To Date or Not to Date? A Minimalist Affect-Modulated Control Architecture for Dating Virtual Characters

As part of our broader initiative on promoting the education in the field of IVA control mechanisms at high schools and universities, we have created a micro-game Cinema Date, which introduces students challenges posed by controlling 3D virtual characters and expressing their emotional state. The game features two virtual teenagers dating on their way to the cinema. The player can influence the course of the date by influencing behavior of the boy. Existing IVA architectures did not satisfy our requirements on the architecture being reasonably simple, yet capturing affect-modulated behavior, transition behavior and future-directed intentions. Here, we present the game, focusing on the minimalist control architecture of its main characters.