PaintBoard – Prototyping Interactive Character Behaviors by Digitally Painting Storyboards

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel method for the rapid prototyping of believable interactive characters; more specifically, we target the characters’ interactive behaviors – how they move in a discrete 2D environment in response to dynamic user input. We present PaintBoard, a system that enables users to prototype these interactive behaviors simply by painting a storyboard, and can immediately generate an interactive result. This visual method does not require programming, helping even non-technical designers create behaviors or better communicate their desired behaviors to others. We developed a novel algorithm that distills a painted storyboard into an original set of features, uses machine-learning to extrapolate from the storyboard to new situations, and moves the computer character according to its result. We conducted two exploratory studies that shaped the prototype design, and a final workshop with game developers where the results highlight PaintBoard’s accessibility and potential.

Video

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Publisher Link

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2658861.2658886&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=407349706&CFTOKEN=70249996

Citation

Daniel J. Rea, Takeo Igarashi, James E. young, "PaintBoard – Prototyping Interactive Character Behaviors by Digitally Painting Storyboards", In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI '14). 2014. (Best Paper Award)

Bibtext Entry

@inproceedings{hai2014-rea-paintboard,
title={PaintBoard – Prototyping Interactive Character Behaviors by Digitally Painting Storyboards
author={Rea, Daniel J. and Igarashi, Takeo and Young, James E.}
booktitle={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction},
year={2014}
}