From the new Experimental Game Lab at Georgia Tech (first open house later this month). Projects such as:
Drama Management - A central problem in creating video games with engaging stories is balancing interactivity and authorial control. While the author of a book or a movie can control the sequence and timing of events which the viewer experiences, a video game author does not have such control. While such control may be necessary to create an artistic experience, it competes with one of the strengths of the medium - the ability of a user to do what they like, when they like. I envision the creation of a new component to interactive stories, called a Drama Manager, which is responsible for balancing interactivity and authorial control. I am considering this problem from an Artificial Intelligence standpoint. [uhmm... "Drama Manager"... sounds like the perfect position for me.]
GameLog - GameLog is a website where gamers can keep track of the games that they are playing. In addition, they can maintain a GameLog (or diary) of their game playing experience. This repository of experiential information helps augment the power of word of mouth by providing instant access the thoughts, feelings and overall experience that someone has had with a game.
Triad - The American game industry has been searching recently for ways to engage women and casual gamers more fully in the game market. One of the reasons women and casual gamers cite for not taking to mainstream games is the focus many games place on violent action and an absence of games that focus on building relationships. Triad addresses this perception by providing a gameplay experience that focuses on the interpersonal relationships of the game characters, building upon the models of currently successful relationship-based games.
To do this, Triad provides an interactive environment for the creation of short love stories. Love stories are created in Triad through collaboration between the user and a story scenario made of a number of plot fragments, thus the user joins the system in a game of creating romantic stories in the style of Japanese popular romances as they appear in comic books, animated television shows, and interactive games.
And more.