Towards emotional characters in computer games

Abstract

This paper describes our research on integrating emotion aspects into characters of video games. Motivation for this is the significant absence of emotive expression in most characters of current games. In order to provide players with a more immersed game experience, it is essential that characters show compelling expressions, in particular, facial expressions. As a research methodology, we took several intense scenes from classic movies and evaluated what would be necessary to allow a virtual character to reenact the scenes inside a game. The recreated scenes should convey the same emotions as the original scenes. Our approach represents the internal state of a video game characters by using a PAD-based model, as well as modeling the impact on it of many relevant environment aspects. Representing this internal state also involves blending together animations to create lively facial expressions. We conclude that the resulting model is good enough to allow scenes to be recreated with an emotional load similar to the original scenes. The approach is also successful inimproving the consistency of the mood of the characters based on their personality. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.