The Market Scene: Physical Interaction with Multiple Agents

This demonstration presents "The Market Scene," a virtual-reality scene in which the user interacts with multiple virtual agents and initiates conversations with these agents via proxemics and gaze. The application is implemented in Unity with the VAIF authoring tool for rapid development of social agents. In the Market Scene, the user learns the background of the "Gods of the Neon City" adventure story through interaction in a crowded market rather than by listening to a narrator. The application demonstrates a form of mixed-initiative interaction, in that the user can initiate a conversation by coming near to and gazing at an agent, and an agent can initiate a conversation if a user approaches.