Emotions

Determining what emotions to use in the application it seemed rather obvious to use fear, anger, happiness, sadness, surprise and disgust as they are the most prominent emotions that people use everyday. This was backed up by the research on emotions mainly by Paul Ekman although his initial list of the previous stated emotions was altered to include a wider list however the previous stated emotion or the six base emotions are a widely accepted list of emotions and are all that is really needed for the application.

For determining how to calculate when these emotions are to be used, a formula was created based on the intensity of the event, the big five personality factors and the sixteen personality factors.
Depending on what facets of the big five factors were used in the event this determines the intensity of each personality factor, for example: if three out of six facets relating to Extraversion are present at the event, intensity becomes 50% or 0.5. The characters predefined Extraversion in this case 0.5, which would mean the character isn't very social but does not shy away from it, or it means an average Extraversion value. The predefined value is them multiplied by the intensity to produce the value used in the emotion formula.
The emotion formula for each emotion are as follows:

• Fear:Neuroticism-Extraversion+Openness+Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+Apprehension.
• Anger:Neuroticism-Extraversion+Openness-Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+Dominance.
• Happiness:-Neuroticism+Extraversion+Openness+Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+Liveliness.
• Sadness:Neuroticism-Extraversion+Openness-Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+1-Liveliness.
• Surprise:Neuroticism-Extraversion+Openness-Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+Abstractedness.
• Disgust:Neuroticism-Extraversion+Openness-Agreeableness-Conscientiousness+Sensitivity.

The formula for fear is based on the idea that fear is a negative emotion so neuroticism is the first emotion then as Extraversion is a persons positive emotion it is subtracted. Openness and Conscientiousness are constant for all emotions as openness is how open you are to all emotions and conscientiousness is the self-control of a person, so openness is always added and conscientiousness is always taken away. The final of the big five is Agreeable and in the case of fear it is added as when a person is scared, feeling fear they become more agreeable and self-interested. The final part of the formula is the personality factor from the 16 personality factors that corresponds with fear which is Apprehension which represents worry and guilt as a result is added onto the formula.
The formula for happiness id similar however neuroticism the negative emotions are subtracted from Extraversion the positive emotions and the factor that corresponds with happiness, liveliness which in a sense is the representation of happiness.
The formula for sadness, which is the same for disgust and surprise, except for there corresponding factors has neuroticism first then Extraversionis subtracted from it adding openness subtracting agreeableness and conscientiousness and adding either one minus liveliness as its opposite is the opposite of happiness for sadness, Abstractedness which represents absent mindedness for surprise and Sensitivity which represents how tough or tender minded a person is for disgust.
As the formulas are so similar it can be off some times so it would return the wrong emotion. The emotion which is determined is whatever is the highest and in some cases it is a inappropriate emotion for the event.

Personality

While deciding on how to create the personality class that would be used in the project I researched various psychological methods for defining a personalty. From past research done on personality in games I found the big five personality factors, five factors that are the generalized manifestations of all the factor observed by psychologists giving a base from which to start. There are other methods usually linked to the big five in some way such as the six HEXACO personality factors which has the same generalized manifestations however this method includes honesty and humility(H) and the agreeableness factor(A) is not exactly the same as the agreeableness factor of the big five. Also there are the 16 personality factors(16PF), created by Raymond Cattell. The 16PF came before the big five and are a much more accurate assortment of personality factors, Raymond Cattell found the creation of the big five personality factors an insult to his 16PF but it has been shown that the there is a link between the two.

The big five personality factors are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness.

1. Extraversion: This factor is the combination of extrovert and introvert. Extrovert is characterized by positive emotions and a tendency towards being social and perceived to be energetic. Introvert is characterized by a lack of energetic tendencies and being quiet and less social, this can also be related to shyness and depression.
2. Agreeableness: This factor is a combination of agreeable and disagreeable. Agreeable is characterized by a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. Disagreeable is characterized by self-interest and skepticism, with a less likly chance that they will help others.
3. Conscientiousnes: This factor is characterized by self-discipline and self-control and shows a tendency to plan rather than take spontaneous action.
4. Neuroticism: This factor is characterized by negative emotions, also referred to as emotional instability. A high neuroticism factor will increase the likelihood of becoming easily upset and vulnerable to stress. A low neuroticism factor are less likely to become upset and tend to be calm and free from persistant negative feelings.
5. Openness: This factor is characterized by who open someone is to emotion, adventure, unusual ideas an imagination. This is the factor that is the difference between imaginative people and down to earth people. A high openness factor tends to imply a more creative person with unconventional beliefs while a low openness factor tends to imply a more conventional, straightforward person.

These personality factors are used as the base formula for determining which emotion the characters in the application show and this is used to influence events. However, the formulas used to determine the emotions are not very varied and in four of the six cases are exactly the same. To get around this the use of fuzzy logic would be prudent however as the initial application should only use finite state machines(FSM) another way to vary the formulas are needed, for this a look at other related methods.

The 16PF method is what the big five are based on.

Descriptors of Low Range	Primary Factor	Descriptors of High Range
Reserve, impersonal, distant, cool, reserved, impersonal, detached, formal, aloof (Sizothymia)	Warmth	Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kindly, easy going, participating, likes people (Affectothymia)
Concrete thinking, lower general mental capacity, less intelligent, unable to handle abstract problems (Lower Scholastic Mental Capacity)	Reasoning	Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast learner (Higher Scholastic Mental Capacity)
Reactive emotionally, changeable, affected by feelings, emotionally less stable, easily upset (Lower Ego Strength)	Emotional Stability	Emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, faces reality calm (Higher Ego Strength)
Deferential, cooperative, avoids conflict, submissive, humble, obedient, easily led, docile, accommodating (Submissiveness)	Dominance	Dominant, forceful, assertive, aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy (Dominance)
Serious, restrained, prudent, taciturn, introspective, silent (Desurgency)	Liveliness	Lively, animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive (Surgency)
Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent (Low Super Ego Strength)	Rule-Consciousness	Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound (High Super Ego Strength)
Shy, threat-sensitive, timid, hesitant, intimidated (Threctia)	Social Boldness	Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned, uninhibited (Parmia)
Utilitarian, objective, unsentimental, tough minded, self-reliant, no-nonsense, rough (Harria)	Sensitivity	Sensitive, aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined (Premsia)
Trusting, unsuspecting, accepting, unconditional, easy (Alaxia)	Vigilance	Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional (Protension)
Grounded, practical, prosaic, solution orientated, steady, conventional (Praxernia)	Abstractedness	Abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, absorbed in ideas (Autia)
Forthright, genuine, artless, open, guileless, naive, unpretentious, involved (Artlessness)	Privateness	Private, discreet, nondisclosing, shrewd, polished, worldly, astute, diplomatic (Shrewdness)
Self-Assured, unworried, complacent, secure, free of guilt, confident, self satisfied (Untroubled)	Apprehension	Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming (Guilt Proneness)
Traditional, attached to familiar, conservative, respecting traditional ideas (Conservatism)	Openness to Change	Open to change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, free thinking, flexibility (Radicalism)
Group-oriented, affiliative, a joiner and follower dependent (Group Adherence)	Self-Reliance	Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful, individualistic, self sufficient (Self-Sufficiency)
Tolerated disorder, unexacting, flexible, undisciplined, lax, self-conflict, impulsive, careless of social rues, uncontrolled (Low Integration)	Perfectionism	Perfectionistic, organized, compulsive, self-disciplined, socially precise, exacting will power, control, self –sentimental (High Self-Concept Control)
Relaxed, placid, tranquil, torpid, patient, composed low drive (Low Ergic Tension)	Tension	Tense, high energy, impatient, driven, frustrated, over wrought, time driven. (High Ergic Tension)

Contributions and Limitations of Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model, 2004, Heather M. Fehriinger. Available as:<http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/fehringer.html>[Accessed 12 March 2011]

By taking all the personality factors that correspond to emotion and the emotions represented in the application, Dominance, Liveliness, Apprehension, Sensitivity and Abstractedness are the ones that are correspond. Even though Emotional Stability is relevant to emotions it is a generalized factor and is included in the big five, also the other factors can be assigned a corresponding emotion(s). Adding into the formula, Dominance for anger, Liveliness for happiness and sadness, Apprehension for fear, sensitivity for disgust and Abstractedness for surprise. These new emotional personality factors also correspond to aspects of the big five so the same modifiers used for the big five should be used for the emotional factors.

Relating these personality factors to the events means there must be some way to judge there relevance. Based on the Revised NEO(Neuroticism,Extraversion,Openness) Personality Inventory(NEO PI-I) there are 6 "facets" that relate to the big five. By using these facets to relate an event with the personality model the application can judge the intensity of the event. By having the event trigger the strength of the personality factor that will then influence the emotion the character feels, the application can then generate different results for each event, just like in reality.

Revised NEO Personality Inventory, 2011, Wikipedia. Available as:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revised_NEO_Personality_Inventory>[Accessed 12 March 2011]

User Interface

The user interface for the application has been completed. This is the main menu where there is a background screen consisting of an image of a castle with grass and a nice sky which are at good contrast with the parchment and font. The parchment is good for the type of game, simulating dungeons and dragons and the font is the basic of the xna gamestatemanager but still works for anything, such as the titles and the menu entry.

This is the story menu. Each face will be a different character. The begin and exit menu entries will be replaced with options and where the //to do is written is where the information for the background step. This will also be where the information the the other characters give you will be show but the face of the character will be moved to where the //to do writing is and the information moved beside it.

Honours Project Script

You wake in darkness, you are on a floor but you cannot see it, and there seems to be no walls just endless darkness, suddenly a purple hue resonates through the darkness and you see a shadowy figure.

This is an example of the background that the user will see

 

"Hello, I am Adolamin the Wizard, I am sure you have questions"

"This place is my temporal plane, a plane of existence I created outside of time."

"I request you perform a mission for me."

"As a reward I will grant you each one wish"

"The Mission(If you choose to accept it) is to retrieve for me a ring. This ring has great power for one who knows how to use it. It is in the hands of a great enemy of mien. The Puppet Master. He spends his days at the great Sapphire Citadel, once a place of enlightenment now a den of darkness. He has an army of guards so you must enter the citadel without being detected. It would be a great help to me if you could retrieve this ring."

Dialogue explaining the mission

Then there is a decision point for the characters to make their choices

 

The darkness fades, you see vast forest and towering mountains, the grass appears beneath your feet covered in frost but there is no chill or wind. Before you leys The Sapphire Citadel, a soaring  tower, covered in blue crystal glistening like sapphires. Above it an amazing blue and silver aurora borealis though which you can see the stars just coming into view. Around it a huge lake of deep blue reflecting the silvery light of the aurora.

You come to a wide stone bridge. 

Background

 

Perception Check: Low: Notice Guards

Medium: Notice Dragonkin uniformed guards that don't look happy to see them

High: Notice the above and that the actually just seem bored.

Passive check for each character

Decision point

The guards should accept any excuse to get past except tourists(if used will need more convincing)

 

 Walking through the massive archway you enter a courtyard bustling with activity from the market. The people seem happy and going about their lives.  To the left you see three buildings that look like a hotel, a pub and a town hall. To the right people enter and exit doors that seem to be where people live and in the centre a fountain depicting a sorcerer humbled before the citadel.

Background

Typical Hotel, pub and town hall, there is a door at the back of the town hall that soldiers/guards walk in and out of. 

Background

 

Perception Check: High: This is the armory weapons stored aren't as good as the groups and has standard weapons in it.

Passive check

Decision point

Once the group is finished using the facilities a very scruffy looking boy will run up to a member of the group and tell them:

"Don't believe the happiness here it's all fake, watch out for Belros Loyalar, he's an odd one."

The guards across the court yard yell "Oi! You there." You look back and the boy is gone.

Guards are now rushing towards you.

Background

Whether they decide to run or fight they are challenged by a Half Elf.

Out of nowhere a glove is thrown in front of you and a scruffy looking Half Elf wearing a big hat with a poufy flower in it is giving you an evil look from across the now clear courtyard.

"I challenge you to a duel"

Background

 

1.       who?

a.       "I'll kill any of you."

2.       all of them ready to battle

a.       "I'd be happy to kill you all but this is a duel."

b.      "One on one."

Decision point

The idea is that there is a background screen then a skills check to determine if there is anything else then another background screen if there is then finally the decision point. This is where the characters make there decisions.
For the user the backgrounds are necessary but not for the computer. The passive check are dependent on the character so during the decision point the user and other characters must ask for information.
The decision point is where the user and the characters make decisions.