Notes

• the smartest AI in the world is useless if the player has no way of knowing what it's thinking
  • this means hidden state which influences an actor's behavior is a real obstacle to fun AI. if players don't understand why an AI made a decision then it seems much less smart, and much harder to learn about and predict.
• an actor's internal state is made visible in three ways: language (spoken dialogue, even aliens can still convey mood, e.g. "wort wort wort" [we did this by reversing english speech for the aliens]), different animation postures based on intention (sneaking, running, hiding), and specific animation triggers (gestures, canned dive/roll movements).
• individual knowledge model let us model what objects are interesting to actors and control their facing, aiming and looking directions. lots of lifelike behavior really cheaply - turning to look at new characters, watching friends as they walk by, investigating dead bodies, spinning around to track the player if he starts shooting, etc
  
  (give props to sigma, ken perlin)
  
• we try to convey not just actors' thoughts, but also what they think about the player's actions. this makes players really feel like they're an involved part of the