Pilot: Understanding the Design Space of Mixed-Initiative Content Creation Tools

在我们的日常生活中，我们所经历的艺术作品越来越多地是在计算机中执行的算法的输出；这种算法被称为程序生成器。从麦金塔电脑上简陋的屏幕保护程序，到电影中的大型模拟人群，程序生成内容的力量增强了我们的体验。与此同时，专业的计算机应用程序，如Photoshop、Illustrator和Final Cut Pro，使人类设计师更容易手动创建高质量的内容，从而释放了数百万人的创造潜力。虽然工具的成本已经下降，但内容创造的成本仍然很高，这限制了每个人可以创造的内容数量。这个项目的目标是将程序生成器的速度与手动内容生成工具的表达潜力结合起来。我们试图创造一种工具，让人类设计师和程序生成器以一种协作的方式一起工作，每个人都以对方的工作为基础。我们把这种人/计算机的创造性系统称为“混合主动性”，因为在任何时候，人类或计算机都可以采取下一步行动，为最终的创意内容做出贡献。有了这种混合主动的内容创作系统，人类的创造潜力就有了迅速扩大的潜力，其结果是在广泛的创意作品中增加了活力和复杂性。本项目将通过构建和评估一个名为Springboard的混合主动内容创建系统来探索其设计空间。我们内容创造的目标领域是电脑游戏的关卡，特别是2D平台游戏（如《超级马里奥世界》）。电脑游戏是创造性内容创作的代表性领域，因为它们涉及视觉艺术、游戏元素的空间布局、动画和游戏机制（运动、奖励、获胜条件等）。因此关卡设计包含了许多现有内容创造工具中的元素。构建和评估Springboard将增强对创建此类系统所需的技术架构的理解，以及允许人类和计算机创建的内容进行灵活交互所需的各种知识表示。还需要探索的是创造、存储和访问最终创意产品变体的价值，从而支持对替代设计的快速探索。对使用该系统的人类设计师的研究将提供关于混合主动性工具如何影响人类创造过程的见解。我们预计程序生成关卡将帮助设计师在头脑风暴活动中产生更多不同的想法，将允许设计师探索更多的设计选择，并且通常首席设计师可以创造出比使用传统的手动关卡设计工具更长更复杂的最终关卡设计。

In our daily lives, the artwork we experience is increasingly the output of an algorithm executed within a computer; such algorithms are known as procedural generators. From the humble screensaver on the Macintosh with its swishes and whirls, to large simulated crowds in movies, our experience is enhanced by the power of procedurally generated content. At the same time, specialized computer applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut Pro have made it much easier for human designers to manually create top-quality content, thereby unleashing the creative potential of millions. Though the cost of tools has come down, the cost of content creation remains high, limiting the volume of content each person can create. The goal of this project is to combine the speed of procedural generators with the expressive potential of manual content generation tools. We seek to create tools where the human designer and a procedural generator work together in a collaborative way, each building on the work of the other. We call such human/computer creative systems ?mixed-initiative,? since at any point, either the human or the computer can take the next step in contributing to the final creative content. With such mixed-initiative content creation systems, the potential exists for a rapid amplification of human creative potential, with the result being increased vibrancy and intricacy across a wide range of creative works.This project will explore the design space of mixed-initiative content creation systems by constructing and evaluating one such system, called Springboard. Our target area for content creation is levels for computer games, specifically the genre of 2D platformers (such as Super Mario World). Computer games are a representative domain for creative content authoring, since they involve visual arts, spatial layout of game elements, animation, and game mechanics (movement, rewards, win conditions, etc.). Level design hence involves elements found in many existing content creation tools. Building and evaluating Springboard will yield an enhanced understanding of the technical architecture required to create such systems and the kinds of knowledge representations needed to permit flexible interaction of human and computer created content. Also to be explored is the value of creation, storage, and access to variants of the final creative product, thereby supporting rapid exploration of alternate designs. Studies of human designers using the system will provide insights into how mixed-initiative tools influence the human creative process. We anticipate procedurally generated levels will help designers generate more varied ideas during brainstorming activities, will permit designers to explore more design alternatives, and in general lead designers to create longer and more complex final level designs than when using traditional, manual-effort level design tools.