Conversational Agents for Simulation Applications and Video Games

Ciprian Paduraru, Marina Cernat, Alin Stefanescu

2023

Abstract

Natural language processing (NLP) applications are becoming increasingly popular today, largely due to recent advances in theory (machine learning and knowledge representation) and the computational power required to train and store large language models and data. Since NLP applications such as Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, Siri, and chatGPT are widely used today, we assume that video games and simulation applications can successfully integrate NLP components into various use cases. The main goal of this paper is to show that natural language processing solutions can be used to improve user experience and make simulation more enjoyable. In this paper, we propose a set of methods along with a proven implemented framework that uses a hierarchical NLP model to create virtual characters (visible or invisible) in the environment that respond to and collaborate with the user to improve their experience. Our motivation stems from the observation that in many situations, feedback from a human user during the simulation can be used efficiently to help the user solve puzzles in real time, make suggestions, and adjust things like difficulty or even performance-related settings. Our implementation is open source, reusable, and built as a plugin in a publicly available game engine, the Unreal Engine. Our evaluation and demos, as well as feedback from industry partners, suggest that the proposed methods could be useful to the game development industry.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Paduraru C., Cernat M. and Stefanescu A. (2023). Conversational Agents for Simulation Applications and Video Games. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT; ISBN 978-989-758-665-1, SciTePress, pages 27-36. DOI: 10.5220/0012060500003538

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icsoft23,
author={Ciprian Paduraru and Marina Cernat and Alin Stefanescu},
title={Conversational Agents for Simulation Applications and Video Games},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT},
year={2023},
pages={27-36},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0012060500003538},
isbn={978-989-758-665-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT
TI - Conversational Agents for Simulation Applications and Video Games
SN - 978-989-758-665-1
AU - Paduraru C.
AU - Cernat M.
AU - Stefanescu A.
PY - 2023
SP - 27
EP - 36
DO - 10.5220/0012060500003538
PB - SciTePress