This document discusses artificial intelligence in video games. It begins by defining game AI as making computers fun rather than just smart. Game AI is tightly interwoven with game design and benefits from extensive content. The document then outlines where AI is used in games, from individual characters to crowds, strategies, societies, player modeling, procedural generation, and analytics using big data. It concludes by noting game AI incorporates a variety of challenges central to player experience, and is recapitulating the history of academic AI.
The document discusses the history and types of computer games, listing the top 10 games and companies. It outlines the manufacturing process for games and notes several cognitive benefits of playing games such as improved strategic thinking, problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, and decision-making. In conclusion, it states that games have both positive and negative impacts depending on how they are used.
This chapter discusses various aspects of gameplay, including rules of play, interactivity modes, game theory, challenges, balance, and the relationship between gameplay and documentation. It addresses key questions such as the relationship between gameplay and challenges/strategies, different interactivity modes, and the difference between static and dynamic balance. Examples are provided to illustrate different gameplay concepts.
20 Great Innovations in Casual, Social and Mobile Games That You Should Steal discusses 20 innovative casual, social and mobile games that leverage different platforms and mechanics in interesting ways such as using a player's music library or location in gameplay, integrating social networks, or combining multiple genres. The document provides examples of games that use viral social sharing of scores, asynchronous multiplayer, photo integration, augmented reality, and episodic monetization among other novel approaches. It cautions that some innovations may introduce privacy, licensing, or gameplay issues that would need addressing for successful implementation.
This document is the first lecture on computer game development by Umair Shafique. It discusses different platforms for games including console, computer, mobile and online platforms. It also covers time intervals like turn-based, real-time and time-limited games. Finally, it examines player modes such as single player, multiplayer and online multiplayer. The significance of platforms, time intervals and player modes on game elements and design are explored.
This document provides a history of artificial intelligence in video games from 1972 to present day. It summarizes key early games that established staples of AI design like Pong simulating human error and Pac-Man's scripted enemy patterns. It then outlines how simulation games like SimCity and The Sims featured increasingly autonomous virtual populations. More recent games have utilized advanced techniques such as dynamic enemy reactions and AI directors that change gameplay based on player performance.
Skills Week / Adam Martin / How Is Designing An MMO Different?pixellab
MMO == Community + Game. MMO designers do more than just extra balancing and include various roles like content, environment, systems, and balance designers. When designing an MMO, it's important to consider how the game offers something for Bartle's player types of killers, achievers, socializers, and explorers.
In Chapter of computer games development, we will try to find out the answers to these questions
How are a game’s challenges and strategies associated with gameplay?
■ What are interactivity modes and how do they relate to gameplay?
■ What is the relationship between gameplay and story?
■ What is the difference between static and dynamic balance?
■ How can the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the tragedy of the commons be applied to cooperative gameplay?
My site: http://umairshafique.com
The document discusses the history and types of computer games, listing the top 10 games and companies. It outlines the manufacturing process for games and notes several cognitive benefits of playing games such as improved strategic thinking, problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, and decision-making. In conclusion, it states that games have both positive and negative impacts depending on how they are used.
This chapter discusses various aspects of gameplay, including rules of play, interactivity modes, game theory, challenges, balance, and the relationship between gameplay and documentation. It addresses key questions such as the relationship between gameplay and challenges/strategies, different interactivity modes, and the difference between static and dynamic balance. Examples are provided to illustrate different gameplay concepts.
20 Great Innovations in Casual, Social and Mobile Games That You Should Steal discusses 20 innovative casual, social and mobile games that leverage different platforms and mechanics in interesting ways such as using a player's music library or location in gameplay, integrating social networks, or combining multiple genres. The document provides examples of games that use viral social sharing of scores, asynchronous multiplayer, photo integration, augmented reality, and episodic monetization among other novel approaches. It cautions that some innovations may introduce privacy, licensing, or gameplay issues that would need addressing for successful implementation.
This document is the first lecture on computer game development by Umair Shafique. It discusses different platforms for games including console, computer, mobile and online platforms. It also covers time intervals like turn-based, real-time and time-limited games. Finally, it examines player modes such as single player, multiplayer and online multiplayer. The significance of platforms, time intervals and player modes on game elements and design are explored.
This document provides a history of artificial intelligence in video games from 1972 to present day. It summarizes key early games that established staples of AI design like Pong simulating human error and Pac-Man's scripted enemy patterns. It then outlines how simulation games like SimCity and The Sims featured increasingly autonomous virtual populations. More recent games have utilized advanced techniques such as dynamic enemy reactions and AI directors that change gameplay based on player performance.
Skills Week / Adam Martin / How Is Designing An MMO Different?pixellab
MMO == Community + Game. MMO designers do more than just extra balancing and include various roles like content, environment, systems, and balance designers. When designing an MMO, it's important to consider how the game offers something for Bartle's player types of killers, achievers, socializers, and explorers.
In Chapter of computer games development, we will try to find out the answers to these questions
How are a game’s challenges and strategies associated with gameplay?
■ What are interactivity modes and how do they relate to gameplay?
■ What is the relationship between gameplay and story?
■ What is the difference between static and dynamic balance?
■ How can the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the tragedy of the commons be applied to cooperative gameplay?
My site: http://umairshafique.com
The document discusses the online multiplayer battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). It provides details about the game such as the developer, initial release date, game modes (solo, duo, squad), perspectives (first person vs. third person), and maps. It also lists some common guns in PUBG like the UMP9, AKM, M16A4, and snipers like the SLR.
Artificial intelligence and video gamesSimple_Harsh
This document discusses artificial intelligence and its importance in video games. It begins with an introduction and agenda, then defines artificial intelligence as making computers able to perform human-like thinking tasks. It notes the increasing importance of AI in games to provide smarter, more complex opponents and gameplay. The document discusses challenges like simulating true human behavior and explains techniques used, including state machines and planning systems. It provides examples of how AI is implemented differently in genres like driving, first-person shooters, and strategy games. It concludes that the goal of AI is to improve the gaming experience by providing realistic behavior, and the field will continue advancing with techniques like online learning.
The document discusses 6 of the most anticipated indie games expected to be released in 2015. It summarizes each game, including No Man's Sky (a procedurally generated space exploration game), Cuphead (a 1930s cartoon-inspired action platformer), The Witness (a 3D puzzle game from the creator of Braid), Volume (a stealth game inspired by Robin Hood), Broken Age Act 2 (the continuation of the critically acclaimed point-and-click adventure game), and Firewatch (a story-driven first person game about being a forest fire lookout).
This document outlines a presentation on the impacts of video games on players. It begins with an introduction that establishes the research question of how gaming shapes players negatively. It then provides background on the early history of video games and the modern gaming industry. The presentation discusses both benefits of gaming such as improved problem solving skills and risks of excessive gaming like addiction and increased aggression. It concludes that video games can be beneficial if played in moderation.
Game playing is a common technique used in artificial intelligence that involves pitting computer algorithms against human experts or other players. It has been a focus since the early days of AI and provides a visible test of computer skills. Game playing is used in computer and video games to simulate intelligent behavior by non-player characters through techniques from fields like computer science, graphics, and animation. The goals of AI in games are to provide both a reasonable challenge and natural behavior without cheating, through means such as vehicles that drive faster or characters with more health. Games can involve perfect or imperfect information for players.
This document summarizes information about video games and gaming consoles. It discusses major game companies like Bungie, Activation, and EA. It provides a timeline of early consoles from 1972-2006. It also answers questions about the first video game (Pong), its creators, and popular consoles before the Xbox 360 and PS3. Modern consoles discussed include the Xbox 360 and PS3. Top games currently and their publishers are also listed. The document concludes with information about the growth of the game industry in recent years.
Kings of Engagement: How Gaming Changed the World of UXDori Adar
Gaming is insanely huge and the world of user experience catches up fast. In this deck you will gain understanding on what games are, learn about the hero and the villain products, and how to build a product as a game from the ground up.
This is a very first chapter of Computer Games Development Course and in this, chapter We will try to find out the answer to these questions
What are the significant milestones in the history of electronic game development?
■ Who are the pioneers in game development, and how did they contribute to the industry?
■ How did the game industry evolve from coin-operated electromechanical and mainframe computer games of the ’60s to today’s console, personal computer, online, and mobile industries?
■ What factors contributed to the video game slump of the early ’80s?
■ Why did certain game companies and game titles succeed during game development history—and why did some fail miserably?
1) Video games can be successfully incorporated into market research if the three Gs of gaming are understood: Gamers, Games, and Gaming.
2) To engage gamers in market research, the activities must be immersive, fun, and allow gamers to achieve in-game rewards and status through competition, as they would in their regular gaming activities.
3) Different types of games appeal to gamers in different ways, so it is important to understand the various genres like MMOs, FPS, RPGs and how core gaming concepts like graphics, story, gameplay and community foster engagement for different audiences.
10 tips on how to make a casual game of success for the iPhone and Android.Rafael Rodrigues
We are finally living a moment of democratization of game development. A game no longer needs to be a super production to be profitable and that is why casual games may be a way for those who are already experienced and for those who are only beginners.
July 2010 Game Deconstruction Group - Red Dead RedemptionJosh Green
This document provides a deconstruction of the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games. It discusses the game's open world setting and aesthetics, cinematic storytelling techniques, gameplay mechanics, narrative structure and themes. Key points analyzed include the blending of theater and film influences, use of music, mini-map design, menu interfaces, character archetypes and lack of character development. The summary identifies both strengths like compelling control systems and weaknesses such as unfinished features and reliance on stereotypes.
This document discusses artificial intelligence in games. It begins by defining artificial intelligence as making computers able to perform thinking tasks like humans and animals. It then discusses the importance of AI in games, noting that modern games require not just good graphics but also intelligent opponents. The document outlines some key aspects of designing game AI, like movement, decision making, and perception. It provides examples of how AI is implemented in common game genres like first-person shooters. It concludes by stating that AI design is complex and creative, and hopes for continued innovation in the field.
This document provides an overview of cutscenes and cinematic techniques in video games. It discusses different types of cutscenes including live-action, pre-rendered, real-time, and mixed media cutscenes. It also covers cinematic techniques such as cutaways, quick time events, cinematic storytelling, and machinima. Key points include:
- Cutscenes are non-interactive sections that break up gameplay to illustrate interactions, set mood, introduce new features, or foreshadow events.
- Types of cutscenes include live-action, pre-rendered CGI or animations, and real-time rendered using the game engine. Mixed media cutscenes combine techniques.
- Cutaways interrupt scenes
The document discusses various techniques used for artificial intelligence in gaming. It describes how state machines and planning systems are used to simulate human behavior for non-player characters. State machines define a character's states and transitions between states, but have limitations. Planning systems allow characters to work backwards from objectives to determine paths and behaviors. Additional techniques include navigation meshes to guide character movement and online learning from player data. The goal is to improve gaming experiences by making characters seem intelligent through these simulated human behavior methods.
Video Game HUDs - Information Presentation and Spatial ImmersionJames Babu
This document is a thesis submitted by James Babu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Science degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Rochester Institute of Technology. The thesis explores how feelings of immersion are affected by diegetic versus non-diegetic methods of presenting a player's status information in video games. It reviews literature on evaluating game usability and interface design, specifically the use of heads-up displays. An experiment was conducted comparing immersion ratings and eye tracking data between players experiencing a diegetic and non-diegetic game. The results found no significant difference in immersion ratings but increased fixation duration for non-immersive experiences, suggesting players spend more time processing information.
The document discusses the early history and applications of 3D technology. The first 3D video game was called "Monster Maze" in 1981. In the 1990s, 3D gaming became mainstream with the release of consoles like the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, featuring games such as Mario and Crash Bandicoot. 3D graphics continued to improve with subsequent console generations. 3D animation is also widely used in Pixar films. Additionally, 3D has important real-world applications such as examining injuries in hospitals and 3D printing of physical objects.
Understanding Computer Games Industry Week 1electricgeisha
The document discusses the computer games industry. It notes that the first computer games were launched in the 1960s and by the 1970s there was a established games industry. The games industry now employs over 30,000 people in the UK and involves large development teams and costs of millions to produce games. It provides an example of how Halo: Reach generated $200 million in sales within 24 hours, beating the opening day box office of Avatar. The homework assigns researching a games developer and describing their history and popular games, and listing game development job roles.
A brief Introduction to AI and its applications in Gaming. Talk was at "Advances & Research Challenges in the Applications of AI in Gaming, Medical Imaging and Bio-Informatics"
The document discusses the online multiplayer battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). It provides details about the game such as the developer, initial release date, game modes (solo, duo, squad), perspectives (first person vs. third person), and maps. It also lists some common guns in PUBG like the UMP9, AKM, M16A4, and snipers like the SLR.
Artificial intelligence and video gamesSimple_Harsh
This document discusses artificial intelligence and its importance in video games. It begins with an introduction and agenda, then defines artificial intelligence as making computers able to perform human-like thinking tasks. It notes the increasing importance of AI in games to provide smarter, more complex opponents and gameplay. The document discusses challenges like simulating true human behavior and explains techniques used, including state machines and planning systems. It provides examples of how AI is implemented differently in genres like driving, first-person shooters, and strategy games. It concludes that the goal of AI is to improve the gaming experience by providing realistic behavior, and the field will continue advancing with techniques like online learning.
The document discusses 6 of the most anticipated indie games expected to be released in 2015. It summarizes each game, including No Man's Sky (a procedurally generated space exploration game), Cuphead (a 1930s cartoon-inspired action platformer), The Witness (a 3D puzzle game from the creator of Braid), Volume (a stealth game inspired by Robin Hood), Broken Age Act 2 (the continuation of the critically acclaimed point-and-click adventure game), and Firewatch (a story-driven first person game about being a forest fire lookout).
This document outlines a presentation on the impacts of video games on players. It begins with an introduction that establishes the research question of how gaming shapes players negatively. It then provides background on the early history of video games and the modern gaming industry. The presentation discusses both benefits of gaming such as improved problem solving skills and risks of excessive gaming like addiction and increased aggression. It concludes that video games can be beneficial if played in moderation.
Game playing is a common technique used in artificial intelligence that involves pitting computer algorithms against human experts or other players. It has been a focus since the early days of AI and provides a visible test of computer skills. Game playing is used in computer and video games to simulate intelligent behavior by non-player characters through techniques from fields like computer science, graphics, and animation. The goals of AI in games are to provide both a reasonable challenge and natural behavior without cheating, through means such as vehicles that drive faster or characters with more health. Games can involve perfect or imperfect information for players.
This document summarizes information about video games and gaming consoles. It discusses major game companies like Bungie, Activation, and EA. It provides a timeline of early consoles from 1972-2006. It also answers questions about the first video game (Pong), its creators, and popular consoles before the Xbox 360 and PS3. Modern consoles discussed include the Xbox 360 and PS3. Top games currently and their publishers are also listed. The document concludes with information about the growth of the game industry in recent years.
Kings of Engagement: How Gaming Changed the World of UXDori Adar
Gaming is insanely huge and the world of user experience catches up fast. In this deck you will gain understanding on what games are, learn about the hero and the villain products, and how to build a product as a game from the ground up.
This is a very first chapter of Computer Games Development Course and in this, chapter We will try to find out the answer to these questions
What are the significant milestones in the history of electronic game development?
■ Who are the pioneers in game development, and how did they contribute to the industry?
■ How did the game industry evolve from coin-operated electromechanical and mainframe computer games of the ’60s to today’s console, personal computer, online, and mobile industries?
■ What factors contributed to the video game slump of the early ’80s?
■ Why did certain game companies and game titles succeed during game development history—and why did some fail miserably?
1) Video games can be successfully incorporated into market research if the three Gs of gaming are understood: Gamers, Games, and Gaming.
2) To engage gamers in market research, the activities must be immersive, fun, and allow gamers to achieve in-game rewards and status through competition, as they would in their regular gaming activities.
3) Different types of games appeal to gamers in different ways, so it is important to understand the various genres like MMOs, FPS, RPGs and how core gaming concepts like graphics, story, gameplay and community foster engagement for different audiences.
10 tips on how to make a casual game of success for the iPhone and Android.Rafael Rodrigues
We are finally living a moment of democratization of game development. A game no longer needs to be a super production to be profitable and that is why casual games may be a way for those who are already experienced and for those who are only beginners.
July 2010 Game Deconstruction Group - Red Dead RedemptionJosh Green
This document provides a deconstruction of the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games. It discusses the game's open world setting and aesthetics, cinematic storytelling techniques, gameplay mechanics, narrative structure and themes. Key points analyzed include the blending of theater and film influences, use of music, mini-map design, menu interfaces, character archetypes and lack of character development. The summary identifies both strengths like compelling control systems and weaknesses such as unfinished features and reliance on stereotypes.
This document discusses artificial intelligence in games. It begins by defining artificial intelligence as making computers able to perform thinking tasks like humans and animals. It then discusses the importance of AI in games, noting that modern games require not just good graphics but also intelligent opponents. The document outlines some key aspects of designing game AI, like movement, decision making, and perception. It provides examples of how AI is implemented in common game genres like first-person shooters. It concludes by stating that AI design is complex and creative, and hopes for continued innovation in the field.
This document provides an overview of cutscenes and cinematic techniques in video games. It discusses different types of cutscenes including live-action, pre-rendered, real-time, and mixed media cutscenes. It also covers cinematic techniques such as cutaways, quick time events, cinematic storytelling, and machinima. Key points include:
- Cutscenes are non-interactive sections that break up gameplay to illustrate interactions, set mood, introduce new features, or foreshadow events.
- Types of cutscenes include live-action, pre-rendered CGI or animations, and real-time rendered using the game engine. Mixed media cutscenes combine techniques.
- Cutaways interrupt scenes
The document discusses various techniques used for artificial intelligence in gaming. It describes how state machines and planning systems are used to simulate human behavior for non-player characters. State machines define a character's states and transitions between states, but have limitations. Planning systems allow characters to work backwards from objectives to determine paths and behaviors. Additional techniques include navigation meshes to guide character movement and online learning from player data. The goal is to improve gaming experiences by making characters seem intelligent through these simulated human behavior methods.
Video Game HUDs - Information Presentation and Spatial ImmersionJames Babu
This document is a thesis submitted by James Babu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Science degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Rochester Institute of Technology. The thesis explores how feelings of immersion are affected by diegetic versus non-diegetic methods of presenting a player's status information in video games. It reviews literature on evaluating game usability and interface design, specifically the use of heads-up displays. An experiment was conducted comparing immersion ratings and eye tracking data between players experiencing a diegetic and non-diegetic game. The results found no significant difference in immersion ratings but increased fixation duration for non-immersive experiences, suggesting players spend more time processing information.
The document discusses the early history and applications of 3D technology. The first 3D video game was called "Monster Maze" in 1981. In the 1990s, 3D gaming became mainstream with the release of consoles like the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, featuring games such as Mario and Crash Bandicoot. 3D graphics continued to improve with subsequent console generations. 3D animation is also widely used in Pixar films. Additionally, 3D has important real-world applications such as examining injuries in hospitals and 3D printing of physical objects.
Understanding Computer Games Industry Week 1electricgeisha
The document discusses the computer games industry. It notes that the first computer games were launched in the 1960s and by the 1970s there was a established games industry. The games industry now employs over 30,000 people in the UK and involves large development teams and costs of millions to produce games. It provides an example of how Halo: Reach generated $200 million in sales within 24 hours, beating the opening day box office of Avatar. The homework assigns researching a games developer and describing their history and popular games, and listing game development job roles.
A brief Introduction to AI and its applications in Gaming. Talk was at "Advances & Research Challenges in the Applications of AI in Gaming, Medical Imaging and Bio-Informatics"
Game playing in artificial intelligent technique syeda zoya mehdi
The document discusses game artificial intelligence and techniques used to generate intelligent behavior in non-player characters in computer and video games. It covers topics like machine learning, reinforcement learning, pathfinding algorithms, and different data structures used to represent game boards and chess positions. Game AI aims to create behavior that feels natural to the player while obeying the rules of the game. Various computer science disciplines are required to develop effective game AI, and different types of games require different AI techniques.
Artificial intelligence is the ability of computers to simulate intelligent behavior. The field began in 1956 with a conference at Dartmouth College. Early expert systems like DENDRAL and PUFF helped identify chemical compounds and diagnose medical conditions. Today, AI is used for tasks like face and speech recognition, games, finance, healthcare, communications, and research. In the future, AI may reach a singularity point where it surpasses human intelligence and radically changes civilization. While AI has provided applications across many areas, modeling human reasoning remains complex, providing ongoing challenges.
This Presentation will give you an overview about Artificial Intelligence : definition, advantages , disadvantages , benefits , applications .
We hope it to be useful .
The slides of Artificial Intelligence and Entertainment Science (AIES) Workshop 2021 Keynote lecture
https://aies.info/program/
Empathic Entertainment in Digital Game
A digital game give a unique experience to a user. AI system in Digital game consists of three kinds of AI such as Meta-AI, Character AI, and Spatial AI. Game experience is formed by them. Meta-AI keeps watching a status of game and controlling characters, objects, terrain, weather and so on dynamically to make many dramatic and empathic situations in a game for users. Character AI is a brain of an autonomous game character to make a decision by itself, but sometimes it acts to achieve a goal issued from Meta-AI. Spatial AI analyses a terrain and abstracts its features to communicate them to Meta-AI and Character-AI. They can make their intelligent decisions by using specific terrain and environment features. The AI system is called MCS-AI dynamic cooperative model (Meta-AI, Character AI, and Spatial AI dynamic cooperative model). In the lecture, I will explain the system by showing some cases of published digital games.
A quick presentation I put together for "Invest in Games 2011" in Stockholm(Sep 6):
1) Intro to King.com
2) Accidental Gamers & Facebook
3) Mobile & Tablet Gaming
4) Investing in Accidental Gaming
Artificial Intelligence In Video Games A Survey Written ByKayla Smith
This document provides a survey of artificial intelligence techniques used in video games. It discusses the history and evolution of AI in games from early board games to modern video games. It outlines some of the primary roles of AI in games like controlling enemies, allies and commentary. The document also summarizes several important AI techniques used in games including minimax algorithms, scripted behavior, decision trees, learning agents using genetic algorithms, and how these techniques aim to create more human-like game AI. It explores both simple historic techniques and more advanced current and future methods being researched.
10 Reasons Why Every UX/Product/Designer Must Play GamesDori Adar
Are you a UX/Product/Tech Designer?
Do you play games?
If not, here are 10 good reasons why you oughta.
If you do, share this with your non-playing friends!
Read more : www.doriadar.com
FGS 2011: Keeping Yourself Honest in Game Design (SteamBirds)mochimedia
Game developers often fail to hold a critical eye to their own work, and struggle to see why they aren't finding success. Join Andy Moore, Captain of Radial Games, as he explores all the painful ways his previous works failed, and his adventure to correct them all in the production of his multi-award-winning game, SteamBirds - and the mobile editions and sequels that followed.
The first computer games go back to the 50s when a nought and crosses game was created using an EDSAC computer. An effort at MIT ten years later led to a the multiplayer Spacewar game developed in a PDP-1. Even though these games were primitive, a game industry was born with the first games available in special locations – arcades. Today’s games are produced with modest Hollywood budgets and some are selling more than box-office hits.
In this lecture we look at computer games and the gaming market. Also we cover the impact of gaming and the trends.
This document discusses video game development processes. It explains that computer game developers create and code computer games using various software programs and coding languages depending on the game platform. It also describes some of the common hardware used in game development like GPUs and CPUs. The document then provides examples of software used to create 2D and 3D games and discusses how game development has evolved since the early video games of the 1950s and 1960s.
This document provides a summary of the history and evolution of computer games. It discusses early experimental games in the 1940s-1960s, the rise of arcade games and consoles like Pong, Atari 2600, and Nintendo Entertainment System in the 1970s-1980s, the growth of PC gaming and genres like interactive fiction, and the modern gaming market dominated by consoles like PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. It also covers topics like the impact of games, genres like casual/social games, monetization strategies, and debates around using games and gamification to solve problems and improve intelligence and skills.
The document discusses fundamental AI technologies used in video game development. It begins with an introduction to artificial intelligence and the structure of AI systems. The core elements of an AI system are described as sensors, memory, reasoning, and actions. Specific AI technologies discussed in detail include finite state machines, rule systems, and genetic algorithms. Examples are provided to illustrate how these technologies can be implemented in virtual characters and game controllers.
Digital games have evolved significantly from their early origins in arcades and home consoles. What began as games focused on high scores and short sessions in arcades transformed to include longer home console games with save features. Later, casual games on PCs popularized relaxed puzzle-style games. The mobile era saw another shift to touchscreen games optimized for short sessions. Free-to-play games now dominate mobile, using behavioral data to craft addictive feedback loops that entice paying "whales" to subsidize games for all players. Today, gaming encompasses everyone through ubiquitous mobile access.
This document summarizes a presentation on designing creative mobile games. It discusses defining player actions or "verbs", incorporating different types of challenges, considering categories of player pleasure, and designing for constraints like screen size and processing power. It also covers multiplayer game design, dealing with latency issues, designing for community features, and incorporating a "metagame" to increase player interest. The presentation emphasizes that there is no single methodology for game design and that considering what players do and what pleasures and constraints exist provides a good starting point.
The document discusses how game development has become easier and more accessible. It introduces Unity, a game engine that allows individuals to develop and publish games across platforms more easily. Statistics are provided that show the large and growing market for mobile games. The document argues that game development is no longer limited to large studios, as tools like Unity empower independent developers to create and distribute games with relatively little cost or technical expertise.
The document discusses various examples of AI in gaming, including The Sims, Halo, and Black & White from the early 2000s. It notes that since the mid-2000s, game AI has not advanced much beyond a "chest-high wall". Examples of more recent AI systems are discussed for Far Cry 2 and 3 with improvements to animal AI. The Walking Dead game had poor zombie AI that did not properly focus on the player. Left 4 Dead's "AI Director" is praised for dynamically adjusting zombie spawns based on player performance. Examples are also given of effective combat AI in Bully and techniques used for Ellie's AI in The Last of Us.
The document discusses various examples of AI in gaming, including The Sims, Halo, and Black & White from the early 2000s. It notes that since the mid-2000s, game AI has not advanced much beyond a "chest-high wall". It then analyzes the AI in various games like Far Cry, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, and Left 4 Dead to showcase both successes and failures. Specific techniques like the AI Director in Left 4 Dead and use of "rays" in The Last of Us are highlighted. Videos are linked to demonstrate AI behaviors in games like Bully.
Flash was created in 1996 by Jonathan Gay as Future Splash Animator. It was acquired by Macromedia in 1996 and became Macromedia Flash 1.0. Adobe later acquired Flash in 2006. Flash allows for creation of animated content like games, videos, and websites. It has been used widely due to its ability to create interactive content that can run across multiple platforms like web, mobile, desktop and more. Flash games and applications are developed using ActionScript coding along with graphics and audio assets. Various APIs have been built to enhance Flash's capabilities for game development and other uses.
Last Day of Work is a small independent game studio located between San Francisco and Italy that makes casual video games. They have a virtual office with team members located around the world. Their games, such as Fish Tycoon and Virtual Villagers, are family friendly and aim to be "software toys". They follow a typical development process of alpha, beta, and gold stages. They distribute their games through online publishers and distributors who take a large cut but provide traffic, and market their games through their website, forums, press releases, and video uploads.
This presentation is a general overview about the SNS and SNG industry in Korea and worldwide. It may be useful for those developers and publishers who are interested to enter the social gaming market in Korea.
Videogames: Raising Interactive Digital Entertainment IndustryMarlin Sugama
The document discusses the video game industry. It defines video games and outlines some of the major platforms like consoles, PCs, and handheld devices. It also describes several genres of games like action, adventure, and role-playing games. The document then discusses the business of game development, including the roles of developers, publishers, and gamers. It notes challenges like developing talent and cultural relevance. Finally, it analyzes the Asian game market, finding that PCs dominate but mobile is emerging, and games should focus on challenges, competition, and social/communication aspects.
In this material, I have tried to summarize and provide an overview about the video game industry. By defining the main concepts as classification norms including genres, platforms and rating, then providing an introduction about Production Nature,
Production Team, Supply Chain, Marketing Overview (not completed in this version), Sample Games and Sample Egyptian Cartoons.
In part two, I am elaborating more about the video game production through defining the different production stages.
In part 3, i have tried to conclude part 1 and 2, then summarizing my suggested strategy to develop an international level video game industry in Egypt.
Similar to Artificial Intelligence in Video Games: A Love Story (20)
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
TrustArc Webinar - 2024 Global Privacy SurveyTrustArc
How does your privacy program stack up against your peers? What challenges are privacy teams tackling and prioritizing in 2024?
In the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, we asked over 1,800 global privacy professionals and business executives to share their perspectives on the current state of privacy inside and outside of their organizations. This year’s report focused on emerging areas of importance for privacy and compliance professionals, including considerations and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, building brand trust, and different approaches for achieving higher privacy competence scores.
See how organizational priorities and strategic approaches to data security and privacy are evolving around the globe.
This webinar will review:
- The top 10 privacy insights from the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
- The top challenges for privacy leaders, practitioners, and organizations in 2024
- Key themes to consider in developing and maintaining your privacy program
5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to the 5th Power Grid Model Meet-up, scheduled for 6th June 2024. This event will adopt a hybrid format, allowing participants to join us either through an online Mircosoft Teams session or in person at TU/e located at Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet-up will be hosted by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a research university specializing in engineering science & technology.
Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
How to Get CNIC Information System with Paksim Ga.pptxdanishmna97
Pakdata Cf is a groundbreaking system designed to streamline and facilitate access to CNIC information. This innovative platform leverages advanced technology to provide users with efficient and secure access to their CNIC details.
Digital Marketing Trends in 2024 | Guide for Staying AheadWask
https://www.wask.co/ebooks/digital-marketing-trends-in-2024
Feeling lost in the digital marketing whirlwind of 2024? Technology is changing, consumer habits are evolving, and staying ahead of the curve feels like a never-ending pursuit. This e-book is your compass. Dive into actionable insights to handle the complexities of modern marketing. From hyper-personalization to the power of user-generated content, learn how to build long-term relationships with your audience and unlock the secrets to success in the ever-shifting digital landscape.
Introduction of Cybersecurity with OSS at Code Europe 2024Hiroshi SHIBATA
I develop the Ruby programming language, RubyGems, and Bundler, which are package managers for Ruby. Today, I will introduce how to enhance the security of your application using open-source software (OSS) examples from Ruby and RubyGems.
The first topic is CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). I have published CVEs many times. But what exactly is a CVE? I'll provide a basic understanding of CVEs and explain how to detect and handle vulnerabilities in OSS.
Next, let's discuss package managers. Package managers play a critical role in the OSS ecosystem. I'll explain how to manage library dependencies in your application.
I'll share insights into how the Ruby and RubyGems core team works to keep our ecosystem safe. By the end of this talk, you'll have a better understanding of how to safeguard your code.
Building Production Ready Search Pipelines with Spark and MilvusZilliz
Spark is the widely used ETL tool for processing, indexing and ingesting data to serving stack for search. Milvus is the production-ready open-source vector database. In this talk we will show how to use Spark to process unstructured data to extract vector representations, and push the vectors to Milvus vector database for search serving.
Webinar: Designing a schema for a Data WarehouseFederico Razzoli
Are you new to data warehouses (DWH)? Do you need to check whether your data warehouse follows the best practices for a good design? In both cases, this webinar is for you.
A data warehouse is a central relational database that contains all measurements about a business or an organisation. This data comes from a variety of heterogeneous data sources, which includes databases of any type that back the applications used by the company, data files exported by some applications, or APIs provided by internal or external services.
But designing a data warehouse correctly is a hard task, which requires gathering information about the business processes that need to be analysed in the first place. These processes must be translated into so-called star schemas, which means, denormalised databases where each table represents a dimension or facts.
We will discuss these topics:
- How to gather information about a business;
- Understanding dictionaries and how to identify business entities;
- Dimensions and facts;
- Setting a table granularity;
- Types of facts;
- Types of dimensions;
- Snowflakes and how to avoid them;
- Expanding existing dimensions and facts.
Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift.pdfTosin Akinosho
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift
Overview
Dive into the world of anomaly detection on edge devices with our comprehensive hands-on tutorial. This SlideShare presentation will guide you through the entire process, from data collection and model training to edge deployment and real-time monitoring. Perfect for those looking to implement robust anomaly detection systems on resource-constrained IoT/edge devices.
Key Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Anomaly Detection
- Understand the fundamentals of anomaly detection and its importance in identifying unusual behavior or failures in systems.
2. Understanding Edge (IoT)
- Learn about edge computing and IoT, and how they enable real-time data processing and decision-making at the source.
3. What is ArgoCD?
- Discover ArgoCD, a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes, and its role in deploying applications on edge devices.
4. Deployment Using ArgoCD for Edge Devices
- Step-by-step guide on deploying anomaly detection models on edge devices using ArgoCD.
5. Introduction to Apache Kafka and S3
- Explore Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming and Amazon S3 for scalable storage solutions.
6. Viewing Kafka Messages in the Data Lake
- Learn how to view and analyze Kafka messages stored in a data lake for better insights.
7. What is Prometheus?
- Get to know Prometheus, an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, and its application in monitoring edge devices.
8. Monitoring Application Metrics with Prometheus
- Detailed instructions on setting up Prometheus to monitor the performance and health of your anomaly detection system.
9. What is Camel K?
- Introduction to Camel K, a lightweight integration framework built on Apache Camel, designed for Kubernetes.
10. Configuring Camel K Integrations for Data Pipelines
- Learn how to configure Camel K for seamless data pipeline integrations in your anomaly detection workflow.
11. What is a Jupyter Notebook?
- Overview of Jupyter Notebooks, an open-source web application for creating and sharing documents with live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text.
12. Jupyter Notebooks with Code Examples
- Hands-on examples and code snippets in Jupyter Notebooks to help you implement and test anomaly detection models.
Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing.pdfssuserfac0301
Read Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing to gain insights on AI adoption in the manufacturing industry, such as:
1. How quickly AI is being implemented in manufacturing.
2. Which barriers stand in the way of AI adoption.
3. How data quality and governance form the backbone of AI.
4. Organizational processes and structures that may inhibit effective AI adoption.
6. Ideas and approaches to help build your organization's AI strategy.
Driving Business Innovation: Latest Generative AI Advancements & Success StorySafe Software
Are you ready to revolutionize how you handle data? Join us for a webinar where we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest advancements in Generative AI technology and discover how leveraging FME with tools from giants like Google Gemini, Amazon, and Microsoft OpenAI can supercharge your workflow efficiency.
During the hour, we’ll take you through:
Guest Speaker Segment with Hannah Barrington: Dive into the world of dynamic real estate marketing with Hannah, the Marketing Manager at Workspace Group. Hear firsthand how their team generates engaging descriptions for thousands of office units by integrating diverse data sources—from PDF floorplans to web pages—using FME transformers, like OpenAIVisionConnector and AnthropicVisionConnector. This use case will show you how GenAI can streamline content creation for marketing across the board.
Ollama Use Case: Learn how Scenario Specialist Dmitri Bagh has utilized Ollama within FME to input data, create custom models, and enhance security protocols. This segment will include demos to illustrate the full capabilities of FME in AI-driven processes.
Custom AI Models: Discover how to leverage FME to build personalized AI models using your data. Whether it’s populating a model with local data for added security or integrating public AI tools, find out how FME facilitates a versatile and secure approach to AI.
We’ll wrap up with a live Q&A session where you can engage with our experts on your specific use cases, and learn more about optimizing your data workflows with AI.
This webinar is ideal for professionals seeking to harness the power of AI within their data management systems while ensuring high levels of customization and security. Whether you're a novice or an expert, gain actionable insights and strategies to elevate your data processes. Join us to see how FME and AI can revolutionize how you work with data!
Unlock the Future of Search with MongoDB Atlas_ Vector Search Unleashed.pdfMalak Abu Hammad
Discover how MongoDB Atlas and vector search technology can revolutionize your application's search capabilities. This comprehensive presentation covers:
* What is Vector Search?
* Importance and benefits of vector search
* Practical use cases across various industries
* Step-by-step implementation guide
* Live demos with code snippets
* Enhancing LLM capabilities with vector search
* Best practices and optimization strategies
Perfect for developers, AI enthusiasts, and tech leaders. Learn how to leverage MongoDB Atlas to deliver highly relevant, context-aware search results, transforming your data retrieval process. Stay ahead in tech innovation and maximize the potential of your applications.
#MongoDB #VectorSearch #AI #SemanticSearch #TechInnovation #DataScience #LLM #MachineLearning #SearchTechnology
7. A.I. = Artificial Intelligence
Generally
Make computers smart (primary)
Make computers think like humans (secondary)
8. Early A.I.
“Within a generation ... the problem of creating
'artificial intelligence' will substantially be solved.”
- Marvin Minsky
“Machines will be capable, within twenty years, of
doing any work a man can do.”
- Herbert Simon
1967
1965
14. Point 1
AI is about making computers smart.
Game AI is about making computers fun.
Smart is often not fun.
Fun is often not smart.
15. Point 2
Game AI is tightly interwoven with Game Design
AI is the gameplay.
1. AI coders need great design intuition, OR
2. Designers need to be able to code, OR
3. We need great tools for designers to express
behavior
16. Point 3
Game AI benefits from lots and lots of content.
If it looks and moves right, players think it’s smart.
If it looks or moves wrong, players think it’s dumb.
22. Adversaries
Halo 2
Bungie/Microsoft
Pac Man
Namco
Alien: Isolation
The Creative Assembly
23. Adversaries
Workable
Designer and engineer can author and maintain lots of “A.I.
content”.
Coherent
A.I. seems alive
Focused attention, priorities
Transparent
player can explain and interpret actions
player can predict
49. 1 Character
2 Squad
3 Crowd
4 Strategy
5 Societies
6 Player Modeling
7 Procedural Generation
8 Analytics & Big Data
50. Analytics & Big Data
League of Legends
Riot Games
Farmville
Zynga
51. Analytics & Big Data
League of Legends
(Oct 2013)
32.5 Million daily
1.3 Billion hours played
per month
Farmville 2
(Dec 2012)
40 Million Monthly
8 Million Daily
52. Analytics & Big Data
A/B Testing
Log /Transcript Analysis
Population Clustering / Segmentation
etc.
I’m here today to talk about AI. Why is this an interesting to talk about? Because, I’m going to argue, AI is playing a more and more important role in game design and development. Increasingly it is AI that makes great games great!
Here are some of the games I’ve worked on. I’ve worked on some aspect of the AI of all of them. Most recently, I was the project lead on a game called Third Eye Crime (released 5/14 for iOS) that was explicitly designed as an AI-based game.
Recently I started a new company with some ex-Irrational (Bioshock) developers, named The Flame in the Flood.
We’re working on a new game called The Flame in the Flood, which was successfully Kickstarted earlier this year (in November ‘14). This game too has a some very interesting AI behind it. But we’ll get to that presently.
Here’s the agenda for today.
Early AI was characterized by a great interest in common sense and human psychology. Also by great optimism. Quotes like Herbert Simon’s are quite inspirational, until you realize that he said it half a century ago.
What those early AI researchers ran into was what I call the central fundamental truth of AI, which is that the stuff that looks easy turns out to be hard, and the stuff that appears to be hard turns out actually rather easy.
The best illustration of this is this scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Audiences saw this scene and thought to themselves “Wow! That computer is smart, it’s playing chess!”
But in fact even at the time, chess was a well-understood, largely solved problem. What the audience SHOULD have thought was “Wow! That computer is smart! It knows how to understand and speak a natural human language and engage in a conversation!” That’s something we still can’t do. And we’re not particularly close.
What happened to AI, very generally, in the years since that early optimism, is that the field broke up into many many different subfields, as this general, vague notion of “intelligence” got gradually broken down into it’s constituent parts, reflecting the new understanding that “intelligence” is not one monolithic capability, but thousands of tiny ones.
Today, many of the places where the greatest strides are being made are in application areas that make extensive use of what are, at base, statistics techniques. Game AI is not yet making much use of these techniques – but they will!
So what about Game AI?
If we talked about “Game AI” in the early days, we’d be talking about something like Chess. As an extremely discrete game of “complete information” (i.e. no aspect of the state of the game is hidden from either player) Chess leant itself well to the techniques of early AI.
But it didn’t take long to get to Pac Man. I see Pac Man as the beginning of Video Game AI. After all, each of the four ghosts have their own rules for how they chase the player down within the maze. It is the combination of their behaviors that makes the game, and makes it fun. Without the ghosts as hostile NPCs, there would be no gameplay at all.
I’m going to make 3 points about what I think makes game AI unique.
Point 1: whereas traditional AI might be about make computers smart, game AI is about making them fun.
Now smart is often not fun – imagine a chess game that is so good that it never lets you win (no fun!)
Conversely, it is fun to be “not smart”, allowing by design NPCs to make mistakes that the player can learn to recognize and exploit.
Point 2: Game AI is inseparable from Game design. Most of the time, the AI IS the gameplay.
That does lead to questions about who should be the ones on a development team who authors AI, coders or designers?
It remains a point of interesting debate within the industry whether it should be coders with great design sense, designers with coding ability or some sophisticated system or tool that tries to mediate between the two. Reality will ultimately be combination of the three.
Point 3: this is really a point about presentation. The AI has to present well, and express as clearly as possible to the player all the interesting things that are going on beneath the hood, otherwise the AI does not end up feeling like a living thing. Usually this requires a huge amount of content, in the form of lots of animations, lots of dialog, lots of metadata marking up the world, etc.
Ultimately we too face this dilemma.
For us, the form this usually takes is that we end up, on almost any project, spending 90% of our time on the “easy” stuff, the stuff the player will never notice. Things like pathfinding. The essentials of pathfinding have been known for 40 years. So why do we still spend so much time on it? Because our worlds keep getting bigger, more dynamic, and overall more complex. So the bar keeps getting raised.
Where do we actually find AI in games?
The answer is “in all kinds of places.” What I’m going to do in this section of the talk is present a breakdown many of the places where AI can exist in games. And we’re going to go from the small scale to the large. So we start with the AI within a single character.
Even at the character level there is an important distinction to draw, between adversaries and allies.
As in Pac Man, adversarial AI ARE the gameplay. Without their opposition to the player, there would be no game.
When talking about adversarial AI, I often talk about three primary requirements.
Workability: these AI represent in most cases a LOT of content and behavior. So they have to be workable for the AI coders and designers. If behavior or gameplay needs to be tweaked, it needs to be tweakable in a clean way.
Coherence: we’re generally trying to make these NPCs feel alive, and that requires them to have coherent goals, pay attention to the important things that are happening in the world. Observe the right priorities. Avoid “dithering” (quickly flipping back and forth between two options, which looks incredibly robotic and immediately breaks the illusion of life).
Above all transparency: these AI are ultimately GAME MECHANICS, and as game mechanics, we need the player to develop an intuition for the decisions they are making under the hood and why they are making them. And once that intuition is developed the player needs to be able to predict the AI’s decisions: “if I want the AI to do X, that means I should do Y.” That is the “player agency” at the heart of gameplay, that turns “a series of random attempts” into “a series of interesting choices” (Sid Meier’s famous definition of “game”).
Here’s an extreme example of “transparency”. In my game Third Eye Crime, we actually give the player telepathy. The red glow in the video above, represents the AI’s beliefs about where the player is. If you avoid the red glow, you don’t get seen. Thus the AI is extremely transparent – you know, as a player, that it is always going towards the highest concentration of red.
Now, ally AI, or companion AI. This is a hot topic. Two of the most lauded recent companion AIs are from 2013 (Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite and Ellie from Last of Us).
Companions (with only a few notable exceptions) do not represent the core gameplay mechanics of the game, rather they represent the core storytelling mechanic and information- and emotion- and tone-conveyance mechanic. Because the player is often meant to form a relationship with them, they need to be charming, helpful, sympathetic, emotive, and not get in the way. All are incredibly difficult to achieve, and they are as often achieved through great art and appealing character design as through any particularly AI.
The danger of acting stupid is particularly great with companions – it’s one thing if your enemy does something stupid and you get to take advantage of it. It’s another if a character that is meant to be helping you consistently messes up and/or gets in the way, and / or behaves in a non-human manner.
Here’s a scene from Bioshock: Infinite with Elizabeth transitioning smoothly between several tightly- and loosely-scripted sequences.
Level 2 is the squad level: controlling small groups of characters to act as a coordinated team. Typically the hard part here is making decisions and acting as a group while also maintaining the reactivity and coherence of an individual. Kind of like with people, balancing group versus individual needs can be tricky.
Some examples: sports games in which teams have to work together, or military sims, when squads have to maneuver together intelligently.
In the Halo games, squads-level intelligence was controlled through an encounter system, where large-scale battles with tons of guys were choreographed. We would start with some high-level sketches of a space, the major structural pieces and objectives, player approach, fallback points, etc.
We would turn that into a kind of state machine which would shuffle groups of guys around as the player pushed forward through the level.
Here’s an example of a complicated encounter, with tons of fallbacks, reinforcements and last-stands.
With crowds, the first challenge is ensuring visual variety – in the AC screenshot, there’s enough clothing, body-type and body-posture variety to sell the crowd, but not so much variety that it looks ugly or uncohesive.
The second challenge is motion – moving tons of characters around in way that is not a total mess.
At this point, with this number of characters, we are not making decisions at the “individual brain” level, we are solving for large flows, and then dropping the individuals into those flows (with perhaps some local / individual decision-making layered on top).
At the strategy level, we again have untold hundreds or thousands of characters, but now we are concerned with the meta-brain that is coordinating ALL their actions to achieve a goal.
Star Craft II has received a particular amount of attention thanks to the yearly Star Craft AI Competition, in which AIs created by different developer teams are pitted against each other to see which performs the best.
At this level, one of the most important pieces of the AI is the spatial analysis – many of the decisions that these AI have to make center on WHERE resources should be aquired, defenses built, attacks launched, etc. And all of those decisions depend on a good understanding of the space they occupy.
Clear at the “society” level, we simulate not individuals or armies but entire cities or civilizations.
One thing you might note is that in a way, each scale level (character, squad, etc.) needs to solve TO SOME DEGREE each of the levels below it.
Civ is a great example, since there is a warfare/strategy level to the game as well as a great deal of character-level AI imbued in the leaders of the various rival civilizations. Each of those leaders has a perceptible style and personality. Gandhi, for example, loves to drop nukes.
Now, rather than pulling out any further in terms of spatial or temporal scale (you can see how pulling out into, say, the galactic level, is really just the same as the “society” scale) we instead go a little “meta”.
Player modeling is all about watching the player play the game and trying to derive information from that.
In the two cases above for example, the game would observe the player and then try to create an AI that plays just like them. Essentially trying to make a player clone.
My favorite example of this is Left 4 Dead.
In Left 4 Dead, the AI Drama Manager would build an explicit model of “gameplay intensity” for each player (based on very simple game triggers) and then intentionally ramp up intensity until a threshold has been reached. After a short period of time at this level, the intensity would be backed off, giving the player a breather (but also adding a new tension, a tension of anticipation, to the mix).
The other super ultra hot topic right now is procedural generation. This coincides especially well with the rise of the indie gaming scene, as it is a (presumably) cost-effective way for a small team to produce an expansive world.
(Yes, Minecraft is usually discussed in the context of USER-generated content, but remember that before the player starts to do anything, the beautiful and explorable world first has to be generated).
Our game, The Flame in the Flood, takes place on a PCG river. Here’s a video we made about that process.
Now the real holy grail is procedurally generated stories. No one has cracked this nut yet. Some of the most compelling attempts (such as Façade and Versu, above) have involved combining proceduralism with human-authored story fragments.
Now maybe the most important kind of AI of all.
Never thought I’d see a slide with League of Legends and Farmville on it. You can’t get further away on the hardcore-to-casual spectrum. But what they do have in common is (a) they’re social and (b) they generate untold terabytes of gameplay data.
These numbers are staggering. These games are REALLY popular.
We don’t know exactly what they are doing with all the data they are generating and collecting, but we can make some guesses.
I like coming into work and having radically different types of challenges every day.
I think League of Legends and Farmville represent the future of games. We should all make sure we know our “linear regression” from our “principle components” if we want to contribute to games in the next decade!