1 videos for before swarm.flv (art. intelligence swarmites 1:20) endorphin2.5.flv (2:38) antfarmsimulator.flv (3:30) for very early – swarmflocking.mp4 (Suzie swarmites 2:36) – andiland.mp4 (5:04 min)

2 Warning - This presentation contains graphic depictions of violence and the death of badly pixelated Nazis

3 Hans Apfël Born Dec 18, 1923, Dusseldorf Wanted to study chemistry after the war Engaged to Elsa Bauer

4 Hans Apfël Killed by a Super Terror Flamethrower on level 7 of Nazi Killer Rampage IV. One of over 143,000,000,000,000 NPC's killed in computer games since 1959

5 Ground Rules The topic is game AI It's not 'real' AI Their morality is a separate discussion I'll take questions as they come up Please hold side topics to the end

6 Game AI

7 Sections Goals Architecture Inputs Actions Action Selection

8 Vocabulary NPC Game Design Third Person shooter RTS

9 Our Example The Saboteur start up screen

10 Roundup

11 GOAL?

12 PLAYER FUN not to win!

13 Fun Is Meaningful Choices Appealing Characters

14 And what's our best technique for adjusting Play Balance?

15 CHEAT

16 Play Balance Knobs Unit strength Adjusting NPC tactics better/worse Complexity, favor things the computer does better than the human. Cognitive and cockpit load, UI design, behavior mod, degrade the human's skills

17 Architecture

18 Mimic Human Actions Mimic the events the NPC would get Stupid actions look inhuman Sadly, stupid choices of action look all too human So as long as each low level action is believable, overall we have a chance

19 Our Architecture Events (as 'sensory' data) Action Selection Atomic Action

20 Our Architecture Events (as 'sensory' data) Action Selection Atomic Action

21 Model Their World View Give NPC's only the info they should have, then they won't act on info they shouldn't Give them a view frustum Present information as their sensory apparatus would receive it. Present information in functional terms (e.g. 'a cover position', not 'a tree').

22 Terrain Marking

23 Our Architecture Events (as 'sensory' data) Action Selection Atomic Action

24 Overview Most action is – move the character's basepoint – play canned animations Some other possibilities – play sounds, particle effects, delete/add item, etc. Physics: ragdoll, euphoria, steering, lennard- jones Middle layer – Pathfinding

25 Basic Animation Play one or more layered animations Move the basepoint Do a whole motion!

26 Behaviors

27 Steering AIboidvehicle Turn left at corner wheel left 45 deg, light brake position, rotation, velocity

28 Lennard- Jones Potential

29 A* Open circles are in open set Filled circles are colored red to green by distance from start

30 Our Architecture Events (as 'sensory' data) Action Selection Atomic Action

31 Action Selection Behavior trees Scripting HFSMPlanners

32 Scripting Either use an existing 'friendly' language (Python and Lua are popular) or make one up Actor languages are often a good choice burying complexity in message passing

33 HFSM

34 Planning Operators: preconditions, forbidden, add, remove Operators: run_to_door, get_out_of_car, enter_building, climb_stairs, descend_stairs, run_onto_roof, get_in_car, lay_down, get_up

35 Complications

36 Behavior Trees

37 Node Types

38 Adjusting Long Term Play Genetic Algorithms Neural nets Random strategic alterations

39 GOAL?

40 PLAYER FUN