Paulo Fontainha Gomes

University of California, Santa Cruz | UCSC · Center for Games and Playable Media

Characters that cross dimensions have elicited an avid interest in literature and cinema. In analogy to these characters, we explore the concept of migration: process by which an agent moves between embodiments, being active in only one at a time. We developed an autonomous artificial pet with two embodiments: a virtual within a smartphone and a ph...

The objective of our current work was to create a model for agent memory retrieval of emotionally relevant episodes. We analyzed agent architectures that support memory retrieval realizing that none fulfilled all of our requirements. We designed an episodic memory retrieval model consisting of two main steps: location ecphory, in which the agent’s...

Game developers strive to have engaging believable characters in their work. One of the elements that has been pointed out as contributing to believability is social behavior. A category of social behavior is interpersonal conflict. In our current research we compare two AI approaches to model NPC conflict resolution strategies: one using the react...

Currently, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology is restricted to desktop and high performance computing devices. In recent years, mobile devices and tablets have become ubiquitous due to their increased performance. However, the size of RTI files (≈100 MB) limits the range of portable devices capable of displaying RTI files. In this...

Authoring embodied, highly interactive virtual agents (IVAs) for robust experiences is an extremely difficult task. Current architectures for creating those agents are so complex that it takes enormous amounts of effort to craft even short experiences, with lengthier, polished experiences (e.g., Facade, Ada and Grace) often requiring person-years o...

The concept of character believability is often used in in- teractive narrative research hypothesis. In this paper we define believability metrics using perceived believability dimensions and discuss how they can be accessed. The proposed dimensions are: behavior coherence, change with experience, awareness, behavior understandability, personality,...

This paper explores the issues that arise in the context of the migration of a robotic pet between different embodiments and the associated design challenges. In the following, we describe the perceptions that a group of children have of a dinosaur character crossing the boundary between its robotic embodiment (the Pleo commercial pet), and its vir...

In our current work we have designed and implemented an artificial pet with two embodiments. In both embodiments behavior is driven by needs that are used to maintain coherence and motivate user interaction. These needs are transferred between embodiments, with only one embodiment being active at a time. We performed an evaluation with 10-year old...

In the present article a model for memory retrieval of personal experiences for virtual agents is presented. It builds upon previous work and focuses on the effect memory retrieval can have on the agent's emotional state. Memory retrieval is defined as an emotional re-appraisal of past experiences. The variation of intensity of such re-experience i...

Ortony proposed that for an agent to be believable it is necessary that its emotions, actions and motivations are coherent over long time periods [3]. We believe that the absence of past personal experiences retrieval in agents may hinder the just described coherence over long time periods. Such memories that refer to personal experiences, and are...