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The digital face

January 05, 2002

Computer-generated characters are becoming ever more realistic. But technologists have found that the key to building a believable digital face is not to be found in the face itself. Rather, it is in how that face responds to the presence of others.

Peter Molyneux is Managing Director of Lionhead Studios in Surrey. His computer game `Black and White` launched a whole new entertainment genre called `the god game`. Rather than shooting their way through hordes of alien invaders, Black and White players reign as gods in virtual worlds, ruling by impressing the local population with miracles and godly acts. Players can choose to act as a benevolent or malevolent god and this choice affects the subjects, the creatures and the landscape of their digital kingdom.

`Playing Black and White is very much like taking a huge personality test,` says Molyneux. `The results of it will reflect the sort of player you are that is brought out in the way you chose to control your land and the corresponding way it evolves.`

The world of Black and White, and the environment in Lionhead`s latest project (a game that currently goes by the code-name, `Dimitri`) is made more realistic by a meticulous attention to detail. Trees sway in the wind. Creatures have skeletons, muscle and fat to shape their movements.

Molyneux says that the company is doing things that just aren`t being done in any other industry. `We`re deciding how many individual hairs there should be on an eyelash: 100, 200 or 1000. Whether or not we should have light reflecting off individual skin pores,` he says. `The aim is to have a face that is almost indistinguishable from a real human face.` Such efforts appear to be working. Black and White won two BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards this year.

During the development process, Lionhead creators discovered that what makes a human face seem real cannot be thought of as being contained within the face itself. Importantly, we also judge a face by how it responds to its environment. Lionhead therefore looks further than graphic realism when it designs new products.

`To develop a character, we have to think about how the face, motion and pose of the character will react to different environments` says Molyneux. `We ask ourselves, "If the character walks into a room full of people without recognising anyone, how will that affect their expression, their pose?" How does the glint in someone`s eye change when they see that no-one is there? These are minute details. But they are what the customer expects.`

By bringing together people with capabilities in psychology, artificial life, philosophy and other fields, Molyneux`s team is developing an understanding of emotional states that translates into realistic responses and interactions for successful computer games.

`What we have to do is bring all these talented people together, and get them to focus on building characters with emotions,` says Molyneux. `The people who buy these games expect this to be done. If you were to show someone a face from a four-year-old computer game today, they would laugh.`

The Lionhead experience suggests that if virtual actors are wooden, it is because their creators have not sought to understand human emotions and the way people interact with others. But doing this involves a recognition that the skills and capabilities needed in high-tech industries go much further than narrow definitions of technology imply.

At Lionhead, team diversity and the ability to innovate are one and the same. With this approach, it pushes the boundaries of creativity and technology, bringing to life products, characters and practices that are hard to define.

`When we bring all these talented people together,` says Molyneux, `Remarkable things happen.`

Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)