Artificial intelligence methods open up new possibilities in game design, enabling the creation of believable characters with rich personalities and emotions, interactive story systems that incorporate player interaction into the construction of dynamic plots, and authoring systems that assist human designers in creating games. Games are fast becoming a major medium of the 21st century, being used for everything from education, to editorial news commentary, to expressing public policy and political opinions. Game AI research can radically expand the expressiveness of games, supporting them in becoming a mainstream medium for societal discourse. These ideas will be illustrated by looking at two projects: the interactive drama Façade (released July 2005, downloadable from www.interactivestory.net) and current work on automated game design support. See the Event link to right for more info on this event…..