GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE, San Jose, CA (March 25, 2004) Zoesis Studios today presented The Demon and the Princess during the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California. The studio was one of approximately 15 participants selected to present. The Demon and the Princess represents a new gameplay based on studying, understanding, and, ultimately, emotionally manipulating an enemy.

The Demon and the Princess is an experimental demonstration that showcases advances in language, emotionally intelligent characters and dramatic conflict unseen in games today. The Demon is a powerful, aware, intelligent enemy that must be defeated through the use of psychology rather than force. The complex interaction of emotions, goals, and awareness in the mind of the demon leads to organic gameplay.

According to Peter Weyhrauch, founding Zoesis partner and vice president, business innovation, "We feel emotional intelligence is very powerful and, essentially, missing from the gaming category. Our characters appear alive and have distinct personalities. They have real reactions to their situations, and players have to recognize and think about the character's emotions in order to solve the game."

In The Demon and the Princess, the Demon has kidnapped the princess and is hiding her in a pearl. The player's job, in the role of the prince, is to rescue the princess. The Demon is very lonely and angry, and doesn't want to give up the princess, creating very real and dramatic conflict.

Through experimentation, the player learns how to psychologically manipulate the Demon. Although the player cannot remove the pearl by brute force, he can ultimately defeat the Demon and rescue the princess by manipulating the Demon's emotions.

Weyhrauch added, "A psychological friend or foe could be incorporated into a variety of gaming genres that exist today, including action, adventure, and role-playing games. Any game that deepens the player's experience through emotional intelligence significantly expands its potential appeal to a wider demographic."

The mind and emotions of the Demon are built out of a large set of competing and interacting software program fragments. This complexity generates significant variation in behavior, resulting in a feeling of genuine life. The result is not randomness but, rather, a coherent system designed to simulate the inner workings of the Demon's mind.

Language adds to the emotional complexity by expanding communication channels to include threats, flattery, insults, jokes, etc. A player becomes involved in the discussion by entering dialogue on the keyboard.

The Demon talks out loud to the player, telling him to "back off" and "I will kill you." He talks to the princess by saying, "Do not worry, my dear princess." The princess also talks to the player, saying, "Rescue me" or "is anybody there?" She sometimes talks to the Demon as well, telling him, "No, I don't love you."

The player can flatter the Demon by flirting, allowing the player to distract the Demon and rescue the princess. The Demon, in return, can emotionally respond by trying to stamp on the prince to amuse himself.

"Talking, combined with the motion and actions of the characters, leads to a higher level of sophistication. Our characters appear more intelligent and more real," added Weyhrauch.

The Demon and the Princess is a significant step toward Zoesis Studios' goal of commercializing interactive entertainment based on emotionally intelligent characters and stories that dynamically change at the player's direction.

About Zoesis, Inc.
Zoesis is a highly advanced digital arts studio that uses proprietary cognitive science and artificial intelligence technology to deliver interactive characters in a completely new way.  Zoesis' technology allows users to experience an engaging and empowering two-way relationship with digital characters—creating a powerful and distinct entertainment genre. Simply stated, Zoesis creates sentient characters in responsive worlds where the consumer becomes the essential co-star.

Zoesis, located in Newton, Massachusetts, was launched in Pittsburgh in 1996 by a four-person computer science and fine arts research team from Carnegie Mellon University. The company moved to Boston in 1997, where it now develops its unique artificial intelligence-based entertainment technology for commercial use. Further information about Zoesis can be found at www.zoesis.com.