[gameAI_news] Game AI Newsletter (02/2006)

[gameai_news at igda.org]

Hi everyone, 

We're approaching GDC, and it's time for another game AI newsletter! 

In the beginning, a quick pointer to a call for new members for our AI 
Interface Standards Committee (AIISC). The deadline for applications is 

 NEXT MONDAY (Feb 20) 

so hurry if you are interested in joining our initiative:
http://www.igda.org/ai/call-for-applications.htm 

Of course, this newsletter has lots of stuff related to GDC! Let's start 
with some info from Neil and Steve about their great AI Programmers Dinner: 

EVENT:
The Annual AI Programmers Dinner
Friday, March 24th, 6:00pm
Eulipia restaurant on 1st Street
Meeting: Get to the "lobby bar" on the second floor concourse of the 
convention center by 5:30. At 5:30 the group heads over to Eulipia 
restaurant.
Reservation: As early as possible, get a business card and a $20 to Steve 
Woodcock or Neil Kirby to reserve your place. Neil can be found giving a 
tutorial on Monday. Neil and Steve can be found moderating the AI round 
tables Wednesday through Friday. The $20 covers the food/tax/tip portions of 
the dinner. Bring your own money for you bar tab. We usually run out of 
places after the AI round tables on Wednesday. If you change your mind, let 
us know as soon as possible and we'll give you your $20 back and let some 
one else take the slot. Bring your digital camera and email the shots to 
Steve Woodcock. Be ready to talk game AI! 

Getting to the actual AI content of GDC, here is an overview of related 
sessions:
* AI Learning Methods for Game Designers [Poster Session]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1647
* Artificial Intelligence in Computer Games - Present and Future 
[Roundtables]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1519
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2473
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2470
* Battle Cam: A Dynamic Camera System for Real-Time Strategy Games [Lecture]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1530
* Behavioral Animation for Next-Generation Characters [Sponsored Session]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2114
* Crowd Simulation on PS3 [Lecture]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2769
* Crowds In A Polygon Soup: Next-Gen Path Planning [Lecture]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1559
* Embodied Agents in Computer Games [Tutorial]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1340
* Extreme Memory Optimization for Path-Finding and Spatial Partitioning 
Systems [Lecture]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1569
* Human to Virtual Human [Panel]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2314
* Invoking Life and Character Emotion: Crossing the Uncanny Valley 
[Sponsored Session]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2378
* Next Generation Facial Animation - Making Your Characters More Believeable 
[Sponsored Sessions]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2431
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2432
* The Art of Munging AI [Roundtables]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2308
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2484
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2480
* The Next Generation Animation Panel [Panel]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2272
* Three States and a Plan: The AI of F.E.A.R. [Lecture]
 http://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=1 

Quite a list, isn't it? And please note that CMP states at the GDC website 
that content is continuously being added to the program, so there might even 
be more relevant sessions! 

Here is a list of more events: 

EVENT:
The Second Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital 
Entertainment (AIIDE'06)
June 20-23, 2006
Marina Del Ray, CA, USA
http://www.aiide.org/ 

EVENT:
ICAPS 2006 Workshop on AI Planning for Computer Games and Synthetic 
Characters
June 6 or 7, 2006
The English Lake District, Cumbria, UK
Paper submission deadline: February 17, 2006
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/aip-gsc.html 

EVENT:
SAB-06 Workshop on Adaptive Approaches for Optimizing Player Satisfaction in 
Computer and Physical Games
October 1, 2006
Conference Centre of the Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
Paper submission deadline: May 1, 2006
http://www.sab06.org 

EVENT:
Narrative AI and Games: A symposium part of the AISB 2006 conference
April 5-6, 2006
University of Bristol, Bristol, England
http://www.nicve.salford.ac.uk/AISB06/CallForPapers.html 

EVENT
2006 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'06)
May 22-24, 2006
University of Nevada, Reno campus, Reno/Lake Tahoe, NV, USA
http://www.cse.unr.edu/~sushil/cig06/ 

Check previous newsletters for events that were already mentioned there! 

Continuing with the event above, let's move on to some new resource links: 

ONLINE RESOURCE/PROCEEDINGS:
Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and 
Games (CIG 2005)
http://csapps.essex.ac.uk/cig/2005/index.jsp?page=papers.html 

ONLINE RESOURCE/ARTICLE:
Make-believe Tanks: a Report from the Trenches of the VizSim Industry
by Holger Gruen
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060131/gruen_01.shtml
(only a small part on AI though) 

ONLINE RESOURCE/ARTICLE:
Using Particle Swarm Optimization for Offline Training in a Racing Game
by Etienne de Villiers
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051213/villiers_01.shtml 

As a final note on resources, all proceedings of the previous GDCs are now 
accessible from one webpage: 

ONLINE RESOURCE/PROCEEDINGS:
GDC Proceedings
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/ 

Here's a link to EA's AI-focused UK programming challenge: 

SOFTWARE COMPETITION:
EA's Programming Challenge: Tank Wars
(Submission date delayed)
http://www.info.ea.com/company/company_tw.php 

That's it for this time! I hope everyone has a chance to go to GDC and enjoy 
the sessions there. Unluckily, I won't make it this year, but we'll surely 
meet at the one or other event elsewhere! And don't forget the deadline on 
Monday for membership applications for the AIISC :-) 

An EA quote related to its student competition above seems to be a great way 
to end this issue: "In this competition, we have deliberately downgraded the 
graphics to emphasize the importance of AI. Over the next five to 10 years, 
AI is going to differentiate great games from the rest. With this 
competition, we hope to find people with a passion for AI and understanding 
of the magic that makes a game truly fun to play." 


Best,
Alexander Nareyek <alex at ai-center.com>
Chair of the IGDA's AI SIG
http://www.igda.org/ai/ 


P.S.:
Did I miss anything? If you want to add anything for the next newsletter, 
please let me know! 

P.P.S.:
By the way, just as a note - please don't ask about including "general AI" 
links in this newsletter. The field of AI is much too broad to cover, and 
there are other newsletters out there that target the general topic in a 
much better way. This newsletter is only for links/events/resources with a 
strong "game" emphasis.