PUBLIC MARKS with tags article & www.gamasutra.com

Three things must happen in order for there to be gameplay: * The player must get information about the state of the game. * The player must be able to affect the game, creating new game states. * New game states must be communicated to the player prompting further actions In addition in almost all types of game: * The game creates new states without the player's input.

Much of the work in game AI has focused on the ‘big' problems: path planning, squad planning, goal-directed behavior, etc. The result is characters that are capable of increasingly intelligent behavior. However, acting intelligently and acting aware and sentient is not the same thing. But if we are to create the kind of compelling and emotional characters upon which the next generation of computer games will be based, we must solve the latter problem, namely how to build characters that seem aware and sentient.

"Brenda Brathwaite, a 23-year veteran of the video games industry, has worked on 21 published titles, including most recently Cyberlore's Playboy: The Mansion. She is also the founder and chair of the International Game Developers Association's Sex Special Interest Group, which has as its goal the welcoming of “all developers actively creating or interested in the development of adult sexual content.” The SIG also aims to promote discussion about the adult content development community, and “the unique issues, challenges, possibilities it faces.”"

With the second annual Serious Games Summit in Washington D.C. [coordinated by the CMP Game Group, as is Gamasutra.com] nearly here, it seems a good time to take stock of ‘the state of serious games.'