Human–Agent Interaction

This page presents the final project for the Human–Agent Interaction course at Leiden University (4032DSHAI). The course explores how humans engage with intelligent virtual agents, covering conversational design, embodiment (voice, gaze, gestures), and experimental evaluation methods. It was taught by Dr. Broekens (Leiden University, 2024–2025).

Project

How do virtual agent modalities impact player immersion in role-playing games?

In our project, we built a short Dungeons & Dragons–style scenario in Unity using Convai. Players interacted with three non-player characters (NPCs), each designed with a different level of realism—from a simple voice-only agent to one with natural speech, lip-sync, and expressive gestures. We ran pilot sessions with student volunteers and asked participants to rate their sense of immersion and perception of the characters.

Our findings suggest that voice quality had the strongest positive effect on immersion, while gestures and facial cues helped when they matched the character. Interestingly, mismatched modalities could even reduce believability. Although limited in scale, the study highlighted how subtle design choices shape user experience in virtual environments.

Grade: 10.0 / 10.0