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

试点：了解混合主动内容创建工具的设计空间

• 批准号: 1002852
• 负责人: Emmet Whitehead
• 金额: $ 26.77万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1002852&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pilot; Understanding; Design; Space; Mixed

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.

在我们的日常生活中，我们所经历的艺术品越来越多地是计算机内执行的算法的输出；这种算法被称为程序生成器。从麦金塔电脑上不起眼的屏幕保护程序到电影中模拟的大量人群，程序生成的内容的力量增强了我们的体验。与此同时，Photoshop、Illustrator 和 Final Cut Pro 等专业计算机应用程序使人类设计师能够更轻松地手动创建高质量内容，从而释放数百万人的创作潜力。尽管工具的成本已经下降，但内容创建的成本仍然很高，限制了每个人可以创建的内容量。该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。我们寻求创建让人类设计师和程序生成器以协作方式一起工作的工具，每个工具都建立在另一个工具的基础上。我们将这种人/计算机创造性系统称为“混合主动”系统。因为在任何时候，人类或计算机都可以采取下一步来贡献最终的创意内容。有了这种混合主动内容创建系统，就有可能快速放大人类的创造潜力，从而增加各种创意作品的活力和复杂性。该项目将通过构建和评估一个名为 Springboard 的系统来探索混合主动内容创建系统的设计空间。我们内容创作的目标领域是电脑游戏的关卡，特别是 2D 平台游戏类型（例如《超级马里奥世界》）。电脑游戏是创意内容创作的代表领域，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（动作、奖励、获胜条件等）。因此，关卡设计涉及许多现有内容创建工具中的元素。构建和评估 Springboard 将加深对创建此类系统所需的技术架构以及允许人类和计算机创建的内容灵活交互所需的知识表示类型的理解。还需要探索的是创建、存储和访问最终创意产品变体的价值，从而支持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深入了解混合主动工具如何影响人类的创作过程。我们预计，程序生成的关卡将帮助设计师在头脑风暴活动中产生更多样的想法，允许设计师探索更多的设计替代方案，并且通常会引导设计师创建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。