Artificial Intelligence in Computer Games Işık Barış Fidaner
Purpose of Game AI Games involve interaction (with whom?) We need
Challenging enemies like Deep Blue who won against Kasparov
Believable characters like in a movie scripted on the run
AI roles and game genres Tactical enemies appear mainly in action games Units and strategic opponents are main roles of a strategy game Partner characters are important in role playing games (RPG) Support characters are used in adventure games and RPGs
Action games First were 2D games like platform games, shoot’em up Then came 3D first person or third person shooter games
First enemies were simple “monsters” Then “bots” were created as a simulation of human players
Not all action games are “shooters”, e.g. Thief is a “first person sneaker” game
Pacman (1980)
Silkworm (1989)
Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
Inside a monster’s mind
Thief (1998)
Counter-Strike Source (2004)
How do bots evaluate the map
Strategy Games First were turn based, like board games Then, real time strategy games appeared Two main roles
Strategic opponents Units
Civilization (1991)
How units find their path: A*
Age of Empires II (1999)
Formations of marching units
Strategic reasoning of your opponent
Reasoning under uncertainty
Artificial life Games that involve simulated living beings In these games, creatures
have simulated desires, feelings try to meet their needs sometimes learn from experience, or maybe they only seem to be
SimCity (1989)
Creatures (1996)
The Sims (2000)
Dungeon Keeper (1997)
Black & White (2001)
B&W: The creature’s mind
Adventure and role playing games Support characters lead the player the way through the game’s story An intelligent “support character” must
be strictly consistent with the story at the same time be flexible enough to give alternative responses to player’s different choices
Fate of Atlantis (1992)
Grim Fandango (1998)