Melete: Exploring the Components of Mixed-Initiative Artificial Intelligence Pipelines for Level Design

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence(AI) and human-computer interaction(HCI) have led to the creation of innovative artifacts that bridge these fields, fostering creative collaboration between human authors and artificial intelligence. These advancements have found applications across a wide range of academic disciplines. Amongthesedevelopments, manytoolsandframeworkshaveemergedtosupportthedesignanddevelopment of creative endeavors. However, there remains no clear consensus on how to structure these pipelines or what components should be included. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative user study with twelve participants, examining how users engage with key elements of a mixed-initiative artificial intelligence (MIAI) pipeline for game development, including the procedural content generation (PCG) algorithm, its output, the user interface, playtesting, and the overall pipeline. Through an inductive thematic analysis, we developed a mixed-initiative interaction model, offering valuable insights into MIAI pipeline classification and guiding developers in designing more effective and user-centred pipelines.