RESEARCH DRIVEN

SOFT SKILLS
TRAINING

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS
GRENDEL GAMES | JAN-JAAP SEVERS
+31 (0) 6 50 50 24 88 | JJ@GRENDEL-GAMES.COM
M-ENGAGED | BERTRAND WEEGENAAR
+31 (0) 6 83 80 17 09 | BERTRAND@M-ENGAGED.NL

RESEARCH DRIVEN SOFT SKILLS TRAINING

PROJECT STORY
GRENDEL GAMES
VERSION 1.1
2014-11-17

GRENDEL GAMES | M-ENGAGED

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

INTRODUCTION
In this document the process of researching and

research and the latter about production, but there is

building the pilot for the Soft Skills project is written.

not a strict division between them.

This project was quite divers and this document will

try to guide you through different areas in a clear way.

The references that are included here are from exter-

It will start with the background of what the project

nal research where possible. When internal technical

is and what the original goals are. It then gives an

documentation is referenced, this document will often

overview of the Game Design.

contain external research, or our own reasoning for

having made this choice. These technical documents

The main body of the document is about the research

contain the details about the process. This document

and production that has taken place and the lessons

tries to tie all the lessons together in a coherent

learned from this process. The earlier paragraphs in

whole.

the process chapter will be mainly concerning the

Opposite page: render of the control room

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DOMINANCE
COMPETITIVE

LEADING

OFFENSIVE

HELPING

HOSTILE

AFFILIATION

REBELLIOUS

COOPERATIVE

WITHDRAWN

FOLLOWING

SUBMISSION

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

BACKGROUND
We set out to make a project in which we can teach

actor and translate them to a virtual character.

people soft skills like social graces, communication,

[1]

personal habits, emotions, feelings, relationships and

To engage the player we decided to create a fictional

insight. To teach people these soft skills we wanted

setting in the near future on a space station. In this

to make a realistic virtual world, with realistic virtual

setting it made sense that while the player is a novice

characters in it. In this world the player would be able

in management, he carries a lot of responsibility and

to interact with the other characters and train their soft

is without direct communication with more seasoned

skills.

managers. It also allowed us to integrate the feedback mechanism for the player into the game world.

We defined our own goals for this project, based on

This is explained by two sensors in the personnel on

our expectations of the domain and our experience

board of the space station that measure hormones

with the target market. To make this project both

related to interpersonal relations(oxytocin) en stress.

valuable to train the soft skills and appealing to the

audience we set out to create a very realistic world at

To get a model for the behaviour of the virtual charac-

a very high quality.

ters we looked towards the Rose of Leary. This model

plots an expression on an agentic and communal axis

The assumption was that to train people at soft skills

and predicts that this expression elicits a reaction at a

it is important to be able to read emotions from the

specific place in this model.

facial expressions and body movements of the virtual

characters. To get this close to reality, we decided
to use full body motion capturing and facial motion
capturing. With these technique it is possible to
closely record the movements and expressions of an

Opposite page: Rose of Leary

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ORIGINAL
GOALS
The original goal for this project was to create a game

How would you measure if a manager supported

to use as an environment for the training of soft skills

an employee correctly, when faced with a personal

for project managers. Advanced facial animations will

drama? The development of these soft skills is based

be integrated in the 3D environment[2].

on the correct use of hard project managers skills.

These are skills that are easier to teach and measure

The goal of the game is for project managers to test

and can lead to better mastery of soft skills, therefore

and improve their soft skills in a friendly and playful

these hard skills will also be implemented in the game.

manor. To this end they will be challenged to achieve

tasks that increase in complexity. These tasks are

It should be possible to use the game as a preparation

aimed at improving soft skills that are hard to measure.

for the certifying process for PMI and IPMA.

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

GAME DESIGN
To place this document in perspective an overview

problems. This takes the form of a report that is send

of the Game Design will be given here .

from Earth to Aaron. This includes mistakes that have

[3]

been made and pointers to keep in mind for future

The game takes place on one of the first space

interactions.

stations. The space station is not fully operational

yet and only a small crew is present. As player you

Direct feedback is very important for the learning

take on the role Aaron Graham. Aaron is a project

experience of the player. Thats why the game

manager trying to achieve good results aboard the

includes a monitor for the stress and oxytocin of the

space station.

other characters. When the player talks to characters

he can monitor these values in the HUD. In the game

In the beginning of the game problems arise which

world it is explained that all personnel their vitals are

need to be solved. Aaron is responsible for making

being monitored. When the player says something

sure these problems are fixed, but cant do it all

which affects the interpersonal relationship the

alone. He needs to make sure his team do the work

oxytocin is altered. Stress is modified due to the way

required. To achieve this he must not only order the

the player motivates the character to act. This can be

crew what to do, but also make sure his relationship

viewed during each conversation, this way the player

with them keeps being positive and that there are no

can see the effect of his choice, but is only informed

tensions in the team.

about why this effect happened in the status report

from earth.

Aaron cant rely on help from Earth. Contact with

Earth is limited and can only be established at

A large portion of the game is about conversations.

certain times. These moments are used in the game

In a conversation the camera is focussed on the

to give the player feedback on how they solved

character with which the player is talking. In a

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conversation the player can make conversation

Difference between personality and behaviour could

choices. These choices affect how the game plays

mean there is something going on and he should

out. These choices should be made based on the

respond to that.

required management skills. The player has access

to the personal files of the characters and can see

Except for the conversations, the gameplay is

the behaviour of the characters. This behaviour can

divided in navigating the space station and solving

be a change in posture, facial expressions, hand

small puzzles in the form of mini-games. These mini-

gestures, tone of voice, or as simple as what is said.

games serve as a break from the serious gameplay.

Based on this information the player must make

These mini-games are integrated into the world. An

his choice, for instance if he knows that a person is

example of a mini-games could be draining water

submissive he should take charge, with a dominant

from a cooling system by turning pipes in place.

person the player should be more cooperative.

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PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
During the project the team worked together with

From the PMBOK the following elements are

project management specialists from the Project

translated to the script, the gameplay and the visual

Management Institute Chapter Netherlands. PMI

presentation:

has a long tradition of certifying project managers

using the PMBOK, the Project Management Body of

lessons.

Knowledge[4]. The main focus in the PMBOK is on hard

skills. Soft skills, according to the PMBOK, include

A way to self-reflect and learn administrative

The possible use and accessibility of information

on your team members.

different skills generally defined as Communication,

Leadership etc.

Delegate task to your team.

Hard skills are easier to measure and are an easier

To add value to the Soft Skills game these principles

subject of examination. By applying gamification

were translated in the feedback and scoring mech-

techniques using a well defined set of characteristics

anism of the game. As a player responding to the

(see below) soft skills can also be validated.

actions of your team by respectfully handling protests

in a given situation is rewarded. Using visual and

The PMI also has a set of core principles which

audio game elements, feedback can be asked and

applies to all activities of PMI certified Project and

givenduring the game to the player.

Program Managers. They are: Responsibility, Respect,

Fairness and Honesty.

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PROCESS
BUSINESS
CASE
A group of MBA students, under the name TopGun,
from IBO did a five month research on the business

MODEL
FOR COMMUNICATION

potential for the game under the title Starstuck (2012).

Research into the Rose of Leary showed that the Rose

This produced a business and marketing plan. It

of Leary has never been empirically proven. Especially

also uncovered a large potential market of project

the hypothesis that certain behaviour directly elicits

managers and customers. In the Netherlands alone

other behaviour on the Rose has never been shown.

there are 130.000 professional project managers,

Further research into similar models has lead to an

certified experts and 450.000 employees fulfilling

updated model that has been empirically proven[5].

project managers roles and responsibilities in a

project environment. The survey was conducted

In collaboration with several psychologist, most notably

by Managementbureau BoerCroon together with

Pamela Kato and Leonard Horowitz, the project

managementboek.nl.

started using the Circumplex Model of Interpersonal

Interaction[5] (based on the slightly older Circumplex
Model of Affect from Russels[6]).
The Circumplex Model of Interpersonal Interaction is
closely related to the Rose of Leary. It also has two

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axes, one agentic and one communal. These axes

DOMINANT - ASSURED
90O

serve a slightly different purpose though. The agentic

axis describes a personality between unassured/
submissive to assured/dominant. The communal axis

DISAGREEABLE MISTRUSTING

135O

45O EXTRAVERTED GREGARIOUS

describes a trait between cold/distant and warm/

DOMINANCE

agreeable.
The model places a personality in this circumplex.
For instance, a very warm agreeable person who is
quite shy would be placed high on the communal

AFFILIATION

COLD - 180O
UNFRIENDLY

0O WARM FRIENDLY

axis, but low on the agentic axis. The model predicts

how this person would react to certain behaviour, that
he will react agreeable to behaviour that matches
the personality on the communal axis, but mirrors the
values on the agentic axis.

INTROVERTED INHIBITED

225O

315O AGREEABLE TRUSTING

270O
SUBMISSIVE - UNASSURED

This model allows us to create scenarios where

the player has to be aware of the situation and the
personality traits of another. For example, if a serious
personal problem arises, a high communal person is

the player needs to choose how to react. This will

more likely to appreciate a persons attention given

influence how the other characters will feel towards

to the situation. While a person who is more distant

the player. The closer the match to the desired

(low on the communal scale) might just want to be left

behaviour the more favourable the characters will feel

alone and focus on work.

towards the player.

By getting to know the characters in the game, from

Due to the two axis system the player can make

background information and interactions in the game,

choices to trade between a good relation and

Above: Circumplex Model of Interpersonal Interaction

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motivating a character to act. For instance, the player

can react more warmly, to increase the interpersonal
relationship, but sacrificing the possibility that the
character will do something for the player. Conversely,
the player could also react more colder and sterner
so that the character will execute a task, but feel less
favourable towards the player.
In the game the player will be informed about the

READING
OF EMOTION
FROM FACIAL
EXPRESSIONS

immediate effect of his choices. This immediate

At the start of this project it was assumed that high

feedback mechanism is important to achieve efficient

quality realistic graphics were needed to convey to

learning. In the game world we have introduced a

the player the emotions on an virtual face. Research

system with which the player can read the stress and

was conducted to determine to which degree a

oxytocin hormones of other characters. The stress

person can detect an emotion on a virtual face and

hormones signal to which degree the character feels

which factors impact the distinctness and the natural-

the need to act, oxytocin is the measure for how

ness of the expression[7].

favourable the character feels towards the player.

The main results were that the use of animation greatly
increases the distinctness of the expression and
increases the recognition rates[8]. The use of textures
increases the overall recognition of the emotion[9].
Fear and surprise are hard to make distinct from each
other when using facial expressions only.

Above: Miralab, Untextured Talking Head,

Textured Talking Head
14

Several tested virtual heads (Talking Head, Baldi and

Miralab) showed that artificial facial expressions can

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

convey the six basic emotions almost as convincingly

Except for non-verbal channels there also some less

as an actor. Also, increasing the abstraction level

obvious verbal channels. The choice of words can add

does not decrease the distinction of the emotion

more meaning to a sentence than what is actually said.

significantly, but impacts the naturalness.

For instance the difference between: She bought a car

and She bought a car from Bert. The second sentence

This leads to the conclusion that humans can read

implies that there is something noteworthy about the

emotions from virtual faces even when they are not

person she bought the car from, not just that she bought

realistic or when rendered at low quality.

the car. Placing emphasis on Bert will add to this effect.

[8][9]

CHANNELS
OF COMMUNICATION

All these channels usually communicate the same

message, which is about what is said and the current
emotional state of the person. When writing the script
these channels should be taken into consideration.
Questions that could be asked are:

What is the location of the character in the room?

Which posture does the character take?

The first iteration of the project focussed on one

What does he do with his hands?

main channel of non-verbal communication, the facial

Where does he look towards?

expressions. From further research it was learned that

How long does he keep eye contact?

the facial expressions are not as important as initially

What is his facial expression?

thought. Research tried to measure which of the three

Does he make gestures when he talks?

main non-verbal channels are more important, gestures,

At which tone of voice does the character talk?

body language or facial expressions. The results of these

At which volume does the player talk?

experiments were that they each contributed equally to

the communication.

A great deal of research was gathered in support of

these conclusion, which can be found in [10].
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TECHNICAL
REALISATION
OF STYLE,
QUALITY,
MODEL
AND RIG

The new style is a slightly stylised look, which comes

The basis of the visible character is the model. This is

quite important. A lot of expression power comes from

the physical representation of the character in the game

the hands and hand gestures.

across more convincingly at lower quality. The characters

from Grand Theft Auto 5 became the target style and
quality.
Instead of placing all the detail of facial expressions in
the geometry of the model, this detail would be carried
more by the normal maps. This allows us to use between
5,000 and 10,000 polygons for the face. This will be
supported with animated normal maps (wrinkle maps).
For the body model a budget of between 15,000 and
20,000 polygons is available. For the body the hands are

world. The techniques to light and animate the character

all depend on this basis.

Within the more stylised look the textures contain less

detail. Details like pores will not be included. This means

The aim of the project was to create a hyper realistic

that it will be easier to draw attention to other parts of the

character. To achieve this result a base model with a high

face, like bags under the eyes.

vertex count was needed. During the project this led to

problems in the production pipeline. The targeted quality,
to bring hyper realistic character convincingly to the
screen, could not be achieved in the time allotted. This
would break the style that was aimed for. This, together
with the high cost of continuing to try to achieve this high
quality led to a redefinition of the style of the game.
16

Certain details deserve some special attention to get

the animations right. The eyelids will be assigned a
single bone, this allows the eyelids to follow the looking
direction. The pupil wont dilate, this is not a necessity in
this style.

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

Instead of using a hierarchical skeleton set up, in which

on the muscle movements and edge flow of the model. It

all bones are parented at a fixed distance, dummy

will use the following image as reference.

bones will be used, that can freely move in the face. This
allows for movements like the bulging of cheeks and the

Besides the body and the face models separate models

forward motion of the jaw.

for the teeth, the tongue and the eyes will be delivered,
with respectively 1000, 100 and 1000 polygons. [11]

The tongue is a very flexible organ, however it is only

visible through the mouth. In GTA 5 the tip of the tongue
moves around, with the right skinning this can be
achieved with a single bone. The total bone count in the
face will be 35. The remaining bone placement is based

Left: Character of Grand Theft Auto 5 Rockstar Games

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PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

CLOTHING
AND HAIR

also comes at a very high computing cost.

Realistic clothing and hair are a problem in real time

computational intensive.

Opposite page: Bone placement in the human face to allow for

realistic animation.

move based on movement of the character. For instance,

An alternative solution to this techniques, which became

Upper left: The jacket rig on top of the regular game skeleton from
Alan Wake.

long hair that falls over the shoulders when the head

more viable after the switch from hyper realistic to

is turned. These systems work by simulating a spring

stylised, is to use tight fitting clothes and short hair. Tight

between each vertex. When these simulations function

fitting clothes is not at odds with the science fiction

Middle: The simulated jacket of Alan Wake in action.

correctly it can look very good. Unfortunately it is nearly

setting of the game. Short hair moves very little with the

impossible to get consistently nice results. This technique

movements of the head.

Alan Wake Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Game Studios.

Source Gamasutra.

The research focussed on a pseudo solution, building

a low detail rig and skinning a high detail model to this.
This makes the simulation much more stable and less

environments. Both are flexible object that can freely

[12]

Lower left: The mesh of the jacket that will be transformed by the
jacket rig from Alan Wake.

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SPECULAR LIGHT
(SOME DIFFUSE)

MILDLY
SCATTERED
LIGHT

HEAVILY
SCATTERED
LIGHT

LI
G
T
H
OILY LAYER
EPIDERMIS

BLOODY DERMIS

Ambient Occlusion is a technique to make ambient light

a little more realistic. Ambient light is light that is omnidirectional, because it bounced off surfaces many times.
In games this is simulated by lighting the whole scene
with the same intensity light, usually a very dim light.

REALISTIC
CHARACTER
SHADING

Ambient light however is less prominent in corners and

ridges. Ambient Occlusion is the effect of reducing the
amount of ambient light in certain places. [13]
Diffuse lighting is scattered light from a surface. This
lighting is usually added to a small amount of ambient
lighting and is often responsible for the majority of the
lighting in the scene. This lighting model is a gross

Above: A comparison of screen space ambient occlusion. Left part

of the image is without SSAO, right part of the image is with SSAO.
Crytek
Upper right: The principle of subsurface scattering.

To achieve a high level of realism it is important to look

simplification of the path that light actually travels. In

at advanced shading techniques. Classical shading

surfaces like skin a part of the light bounces of, but some

techniques usually result in a flat and unconvincing look.

light also travels through the upper layers of the skin and

To get to a high level of quality several techniques exist

is emitted slightly further than where it entered. [13]

to make faces more realistic.

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PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

In narrower parts of the body some of the light can also

during an animation the shape of the model is blended

travel through the body and be emitted at the other side.

between these two extremes. The main disadvantages

This effect is called subsurface scattering. The effect of

of blend shapes is the performance drag. A blend shape

subsurface scattering on surfaces like skin usually gives a

is stored as a point cache, which contains all the vertices

softer look, which appears more realistic.

of the face. When playing blend shape animation each

shape needs to be blended, which is a high drag on

After the shift in style direction these techniques became

performance[14].

less important. Ambient Occlusion still adds a lot to the

over al feel, but can be baked in with the characters

To get an anatomically correct face with animations

diffuse texture.

a muscles system can be created. This system is a

simulation of the muscles in a human face. If done

FACIAL
ANIMATION

correctly this would theoretically lead to 100% match

with a human face. Some 3D packages have a muscles
system available, but there isnt anyway to simulate this in
real time in a game environment. The only viable way to
get this in a game is to use point-caches, due to the large
amount of facial animations needed in this project this

To bring emotion across convincingly and make them

technique was dropped[14].

recognisable and distinct it is necessary to animate the

face of the characters in the game. There are several

The three previously mentioned techniques all deform

techniques to animate a face. Most often faces are

the face based on vertex information. This limits the detail

animated using bone animations. To have more control

to the amount of vertices placed in the head. The higher

over the exact position of each individual vertex in the

this count, the more difficult the face is to animate and the

face blend shapes can be used. A blend shape is an

worse the real-time performance. The face can also be

animation between two deformations of a model, in this

animated on a pixel level by using wrinkle maps. These

case the head. This gives 100% control of the shape of

maps animate some of the texture maps on the face. By

the head at the beginning or the end of an animation,

animating the normal maps the illusion of a deforming face

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ENVIRONMENT
The environment that the game takes place in needs
to fit with the style and quality of the characters and
setting. The game is made in a retro science fiction
style, inspired by movies from the 70s[17]. This style is
defined by light environment, with a lot of curves and
repetition.
The colour scheme needs to fit this theme. A choice
is made for white and broken white colours for the
ceiling and walls. The floor are more grey. Accents
are full black.
The equipment on the space station has simple
geometric shapes and simple on/off functionality.
can be created at high detail. This techniques does not

These buttons are covered by transparent caps and

allow for actual movement in the geometric data. Due to

only light up when they are active.

this limitation extreme deformations cant be made and it

cant change the profile of a shape[14].

Due to the repetition in the environment modular

building can be employed. Modular building means

Top: A comparison of wrinkle maps. Left part of the image is

without wrinkle maps, right part of the image is with wrinkle maps.
Lee Perry-Smith / IR
Above: Wrinkle map placement on our actress.
22

To achieve the desired effect a combination of bone

that the level is constructed from basic building blocks.

animations and wrinkle maps are used. The wrinkle

This increases the speed at which an environment

maps are used to accentuate certain specific emotions in

can be built and makes it easier to keep the style

certain regions of the face. These regions are based on

consistent. This does require some planning, making

the book Stop Staring[15][16].

sure all the pieces fit together.

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

Above: reference image for the retro look of the equipment.

Upper left: a collection of reference images to describe the shape
language of the project.
Lower left: a summary of the shape language, patterns, use of
color, contrast and repetition used for art direction.

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LIGHTING

pre-baked in light maps. This gives a more realistic result

when the lights are static and also gives a performance
boost[19].

To bring the world to life lighting is essential. Light

determines how we actually see colours and materials.

Instead of calculating the lighting during the render pass

Some techniques, like normal mapping, also require

it can also be calculated in a post processing stage

lighting to bring the effect to the foreground. Traditional

with a technique called deferred rendering. Deferred

lighting model divide light into three categories, ambient,

rendering is a screen-space shading technique with the

diffuse and specular. Specular is important for normal

great advantage that it can add many more lights to the

mapping, this is the effect that is often compared with

scene without a performance hit. For the style of the

shininess. In a newer lighting technique, Physically Based

game, this is a great advantage, however this technique

Rendering, specular has been replaced by reflection[18].

also has a couple of disadvantages. It does not support

hard anti-aliasing, it requires more memory bandwidth

Physically Based Rendering is a fixed set of rules to

and it cannot handle alpha blending without a separate

get a lighting model that is based more on how lighting

rendering pass[19].

works in the real world. Material properties are divided

in separate maps, these maps can be combined into
new materials. One of the most significant differences is
how reflectivity is handled. The reflectivity map together
with the micro-surface map handles the shininess and
reflectivity of the material. Because this use of reflectivity

RECORDING
PIPELINE

all models should have an environment map associated

with them. Fortunately the game takes place inside an

To get realistic virtual characters in the game a combi-

enclosed space, the space station, so this is quite easy to

nation of full body motion capturing and facial motion

realise.

capturing was used. This is a long process involving

several important steps to get from a script to in game

Instead of calculating light each frame, lights can also be

24

animations[20].

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

Based on the setting that is described in the game

For the full body motion capture specialised cameras

design a script was written. This script is divided in

track the position of markers on a body over time. The

scenes. Each scene includes a description, the action of

head mounted camera makes a video recording of the

the actors, the dialogue between characters, transitions

face. Together with the audio this results in three types of

to other scenes and the type of shot (e.g. close-up or

recording.

long shot).
All three recordings need t o be processed and cleaned.
This script is usually divided into small visual frames to

This is a straight forward process for the audio, cutting it

form the basis for the storyboard. A storyboard conveys

up and removing artefacts.

more information about the shot and can include

character performance, timing, staging and sound.

The body motion capture data needs to be cut and

cleaned. In this process the markers are named, missing

An optional step in this process is making an animatic.

data is filled up and spikes are removed from the data.

An animatic includes timing information and movements

After the cleaning the data of the markers are placed

which can not be conveyed in the storyboard. Due to

on a skeleton. The skeleton is the basis for bone driven

time constraints, which were caused by last minute

animations in computer simulations and games. After

changes, a storyboard could not be made.

this process the results can be viewed on the character.

When needed the animations can be tweaked.

The recordings are based on a shot list, which is usually

based on the storyboard or animatic, but in this case on

The facial recordings also need to be cut and cleaned,

the script. These are the final recordings that are made

before it can be analysed. This data is a video recording,

in the studio. The recordings were made in Gameship,

the cleaning involves removing flickers and noise. After

which has most of the equipment needed, only for the

cleaning the footage can be exported to an acceptable

facial motion capturing a custom head mounted camera

format and get analysed by Faceware. The resulting data

was made.

can be applied on a face rig to drive the bone animations

in the face. There was a problem with the head rig. LED
Light were installed on it and dimmed for the recording.

Top: custom made helmet rig for capturing facial animations.

Above left and right: captures from the helmet rig from two
different facial expressions
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This dimming caused a flickering in the footage. In the

by not dimming the lights. The second, a tick in the audio

cleaning stage this flickering could be removed. To avoid

recording, looked like a serious problem and caused the

this problem the LEDs shouldnt be dimmed.

recording to be halted several times, but it turned out this

could be filtered out later.

To go through this process once on this scale results in

knowing all the steps and problems that can be encoun-

Another non-technical problem was encountered during

tered. There is only a limited amount of time in which the

the first test with an actor. In which the actor tended

recordings can be made, therefore it is of paramount

to overact which made the video images over the top

importance to have the preparation done right. Even

and therefore unbelievable in a game setting. This

with good preparation unexpected problems can be

feedback was given by a psychologist trained in human

encountered. After the recordings analyses was made for

interactions.

what went wrong and what went right and documented

this. Making it possible to streamline the process for the
next time.
To make this process go stream lined everything needs
to be known upfront. Most of the problems were due

INTERACTION
DESIGN

to last minute changes. Only at the very last minute the

script was finalised, because certain information was

A significant part of the Game Design is the interaction

provided late in the process but recording date could not

design[21]. This is the collection of data that drives the

be changed. This also led to the need to find a qualified

main part of the game. The simpler the interaction

actor late in the process. Which caused problems with

design is formulated, the easier it is to design game-

the motion capturing suits.

play with it and keep an overview about what is going

to happen when the player goes down a certain path.

Above: our actress in a motion capture suit. The red-yellow figure

shows the digital representation of the skeletal data captured.
26

During the recording several technical difficulties were

On the other hand, the design needs to be compli-

encountered. The first, flickering in the LED lights, was

cated enough to support the games design.

easily avoidable if it was known this would be a problem,

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

The interaction design can be divided into separate

and game play information like the position on the

parts. The world states determine the state of

Circumplex Model of Interpersonal Interaction, the

properties that are shared by the world. These can be

precondition needed to be able to view this option,

simple things, for instance if a door is locked or not,

if it can be used as an interruption and the change in

but also the amount of leadership qualities the player

stress and oxytocin of a character.

possesses. If somebody changes a world state, this

world state is changed for everybody. A world state

The responses also include the subtitles, animation

has a description, possible states it can be in and the

information and an oxytocin and stress level. These

current state it is in.

levels are used to choose the response of the

character. The character will pick the response for

Characters also have a state. The characters are the

which the preconditions are satisfied and has the

virtual people on the space ship with which the player

closest matching stress and oxytocin values to the

can interact. The characters personality is defined by

characters levels.

two fixed values the agentic and communal values,

which refers to their position on the Circumplex Model

The links define for each choice to which collection,

of Interpersonal Interaction. The characters have

conversation choices or responses, it will go next.

two other values which change due to actions of the

player, one to keep track of how close the players
interaction with the character matches the communal
axis, this value is called oxytocin. The other value is
for the match on the agentic axis called stress.
A conversation is a collection of conversation choices
the player can make and responses that the character
can make together with links between these two.
A conversation choice include the subtitle of what
is said, the animations that needs to be played
27

GRENDEL GAMES | M-ENGAGED

SCRIPT

needs to be described, not only in what is said, but

in non-verbal cues that the player can pick up on.
These cues can come in many forms, for instance

Writing the script for this kind of game involves more

than just writing a story, which is hard enough on itself.
The scriptwriter needs to be aware of the research
behind soft skills and the rules that have been laid
down in the Game Design document .
[3]

The main interaction in the game, besides navigating

the world, is having conversations. These conversation
dont follow a single path, but the player can make
choices influencing the flow of conversation. This
means that the player needs to be presented with
several choices and the reaction of the virtual
characters need to be written based on these choices.
The current mood of the virtual character can also
determine the reaction of the virtual character. This
leads to a collection of responses that the character
can have due to the choice the players made in
previous conversations.
The personality of each character needs to be well
defined based on our research[5]. Only when the
personality is known by the player is it possible
to see the difference in behaviour. This behaviour
28

facial expressions, body posture, pauses in speech or

position in a room.
The players actions influence the mood of the virtual
characters[21]. This has to be taken into account when
writing the conversations. How will the players action
influence the virtual characters? These changes in
the virtual characters need to be expressed in their
behaviour.
The choices that the players makes need to be
tagged on the Circumplex Model of Interpersonal
Interaction. For each result from a conversation it
needs to be determined if it influenced the emotional
bank of the character and if it showed leadership
quality[3].

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

FINAL MODEL
In this process two variations of the model were
made, including the rig.
The first model was based on the first concept of
making a highly realistic character at a high quality.
This means high polygon count, detailed textured and
advanced rendering techniques. Due to the technical
difficulties, time constraints and updated knowledge
about the quality requirements a second model was
made at a lower quality.
For this second model all the steps needed to bring
the character in the game were finished. 3D Model
and texturing, skeletal animation and wrinkle maps.
This allowed for the testing of the pipeline and the
validation of the research, confirming that this style
and level of quality would be sufficient for conveying
emotions.

Above: a screen showing a project management approach to

handling a crisis situation. This information can be consulted
in-game.
Left: a final render of Ingrid.
29

GRENDEL GAMES | M-ENGAGED

RESULTS
Going through the whole process, from Game Design

any future script we will write this will bring depth to

to in-game Testing, made us robust for the next

the world we are creating. This research also steered

iteration. We know the problems we are going to run

us away from a simple model of the basic six emotion,

into. This gives us the unique position to plan ahead

to a more rich world.

and change the design to avoid problems. We have

documented the process and set up the pipeline

During the project the psychological model, on which

needed to bring a virtual character to life in a game.

the game design and script should be based, got

fleshed out. The project started with a model we

Our initial goal for the visual quality and style turned

were advised to use, but proved insufficiently verified.

out to be unnecessary to bring this project to a

During the run of this project we got into touch with

successful conclusion. It also raised the bar to a

several psychologist and researchers who steered

standard in which the production of the product ran

us toward the Circumplex Model of Interpersonal

into problems and the cost of realising became too

Interaction. This model gave us the basis for the

great. This made us re-examine the primary goals of

interaction design on which the script has to be based.

the project and what was needed to achieve those.

A lot of problems we ran into were due to the fact that

Due to this turn around a feasible style was deter-

this knowledge came late into the project. We already

mined, which was backed by research, proving that

had materials produced and didnt have the budget to

it can satisfy the demand to bring across emotional

revisit this production.

expressions.
With this model and the updated knowledge we have

30

It also let us to the path of exploring more and

now we can start a new process of writing a Game

different channels of communication. This gave us a

Design and a script based on this design. Unfortu-

wider palette to express our virtual characters. For

nately for the pilot project we did not have the time

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

to do this. An interaction design was written with this

and interesting way. The document that is produced

knowledge and can be re-used in a next iteration.

contains the solid core on which we can base any

future soft skills project. The setting and the script can

The design for this game needed to tie a lot of

be adjusted to any specific desire.

different things together, the project management, the

psychology and the gaming elements in a feasible

Left: a screen capture of a conversation between the main

character Aaron and Ingrid.
31

GRENDEL GAMES | M-ENGAGED

CONCLUSION
During the process of making the pilot we gained

Now these pieces fell in their place and we know

all the knowledge we need to bring this project to

enough about all of them to correctly tackle each part

a successful conclusion. Unfortunately not all the

separately.

pieces fell into place at the right time. We stand now

at the point at which we have all the knowledge and

The game design principles, art style, pipeline and the

experience to make a game about soft skills.

team are all ready to start this project from the ground
up and realise a project in which we create a game to

When we started there was a lot of tension between

use as an environment for the training of soft skills for

different aspects of the project: the psychology,

project managers.

game design, project management and production.

Would you like to know more about this research project or the possibilities for your business. Please contact
Jan-Jaap Severs from Grendel Games at jj@grendel-games.com +31 (0) 6 50 50 24 88 or Bertrand Weegenaar
from M-Engaged at bertrand@m-engaged.nl +31 (0) 6 83 80 17 09.
Or check out our website at www.grendel-games.com
32

PROJECT SOFTSKILLS

REFERENCES
1: Investopedia (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/soft-skills.asp)
2: Project Plan (201202 Projectplan Softskills 1.2.pdf)
3: Game Design (SoftSkillz_Design_document1.5.doc)
4: Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK(R) Guide (893-7485908328)
5: Nicole Shechtman and Leonard M. Horowitz, Interpersonal and Noninterpersonal Interactions, interpersonal Motives, and the Effect
Frustrated Motives (http://psp.sagepub.com/content/32/8/1126)
6: James A. Russell, A Circumplex Model of Affect (https://www2.bc.edu/~russeljm/publications/Russell1980.pdf)
7: Artificial Expression in Soft Skills (artificial expression in softskills.odt)
8: Jari Ktsyri, Human Recognition of Basic Emotions from Posed and Animated Dynamic Facial Expressions (https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/
handle/123456789/2807)
9: Jari Ktsyri, Vasily Klucharev, Michael Frydrych, Mikko Sams, Identification of Synthetic and Natural Emotional Facial Expressions (www.
isca-speech.org/archive)
10: Soft Skills: Non-Verbale Kanalen (nonverbaalMEUT.docx)
11: Technische Aanpak (Softskills_TechnischeAanpak_GTA.pdf)
12: The Secret of Cloth Simulation in Alan Wake (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4383/the_secrets_of_cloth_simulation_in_.
php?print=1)
13: Character Technical Documentation (Softskills_Research_Character.odt)
14: Softskills: Animation Research (Softskills_Research_Animation.docx)
15: Technical Implementation of Wrinkle Maps (Technical Implementation of Wrinke Maps.odt)
16: Jason Osipa, Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right (978-0-470-60990-3)
17: Style Guide (Solitude - Style guide document.pdf)
18: Physically Based Rendering, And You Can Too! (http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice)
19: Environment Documentation (Softskills_research_environment.odt)
20: Pipeline Guide for Motion Capture (Pipeline mocap 2.docx)
21: Soft Skills Interaction Design (Interaction Design.odt)
33

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