AI research can radically expand the
expressiveness of games, supporting them in becoming a mainstream medium
for societal discourse. These ideas will be illustrated through research
projects in the Expressive Intelligence Studio at UC Santa Cruz.
Bio:
Michael Mateas is a professor in the Computer Science department at UC
Santa Cruz, where he holds the MacArthur Endowed Chair. He directs the
Expressive Intelligence Studio, and helped launch UCSC's game design
degree, the first such degree offered in the UC system. Prior to UC
Santa Cruz, Michael was a faculty member at The Georgia Institute of
Technology, where he held a joint appointment in the College of
Computing and the School of Literature, Communication and Culture, and
founded the Experimental Game Lab. His research interests involve
artificial intelligence applied to games and other forms of
computational media; this includes work in autonomous characters, story
and scenario generation, AI-assisted game authoring tools, and
interactive storytelling. With Andrew Stern, Michael released Façade,
the world^Òs first AI-based interactive drama in July 2005. Façade has
received numerous awards, and extensive press attention. Michael
received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon. Prior to
his academic career, Michael was a research scientist at Tektronix
Research Labs and Intel Labs.