Game/AI

Farewell to The Professor

Before we return to AI-related topics, I'd like to add a few more words regarding Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Tim Schafer for his kind words regarding Mark.

Second, I'd like to announce that the Retro Studios engineering team has organized a task force to finish Mark's book, Real-Time Cameras, along with the generous assistance of Mark DeLoura and Akintunde Omitowoju.

Thirdly, we said farewell to Mark last Friday in a very moving ceremony, and I'd like to repost some of what was said here.

Mark's wife Melanie asked me to say a few words:

I’m deeply grateful for having been able to know Mark as a colleague and as a friend.

When I think of Mark, I will always think of him as a man who gave of himself.

Mark gave us his time, his unstoppable energy, and his boundless enthusiasm. He gave to us from his endless knowledge and his rich imagination -- sometimes more than we could handle, always more than we deserved. He gave to us his deep and genuine warmth, which came from a heart even bigger than his extraordinary intellect. Mark gave us three games that will always be remembered, one book that will change our industry, and countless memories of a great friend. He gave us more than we could ever hope to repay.

Mark never acted out of ambition or self-interest. He gave of himself, and he gave because he had a vision for Retro and for the industry. He gave because of that vision, out of a genuine desire to help move all of us forward to that better place.

I offer my condolences to Mark’s family. I offer my condolences to everyone who considered Mark a friend. But I especially offer my condolences to those in our industry who never had the opportunity to work with Mark, to learn from him, and to know him as a friend, and will never know what they have missed.

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Retro Studios President Michael Kelbaugh had the following to say:

Good afternoon. My name is Michael Kelbaugh and thank you for coming today.

Today we honor a Father, a husband and our friend, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to say today and I’ve been struggling because I feel we all know Mark so well. What could I say today that you didn’t already know about Mark?

I thought I’d start by reading some sentiment from people that didn’t know Mark. These are a few random words from the masses of e-mail I received and internet postings on various websites that have honored Mark over the last week.

• Your spirit will live on forever through your games.

• My prayers to his family and thanks for his part in such a wonderful games.

• If his family is reading any of these comments I'd like them to know that his games where very moving and resonant, and left you with a real sense of wonder and adventure most other games don't match. His time spent on gaming was much appreciated.

• Mark, thank you so much for so many happy memories. May god watch over your family. The world will miss your amazing talent.

• THANK YOU! for all the sleepless nights working to make millions like me love gaming.

• My condolences to all his family and closest friends. Thank you for bringing me and my family some of the greatest joys we've experienced in our lives. Every time I play Prime I will remember you.

And lastly;

• Dude, your games rocked.

In speaking with Melanie last week, I told her that I wished she and the girls could experience the overwhelming emotion and response I received from all of his friends and coworkers in the industry. I received many, many, calls and correspondence from all over the world, from people that had worked with Mark over the years.

I’d like to share a few notes with you. There are a number of these so please bear with me:

As some may know, our friends from Japan had a nickname for Mark. They call him Kyo-Ju or “The Professor.” Partly because, when you were in a meeting with Mark and he had a point to make, regardless of how long he took to make that point, you were there for the duration and you “would” listen whether you wanted to or not. They referred to this sometimes lengthy tutoring as being “H-Hed.”

From the standpoint of a colleague Mark was the standard of which the bar was set. He set a standard of professionalism, work ethic and what a mentor should be.

A mentor of mine used to reference what he’d call “The Lonely Walk.” The lonely walk was the feeling anyone had being the first one into the office in the morning and the last one out at night. He used to say, “Any good leader knows the lonely walk.”

I have to say that I rarely got to experience this feeling at Retro because typically, I’d pull into the office in the morning, there would be Mark’s car, sometimes still there from the day before. And when I’d pull out late at night, I’d often pass a little silver Audi TT with the license plate reading R-e-t-t-r-o.

From the standpoint of my friend;

Mark was a very open person. As most of us know, Mark spoke what was on his mind and he did so freely, tactfully and with the accent that always made you feel you had no choice but to listen. When we went for lunch, I never had to ask where because we all know that it was curry or it was nothing, and it was never as good as what he could get back home. He was a true gamer if there ever where one. And, most of all, he was a good friend that always offered sound advice.

I’ll finish by thanking Mark, our Professor, personally for a few final lessons.

Thank you for making me appreciate not this and not that, but everything much, much more.

Thank you for making me a better Father.

Mark Haigh-Hutchinson and Real-Time Cameras

I need to take a moment to discuss the news about my friend and colleague Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

Mark was not only one of the finest engineers I have ever had the honor and privilege to work with, but one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever known.

Although the IGN article I linked to above is accurate, it is also incomplete – Mark did much more than the camera systems. If you've ever played Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and wondered who it was that created the player control and Wiimote aiming systems that received so much praise: you’re looking at him.

I sat next to Mark whenever possible during Retro’s weekly company meetings. I remember that once, during the final weeks of Metroid Prime 3’s development, we got to talking before the meeting started, and he mentioned problems with inflammation. He said, “The doctors did an X-ray, and they say it’s inflammation of the digestive tract, and they’ve prescribed some Nexium for that ... But thankfully, the blood tests ruled out cancer.” His eyes grew wide. He continued: “Cancer! I had no idea it could be something that serious.” If only the blood tests had been correct.

I am thankful to have been able to go to Mark's home and meet with him a week before Christmas. He sat upright in his chair, and in spite of everything he had been through in the hospital and the bit of muscle mass he had lost from his time there, he seemed healthy, and he spoke lucidly, with strength and confidence and a crystal-clear consciousness. We talked about his ordeals, about his upcoming book on real-time game camera systems, about Retro Studios and the Metroid Prime games, about the industry, about movies, about a singer with a lovely voice whose music he found very soothing. He seemed to me to be full of inner strength and calm. Another Retro engineer had given him a copy of Super Mario Galaxy, and I promised him we would play it together when I got back to Austin after Christmas. He could play Mario and I’d help collect star bits for him.

I left his house feeling upbeat, with no doubt that his strength would see him through and I would see him again soon. I wonder if my mind simply refused to admit the possibility that this might be the last time I would see him.

To say that Mark approached the craft of game engineering like a scientist is a comparison that I suspect gives many actual scientists far more credit than they deserve. Mark approached every problem with a deep understanding of the craft and a thorough and meticulous exploration of all the ramifications of every engineering decision. I have never met anyone in my life so willing to explain a problem until it was fully understood, or so able to translate maddeningly complex technical problems into terms that non-engineers could understand. To say that Mark was a rare breed would be inaccurate – Mark was an entirely singular individual. In an industry with more than its share of hacks and charlatans, Mark was the real deal -- an unsung hero who quietly and patiently got the job done and found ways to raise the bar for quality at every single opportunity. He never held anyone to a standard higher than that to which he held himself. His dignity, extraordinary work ethic, passion, professionalism, sense of humor, and genuine human warmth paint a picture I will never be able to explain to those who still see videogames as childish pursuits created by childish individuals.

Mark was also working on a book titled “Real-Time Cameras,” which was very close to completion. I am thankful for having been able to read a few chapters last year and provide some feedback. I don’t know what the plans are for the book’s publication in light of these events, but I can say without hesitation that every designer and engineer in the industry should read it. Mark held the key to overcoming so many of the challenges that our industry faces with in-game cameras, and he was passionate about cameras that functioned smoothly and intuitively. The book brilliantly illuminates the problems and their specific solutions in detail.

The book is very nearly finished, and I am told that many Retro engineers have volunteered to help complete it. I hope to be able to participate in that effort as well.

I'm deeply and eternally grateful for having been able to know Mark, to work with him, to play board games with him, and especially to have been able to learn from him -- and although I learned a great deal from him, in the end, it was nothing more than taking a few buckets from an ocean, or checking out a small stack of books from the Library of Congress.

Rest easy, Mark. If there is a heaven for game developers, I know I will see you there, because your name will be engraved on the front gate, followed by an apostrophe, and then the letter S.

And if I ever make it there, my friend, I look forward to being able to keep my promise. You can be Mario and I’ll collect the star bits.

-Paul Tozour

Call for Papers: AIIDE'08

AIIDE'08: The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence
and Interactive Digital Entertainment
October 22-24, 2008
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Submissions deadlines:
Papers and Industry Track abstracts due April 22, 2008
Extended abstracts for demonstrations due May 6, 2008

AIIDE'08 - the Fourth 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 and industrial AI researchers. AIIDE'08 will include invited speakers, research and industry presentations, project demonstrations, and product exhibits. While traditionally emphasizing commercial computer and video games, we invite researchers and developers to share their insights and cutting-edge results on all topics at the interface of entertainment and artificial intelligence, including serious games, entertainment robotics, and beyond. AIIDE'08 is sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

(more below...)

PAPERS

Because AIIDE'08 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 or enabling a new form of interactive digital entertainment. The novel technique should be validated in a game prototype or test-bed, but need not be validated in a commercial game. Research Track papers are evaluated by the highest standards of academic rigor. The highest rated papers will be presented in short lecture format. We hope to offer the next highest rated group of papers the opportunity to present their work in a poster session. Applicants submit a paper of no more than 6 pages in the AAAI format for blind review (i.e. authors names and affiliations are omitted). All papers will be allocated 6 pages in the proceedings regardless of presentation format.

Industry Track
Individuals that have game development experience but lack the time or need for publishing rigorous academic papers can alternatively apply to the Industry Track. This track will include presentations of AI techniques, issues, or case studies from the perspective of implementing a product in the current commercial environment. Presentation proposals will be evaluated on their potential for conveying clearly elaborated ideas that have not been previously described to an adequate degree. Industry Track applicants submit an extended abstract describing the content of the proposed talk that also includes one paragraph describing their game industry experience. An extended abstract of two pages is sufficient, although any length up to that of a full paper (6 pages) is acceptable. Abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings.

Example Topics (List is Suggestive Only)
- Novel Solutions for Traditional AI Problems (Path planning, animation/camera control, tactical/strategic decision making, terrain analysis, user modeling)
- AI Supporting Novel Game Concepts or Gameplay Elements (Interactive drama, narrative/character development, NPC coordination, NPC belief/attitude/emotion modeling)
- AI Architectures for Games (Automata, scripting, planning, level of detail)
- AI Support for Game Production (Game design, content creation, testing)
- Other Entertainment Applications of AI Technologies (Robotics, natural language processing, reinforcement learning, neural networks, Bayesian networks, genetic algorithms, logic, rule based systems)
- Commercial AI Implementations (Case studies, implementation analysis, comparative evaluations)

Submissions
Electronic submission of papers and extended abstracts is required. All submissions must be in PDF format, no longer than 6 pages including references, and formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style (see the author instructions page at http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/author.php). Full submission instructions will be available at the AIIDE web site (www.aiide.org) after March 15, 2008. Research Track papers and Industry Track extended abstracts must be submitted by April 22, 2008. All accepted papers and extended abstracts 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'08 will not accept any paper that, at the time of submission, is under review for or has already been published or accepted for publication in another journal or conference.

DEMONSTRATIONS

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) new games authored by researchers, c) contributions demonstrating the adoption and/or extension of AI research results published games, and d) completely new forms of interactive digital entertainment made possible by AI research. An electronic submission of a 2-page abstract and demonstration materials is required. Demonstration materials 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. Please note that these materials are for review only; it is hoped that all demonstrations will be conducted live at AIIDE'08. Demonstration materials can be submitted electronically by email or FTP up-load. Demonstration authors should submit abstracts and materials by May 6, 2008. Submissions will be judged on technical merit, accessibility to developers and researchers, originality, presentation, and significance. Demonstration abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings.

EXHIBITS

AIIDE'08 will have exhibit space available. Companies, publishers and other groups are encouraged to consider purchasing either a table top display or an exhibit booth. Exhibit space is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Please contact AAAI at aiide08@aaai.org for more information.

IMPORTANT DATES

- March-April: Authors register on the AIIDE web site
- April 22, 2008: Electronic submission of Research/Industry Track papers/abstracts
- May 6, 2008: Electronic submission of extended abstract for a demonstration
- June 11, 2008: Notification of acceptance decision

PUBLICATION

All accepted papers and abstracts will be allocated six (6) pages in the conference proceedings. Up to two (2) additional pages may be used at a cost to the authors of US$ 275 per page. Authors will be required to transfer copyright of their paper to AAAI.

CONFERENCE CHAIR
Michael Mateas
University of California, Santa Cruz

PROGRAM CHAIR
Chris Darken
Naval Postgraduate School

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Ruth Aylett (Heriot-Watt University, UK), Kevin Dill (Mad Doc Software), Richard Evans (Maxis), Ana Paiva (Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal), Michael Youngblood (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Robert Zubek (Three Rings Design)

For additional information, please see www.aiide.org or email the conference organizers at aiide08@aaai.org .