Call for Papers

AIIDE-15

The Eleventh AAAI Conference on

Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment

November 14-18, 2015

UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Submission deadlines:

May 15, 2015: Workshop proposals

May 27, 2015: Regular Paper Abstract Deadline

May 31, 2015: Regular Paper Submission Deadline

June 1: Late-Breaking Abstract Deadline

June 8: Late-Breaking Submission Deadline

June 30, 2015: Paper Accept/Reject Notification

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aiide15

General Chair:

Arnav Jhala, University of California Santa Cruz

Program Chair:

Nathan Sturtevant, University of Denver

AIIDE-15 – the Eleventh Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment – is intended to be the definitive point of interaction between entertainment software developers interested in AI and academic AI researchers. AIIDE-15 will include invited speakers, paper presentations, demonstrations, and a doctoral consortium. While AIIDE often focuses on commercial computer and video games, we invite researchers and developers to share their insights and cutting-edge results on topics at the intersection of all forms of entertainment and artificial intelligence, including games for impact, entertainment robotics, art, and beyond. AIIDE-15 is sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

PAPERS

Because AIIDE-15 crosses disciplinary boundaries, submissions will be evaluated based on their accessibility to both commercial game developers and researchers in addition to their technical merit.

Research Track

Research track papers describe AI research results that make advances towards solving known game AI problems, enable a new form of interactive digital entertainment, or use AI to improve the game design and development process. The novel technique should be validated in a game prototype or test-bed, but need not be tested in a commercial game. Research track papers are evaluated by the highest standards of academic rigor. Accepted papers will either be presented as a short lecture or a poster. Authors should submit a paper of no more than 7 pages in the AAAI format for double blind review (i.e., authors names and affiliations are omitted). The final page (page 7) must contain only references, and no other text whatsoever. All papers, whether poster or oral, will be allocated 7 pages in the proceedings.

Practitioner Track

AIIDE also solicits submissions from professional game developers and artists on the use of artificial intelligence in games and other cultural artifacts. While these practitioners are also invited to submit to the research track, we recognize that many will have neither the time nor the inclination to prepare full-length papers for archival academic publication. These authors may instead submit a 500 word extended abstract to the practitioner track. Practitioner track papers need not describe new technology, but must describe new ideas relevant to the AIIDE audience and must be based on experience creating deployed games or other cultural artifacts. These papers are exempt from the formatting and blind reviewing requirements for the research track. Results from academic projects are more appropriate for the research track or demonstration tracks, rather than the practitioner track.

DEMONSTRATIONS

As many aspects of AI and interactive digital entertainment are fundamentally interactive, two tracks are offered to allow the demonstration of such systems.

Demo Track

We invite researchers and practitioners to share insights and cutting-edge results from a wide range of topics and encourage the demonstration of (a) research systems in the context of existing commercial games, (b) contributions demonstrating the adoption and/or extension of AI research results in published games, (c) completely new forms of interactive digital entertainment made possible by AI research, and (d) other relevant work. An electronic submission of a 2-page abstract and demonstration materials is required. Demonstration abstract review is not blind. Submissions should contain a link to the demonstration materials, which can take the form of a recorded demonstration session, an executable version of the demonstration with written instructions, or a detailed description of the demonstration heavily illustrated with screenshots. The abstract will be published in the AIIDE proceedings, but all demonstrations must be conducted live at AIIDE-15. Submissions will be judged on technical merit, accessibility to developers and researchers, originality, presentation, and significance. There are many AI systems which can be demoed (e.g. an editor, the result of a new pathfinding system, etc), but are not playable experiences themselves. Complete games or other playable experiences are best suited for the playable experience track.

Playable Experience Track

Indie developers, industry developers, and researchers who are developing innovative AI-based games or other interactive media (“playable experiences”) are invited to submit their work to the playable experiences track. We welcome playable experiences that involve some articulable innovation in the use of AI that directly affects the user's experience. This includes novel game designs that leverage existing AI techniques, as well as innovations in the techniques themselves that lead to new kinds of playable experiences. Playable experience submissions should be sufficiently complete and polished enough for naïve users to play them. Authors should submit a 500 word extended abstract describing the impetus behind the playable experience, how AI has motivated its design (or vice versa), and what they see as its primary innovation(s). The abstract should include a publicly accessible link to a web-based, mobile, or downloadable player experience, and instructions for how to play it; this link must remain live at least through the end of the conference. Playable experience review is not blind. The abstract will be published in the conference proceedings, and the authors will have the opportunity to show their playable experience during the evening poster/demo session of the AIIDE conference.

EXAMPLE TOPICS

Following is a non-exhaustive list of topics that fall in the scope of AIIDE:

  • AI in Game Design
    • AI as a source of novel game mechanics and genres
  • AI-Based Production and Authoring Tools
    • Behavior-building, design frameworks, telemetry-supported game design, content authoring support, scripting, sketch-based authoring, automated playtesting
  • AI Techniques for Games
    • Planning, reinforcement learning, search, neural networks, Bayesian models, evolutionary algorithms, case-based reasoning, constraint programming, utility-based approaches, animation, camera control, tactical/strategic decision making, terrain analysis, opponent modeling, dynamic difficulty adjustment, spatial decompositions, path planning
  • AI Storytelling
    • Interactive drama, story generation, character development
  • Autonomous Characters, NPCs, and Virtual Humans
    • Personality, emotion, believability, natural language processing, cognitive modeling, crowd simulation, social robotics
  • Procedural Content Generation
    • Level generation, progression design, behavior adaptation
  • Commercial AI Implementations
    • Case studies, implementation analysis, comparative evaluations
  • AI in Novel Entertainment Applications
    • Entertainment robotics, virtual/mixed reality, mobile device games, geo-location based games, games for human-computation
  • Computational Creativity and Generative Art
    • Painting, poetry, story, humor, music
  • AI in Games for Impact
    • Training, education, intelligent tutoring, games for health, gamification

Submissions

Author Registration: Authors must register at the AIIDE-15 paper submission site before they submit their papers. The submission site will assign a password to be used for abstract and paper submission. Authors are encouraged to register as soon as possible, and well in advance of the submission deadline. Abstracts and papers must be submitted through the AIIDE-15 paper submission site; we cannot accept submissions by e-mail or fax.

  • Research Track submissions must be in PDF format, no longer than 7 pages where page 7 must contain only references. Papers should be formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style (see the author instructions page). All Research Track papers must be formatted for BLIND REVIEW with NO author or affiliation information listed.
  • Practitioner Track extended abstracts must be submitted in PDF format and be approximately 500 words in length. Authors should also include short bios describing their game industry experience (not counted toward the document length). Papers should preferably be formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style as above; however, Practitioner Track authors may submit their content in any reasonable format for review, and AIIDE will assign an editor to help meet publication formatting requirements for accepted work.
  • Demo Track submissions must be in PDF format, no longer than 3 pages where page 3 must contain only references. Papers should be formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style (see the author instructions page). Demo Track papers should contain author and affiliation information.
    • Playable Experience Track submissions must be submitted in PDF format and be approximately 500 words in length. Submissions should preferably be formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style as above; however, Playable Experience authors may submit their content in any reasonable format for review, and AIIDE will assign an editor to help meet publication formatting requirements for accepted work.

All papers and abstracts must be registered by May 27, 2015 and submitted by May 31, 2015. All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. At least one author must register for the conference by the deadline for camera-ready copy submission. As AIIDE is an academic conference, all attendees including presenters pay a registration fee. AIIDE-15 will not accept any paper that is under review for or has already been published or accepted for publication in another journal or conference.

WORKSHOPS

The AIIDE 2015 committee invites proposals for one to two day workshops to be held on November 14-15. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to meet and discuss issues with a selected focus — providing an informal setting for active exchange among researchers, developers, and users on topics of current interest. Members of all segments of the AI in Digital Entertainment community as well as industry researchers are encouraged to submit proposals. The format of workshops will be determined by their organizers. Organizers are highly encouraged to propose alternative formats beyond paper/poster presentations, and should encourage the submission and presentation of position papers that discuss new research ideas. Workshop papers will be published as technical reports and will be archived in the AAAI digital library. Proposals for workshops should be about two (2) to three (3) pages in length.

DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM

AIIDE-15 will feature a Doctoral Consortium in which Ph.D. students will be invited to discuss and explore their research interests and career objectives with a panel of established researchers in AIIDE related fields. The consortium is intended primarily for early-stage Ph.D. students who have either not yet proposed their thesis topic or have recently done so. Ph.D. students selected for the Doctoral Consortium will have the opportunity to present their research proposals at the DC session and/or at the poster session. Additionally, each student will be paired with a mentor, a senior member of the AIIDE community. Applications to attend the Doctoral Consortium will include a 4-page research summary, curriculum vita, a 1-page document stating what they hope to gain from attending the Doctoral Consortium, and a letter of recommendation from the dissertation advisor.

EXHIBITS

AIIDE-15 will have exhibit space available. Companies, publishers and other groups are encouraged to consider purchasing either a tabletop display or an exhibit booth. Exhibit space is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • May 15, 2015: Workshop proposals
  • May 27, 2015: Regular Paper & Demonstration Abstract Deadline
  • May 31, 2015: Regular Paper & Demonstration Submission Deadline
  • June 1, 2015: Late-Breaking Abstract Deadline
  • June 7, 2015: Late-Breaking Paper Deadline
    • June 30, 2015: Accept/Rejection Notification
      • November 14-15, 2015: AIIDE Workshops
    • November 16-18, 2015: Main AIIDE Conference

SUBMISSION:

Authors should register and upload submissions to:

GENERAL CHAIR

Arnav Jhala (UC Santa Cruz)

PROGRAM CHAIR

Nathan Sturtevant (University of Denver)

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CHAIR

Eric Jacopin (Academy of Saint-Cyr)

STUDENT ACTIVITIES CHAIR

Alexander Zook (Georgia Tech)

WORKSHOPS CHAIR

Emmett Tomai (University of Texas - Pan American)

PLAYABLE EXPERIENCE CO-CHAIRS

Michael Cook