Essay Assignment

Write an essay that compares and contrasts the capabilities of Mateas' ABL system with the Halo system. Briefly explain each system's capabilities, and then explore what kind of infrastructure is necessary for these systems (eg. a rendering system, animation cycles, and the like). You should explore the kinds of things that can be done with one system but not the other, as well as what types of useful relevant capabilities are absent from both systems. Finally, discuss in detail how your game would benefit from the use of either ABL or Halo, presuming all of the system issues can be easily handled. The purpose of this last part is to help inform you about the representation abilities of the system you might use.

This essay is due in two parts: Rough draft is due April 6, and the final draft is due April 13.

I expect something like 3000 words. Format is single-spaced, two column, ragged right. This will yield 8 pages or so.