Andrew Stern    
 

info at stumptowngamemachine dot com

    

ABOUT:

Andrew is founder of Stumptown Game Machine, LLC, a Portland-based indie studio developing funded, 3D games for the iPhone. Stumptown's first game, Touch Pets Dogs, was the #1 free app on iTunes for 5 days shortly after its global launch in November 2009.

Andrew is also founding partner of Procedural Arts, LLC, developing next-generation, personality-rich, AI-based characters and stories, building upon the success of the critically-acclaimed interactive drama Facade. Facade has had 500K+ freeware downloads since July 2005, was Grand Jury Prize Winner of the 2006 Slamdance Indie Games Festival, was called "the future of video games" by The New York Times and was the subject of a feature-length piece in The Atlantic Monthly.

Andrew was previously a key member of the original Virtual Dogz, Catz and Babyz projects at PF.Magic (3+ million sold worldwide), responsible for artistically combining artificial intelligence, animation and game design. He was also recently a full-time researcher and developer at Zoesis Studios and USC's Institute for Creative Technologies. Andrew has presented work at academic and industry conferences on AI, games and interactive art. From 2003 to 2008 he was co-writer of the popular group blog Grand Text Auto about interactive narrative, games, poetry and art.

EXPERIENCE:

2008 - present  
Founder, Developer, Stumptown Game Machine, LLC
Design, engineering and production of 3D games for the iPhone.
     
2005 - present  
Founding Partner, Developer, Procedural Arts, LLC
Design, engineering and production of next-generation, personality-rich AI characters, building upon the Facade technology and design techniques.
Currently meeting with potential partners, investors and collaborators on a range of Procedural Arts projects.
     
2000 - 2005
 
 
Developer, Researcher, Facade, interactivestory.net
Collaboration with a computer science Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University to create a complete, short interactive drama. Artificial intelligence controls the behavior of real-time rendered autonomous characters, story plot management, and natural language processing of dialog. Released as freeware in July 2005, with 500K+ freeware downloads to date, and Grand Jury Prize Winner of 2006 Slamdance Indie Games Festival.

  "This is the future of videogames."
The New York Times Arts Section, June 7, 2005

Feature-length profile in The Atlantic Monthly
November 2006

"Facade takes character to a new depth... trying to push the boundaries of both gaming and AI,"
Newsweek, Oct. 17,2005, and Oct. 3, 2005 int'l edition

"A genre-defining leap forward in artificial intelligence,"
The Boston Phoenix, July 2005

"a bold move forward in portraying the emotional lives of digital characters,"
Edge Magazine (UK), Internet Game of the Month, October 2005

Analyzed in The Meaning of Video Games, by Steven Jones
Routledge, 2008
Collaborated to:
- design and implement several custom programming languages and authorial techniques for interactive character behavior, natural language understanding, conversation management, and drama management. Built on top of Java.
- design, write and author a rich, robustly interactive one-act dramatic story within this architecture, including thousands of individual behaviors and lines of dialog
- design and implement a real-time rendering non-photorealistic animation engine that blends procedural and key-frame character animation, in C++ with OpenGL.
     
2005 - 2006  
Researcher, Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California.
- Researcher and developer on the Automated Story Director project (P.I. Mark Riedl; see our publications here), helping prototype AI-based conversational characters to train US Army soldiers to deal with interpersonal situations in a combat zone.
- Licensing of the Procedural Arts Behavior Library, applied to the research and development of these prototypes.
     
2003 - 2004  
Character Architect, Zoesis Studios (see press release).
- Researcher and developer of AI-based conversational characters with personality and emotion. Part of a larger research project funded by a two year $2M Advanced Technology Program grant from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.
- Designed and programmed characters in a mixture of C++ and an advanced, proprietary AI language for creating personality-rich believable agents.
- A prototype interactive scenario was demonstrated at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at the 2004 Game Developers Conference.
     
2003 - 2008  
Writer, grandtextauto.org
Co-founder and regular contributor to a popular group blog on interactive narrative, games, poetry and art. Written dozens of essays on design, technology, theory and criticism, and lead many debates and discussions. Read by thousands of game developers, academics and enthusiasts daily.
     
1992 - 1999
 
 
Lead Designer and Software Engineer, PF.Magic / Mattel Interactive, www.petz.com, www.babyz.net
Worked on a series of award-winning interactive virtual character CD-ROM projects, 3+ million sold worldwide:
Lead designer and software engineer for Babyz (1999)
Lead behavior designer and software engineer for Catz (1996), Oddballz (1996), Dogz & Catz II (1997), Dogz & Catz III (1998), Max Magic (1995)
 
- Combined artificial intelligence techniques with real-time computer animation to program (in C++) behavior and personalities for over 30 distinct characters exhibiting responsive, direct VR-like interaction; implemented as goal-and-plan-like behaviors with narrative intelligence, simple models of emotion, metabolism, memory, learning and genetics;
- Contributed to development of custom real-time cartoon rendering and procedural animation techniques;
- Worked with team of fellow animators and engineers to write up detailed spec's and related documents;
- Designed sound and directed actors to create voices and sound effects for all characters and worlds;
- Helped manage team of engineers, animators and artists;
- Debugged each project to completion during quality assurance (testing) phases;
- Helped focus test projects with children and adults;
- Presented projects and papers at conferences (see Publications).
Proficient in C++, OpenGL, MS Visual Studio & SourceSafe, Director, Photoshop, Debabelizer, Premiere, HTML, Frontpage. Working knowledge of DirectX, Windows, Visual Basic.
     
2000 - present
  
Freelance Virtual Character and Story Developer
 
- Consultant on Kaibridge's DinoMorph project, 2005
- Consultant on an XBox interactive story project, Microsoft, July 2003
- Created BenPet desktop virtual character for BBC America, December 2000
- Product Manager for www.e-quill.com, Fall 2000
     
1988 - present  
Independent Filmmaker
Wrote, directed, shot and edited over thirty short films and videos including Open Call (1995, 60 min., SVHS), Grandparents Documentary (ongoing, SVHS), Knish Of Death (1992, 23 min., 3/4"), Like A Big Dog (1992, 8 min., 16mm b&w), Severe Conditions (1990, 29 min., SVHS), Backward Glance (1989, 17 min., VHS), Computing Skills Workshop series (1988 - 1991, VHS and SVHS). (see videography for complete list)

EDUCATION:

1991 - 1992   M.S., Computer Science, concentration in computer animation, University of Southern California.
1987 - 1991   B.S., Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.
1989 - 1991   Concentration in film and videomaking at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
1996 - 1998   Non-narrative filmmaking at SF Film Arts Foundation; abstract painting at SF School of Art.
     

ART EXHIBITIONS:

- Exhibition of Facade at Grand Text Auto , Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 4/2009.
- Exhibition of Facade, Petz and Babyz at Grand Text Auto, Beall Center for Art and Technology, UC Irvine, 10/2007.
- Exhibition of Facade at Gameworld, Laboral Center for Art and Industrial Design, Gijon, Spain, 2007.
- Exhibition of Facade at Game/Play, HTTP Gallery, London, 2006.
- Exhibition of Facade at ISEA 2004, Baltic Sea, 8/2004.
- Exhibition of Babyz at Ars Electronica 2000 festival, Mediatheque exhibition, Linz, Austria, 9/2000.
- Exhibition of Babyz at the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, "No Art Jargon!" panelist, New Orleans, 7/2000.
- Exhibition of Petz and Babyz at the American Museum of the Moving Image, Computer Space exhibition, New York City, 1999-2000.

PUBLICATIONS and PRESENTATIONS:

- Book chapter, "Writing Facade: A Case Study in Procedural Authorship" (with Michael Mateas), in "Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media", eds. Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, MIT Press, 2/2007.
- Book chapter, "Interaction and Narrative" (with Michael Mateas), in "The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology", eds. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, MIT Press, 12/2005.
- Book chapter, "Creating Emotional Relationships with Virtual Characters", in "Emotions in Humans and Artifacts", eds. R. Trappl, P.Petta and S. Payr, MIT Press, 4/2003. Originally appeared at a symposium at the Austrian Research for AI (OFAI), Vienna, Austria, 8/1999.
- Book chapter, "Virtual Babyz : Believable Agents with Narrative Intelligence", to be published in "Narrative Intelligence", eds. M. Mateas and P. Sengers, John Benjamins, 2003. (in press) Originally appeared at Narrative Intelligence AAAI symposium, Boston, 11/1999.
- Book chapter, "A Behavior Language: Joint Action and Behavioral Idioms" (with Michael Mateas), to be published in "Like-like Characters: Tools, Affective Functions and Applications", eds. H. Prendinger and M. Ishizuka, Springer, 2004.
- Book chapter, "Towards Integrating Plot and Character for Interactive Drama" (with Michael Mateas), published in "Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots", eds. Dautenhahn et al, Kluwer, 2002. Originally appeared in Socially Intelligent Agents AAAI symposium, Boston, 11/2000.
- Essay response in "First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game", eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, MIT Press, 2004.
- Journal article, "A Behavior Language for Story-based Believable Agents" (with Michael Mateas), IEEE Intelligent Systems issue on AI and Interactive Entertainment, 7/2002. Originally appeared in AI and Interactive Entertainment AAAI symposium, Stanford University, 3/2002.
- Short article, part of "Start Here> An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Electronic Literature." With Michelle Citron, Kurt Heintz, Niki Nolin, Scott Rettberg, Joseph Tabbi, and Rob Wittig. The Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 1:2, Fall 2002.
- Journal paper, "Deeper conversations with interactive art, or why artists must program", Spring 2001 issue of Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.
- Journal article, "Interactive Fiction: The Story is Just Beginning", IEEE Intelligent Systems: Trends and Controversies, 11/1998.
 
- Invited Keynote, " Embracing the Combinatorial Explosion: A Brief Prescription for Interactive Story R&D ", 1st Joint International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, Erfurt, Germany, 11/2008.
- Game Developers Conference lecture, "Linearity is Hell: Achieving Truly Dynamic Stories in Games", 9/2008.
- Game Developers Conference lecture, "Next-Gen Conversational Characters for Serious Games" (with Michael Mateas), 3/2007.
- Game Developers Conference panel organizer and moderator, "Why Isn't the Game Industry Making Interactive Stories?" (with Neil Young, Warren Spector, Tim Schafer, Michael Mateas), San Francisco, 3/2005.
- Game Developers Conference programming lecture and paper, "Understanding the Player: Natural Language Processing for Games" (with Michael Mateas), San Francisco, 3/2005.
- Invited Talk at Maxis and Electronic Arts (with Michael Mateas), Redwood Shores, CA, 10/2004.
- Invited Talk at Institute for Creative Technologies, USC (with Michael Mateas), Marina del Rey, CA, 10/2004.
- Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE),"Natural Language Understanding in Facade: Surface-text Processing" (with Michael Mateas), Darmstadt, Germany, 6/2004. Best Paper Award.
- Exhibition of Facade at the 2004 Independent Games Festival (with Michael Mateas), Game Developers Conference, San Jose, 3/2004.
- Game Developers Conference programming lecture and paper, "Towards Building a Fully Realized Interactive Drama" (with Michael Mateas), San Jose, 3/2004.
- Exhibition of Facade at GameFest of Digital Games Research Conference "LevelUp" (with Michael Mateas), Utrecht, the Netherlands, 11/2003.
- Game Developers Conference game design lecture and paper, "Towards Building a Fully Realized Interactive Drama" (with Michael Mateas), San Jose, 3/2003.
- Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE), "Integrating Plot, Character and Natural Language Processing in the Interactive Drama Facade" (with Michael Mateas), Darmstadt, Germany, 3/2003.
- Invited talk at University of Paris 8, "Séminaire sur le Drame Interactif", March 28, 2003.
- Technical report, "Architecture, Authorial Idioms and Early Observations of the Interactive Drama Facade" (with Michael Mateas), Dept. of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, 12/2002.
- Invited talk at Sherry Turkle's Initiative on Technology and Self, Evocative Objects series, "The Significant Other", MIT, 12/2002.
- SIGGRAPH 2002 panelist for "Interactive Stories: Real Systems, Three Solutions" (with Michael Mateas), San Antonio, 7/2002.
- Version02 panelist, "E-literature", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 4/2002. Published on the Electronic Literature Organization "Start Here" website.
- Invited participant in the Georgia Tech Games Morphology Project, 2002
- Invited talks, "Interactive Narrative" and "Computer Games" classes, Northwestern University, 4/2002.
- IMAGINE 2001 festival, "Virtual Babyz", Gavle, Sweden, 12/2001.
- Digital Arts and Culture 2001, "Towards Building a Fully-Realized Interactive Drama" (with Michael Mateas), Brown University, 4/2001.
- Invited talk, Austrian Research for AI (OFAI), Vienna, 4/2001.
- Workshop on Interactive Robotics and Entertainment (WIRE-2000) RobotNight, "Virtual Babyz", Carnegie Mellon University, 4/2000.
- AI and Interactive Entertainment AAAI symposium, "Story and Character" panelist, Stanford University, 3/2000.
- Digital Arts and Culture '99, "Virtual Babyz", Atlanta, 10/1999.
- AI and Computer Games AAAI symposium, "AI Beyond Computer Games", Stanford University, 3/1999.
- Lifelike Computer Characters conference, "Virtual Petz 3" (with Richard Lachman), Snowbird, Utah, 10/1998.
- Second Int'l Conference on Autonomous Agents, "Virtual Petz: A hybrid approach to creating autonomous, lifelike Dogz and Catz" short paper and video, "Agents in Entertainment" panelist, Minneapolis, 5/1998.
- Computer Game Developers conference, "Multiple Character Interaction Between Believable Characters" (with Adam Frank), Long Beach, 5/1998.
- Intelligent User Interfaces, "Affect and Emotion in the User Interface" panelist, San Francisco, 1/1998.
- Socially Intelligent Agents AAAI symposium, "Socially Intelligent Virtual Petz" (with Adam Frank), M.I.T., 11/1997.
- Invited talk at "Interactive Computer Characters" class (with Adam Frank), MIT Media Lab, 11/1997.
- Computer Game Developers conference, "Issues in Autonomous Character Design" (with Adam Frank and Ben Resner), San Jose, 4/1997.
- Lifelike Computer Characters conference, "Catz: A User Perception Based Approach" (with Adam Frank), Snowbird, Utah, 10/1996.
 
- Committee Member / Paper Reviewer for Game Studies since 2004, AIIDE since 2004, Scientific Board of TIDSE since 2004, AAAI Game Workshop 2004, ICVS since 2003, I3D 2003, AAAI AIIE symposia 1999-2002.
- Wrote back-cover-of-book blurb for Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling, New Riders, 10/2004.

SELECTED AWARDS and PRESS:

- Grand Jury Prize Winner, Slamdance Indie Games Festival, "Facade", 2006.
- Most Innovative Game, Independent Games Conference, "Facade", 2005.
- Most Innovative Independent Game, GameTunnel.com, "Facade", 2005.
- Best Paper Award, Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE), 2004.
- Silver for Best Overall Design, CDRom, NewMedia Invision awards, "Babyz", 2000.
- Design Distinction in I.D. Magazine's Interactive Media Review Issue, "Catz", 6/1997.
- Interactive Design award from Communication Arts, "Petz", 1998.
- Bronze in 1998 NewMedia Invision children's entertainment awards, "Petz", 1998.
- Best Animation, Int'l Digital Media Awards, "Petz", 1997.
- Platinum Award from Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio, "Petz", 1997.
- Emma at Milia'94, Bronze 1994 NY Festivals, Bronze Cindy 1995, Best Children's Title CDIA94, "Max Magic".
 
Facade is discussed in:
- Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, MIT Press, 2009.
- The Meaning of Video Games, Steven Jones, Routledge, 2008.
- "Sex, Lies and Videogames", The Atlantic Monthly, November 2006.
- Avatars of Story, Marie-Laure Ryan, U. Minnesota Press, 2006.
- "Redefining the Power of the Gamer", The New York Times Arts Section, June 2005.
- Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling, Chris Crawford, New Riders, 2004.
- "Redefining Games: How Academia is Reshaping Games of the Future", Gamespot.com, 8/2004.
- "Bringing emotions to video games", MSNBC.com, Jan 2004
- The Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, to appear, 2004.
- "Narrative Planning: Balancing Plot and Character", Mark Riedl, Ph.D. Dissertation, NCSU, 2004.
- Twisty Little Passages, Nick Montfort, MIT Press, 2003.
- "Agitating for Dramatic Change", Gamasutra.com, 10/2003.
- "Miniature Gardens & Magic Crayons: Games, Spaces, & Worlds", Chaim Gingold, Masters Thesis, Georgia Tech, 4/2003.
- Also Idle Thumbs, 8/2004; Calgary FFWD, 4/2004; Intelligent Agent, Spring 2004; Adventure Gamers, 4/2004.
 
Dogz / Catz / Babyz are discussed in:
- Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, by Janet Murray, 1997.
- The New Media Reader, eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort, 2003.
- Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, by Stephen Wilson, 2002.
- Interactive Storytelling: Techniques for 21st Century Fiction, Andrew Glassner, AK Peters, 2004.
- Bots: The Origin Of A New Species, by Andrew Leonard, 1997.
- Avatars!, by Bruce Damer, 1997.
 
- "Cyberdrama" debate in First Person, electronic book review, Volume 3, 7/2004.
- "The Sims: Grandmothers are cooler than trolls", GameStudies.org, Issue 1, 7/2001.
- "Virtual Parenthood, Complete With Mess", Game Theory, The New York Times, 12/1999.
- "Bringing Up Digital Baby", Time Magazine, 11/1999.
- "Virtual Babyz bring your desktop to life", UsaToday.com, 11/1999.
- "From Virtual Petz to Babyz: 15 Months' Worth, Anyway", The New York Times, 4/1999.
- "Putting a Virtual Doggy in Your Window", The New York Times, 8/1998.
- "Research paradigms for agents as synthetic characters", AI Magazine, Vol. 19, No 2, 7/1998.
- "How Games Ought To Be...", 3/1998, and "How Games Will Conquer the World", 6/1998, Next Generation Magazine.
- "It's the End of TV As We Know It", documentary for Dutch VPRO TV, 1999.
- "These Dogs are Virtual Best Friends", Washington Post, 8/1996.