AI and Gameplay

1
AI and Gameplay

• Introduction

2
Introduction

• What do we mean by AI?
• What components make up a typical game AI?
• How do the components interact?
• How does the AI interact with the rest of the
  game?
• How to make games fun.

3
What do we mean by AI?

• Artificial vs Synthetic Intelligence
• Video Games use a different definition of AI
• AI is the group of components that control the
  objects in the game.
• The AI is the heart of the game, and has the most
  influence on how much fun the game is.

4
What components make up a typical game AI?

• World representation
• Game control
• Physics
• Animation
• Camera

5
World Representation

• The AI needs to keep track of all of the objects
  in the game
• A simple example
• We can represent a tic-tac-toe board as a two
  dimensional array of characters
• A slightly less simple example
• A Pong game consists of the coordinates of the
  ball, and the positions of the paddles, as well
  as the locations of the walls

6
World Representation

• Environment
• Hockey rink, goals, boards, lines, etc.
• Snowboarding terrain, trees, jumps, lifts, etc.
• First Person Shooter (eg. Quake) walls, bridges,
  lava pits, etc.
• Props
• Swinging Blades
• Power Ups

7
World Representation

• Non Player Characters (NPCs)
• Enemies
• Monsters
• Your teammates
• The princess

8
Game Flow Control

• The AI is responsible for managing the flow of
  the game. For example, in a sports game, the AI
  controls the clock, and ends periods at
  appropriate times.

9
Physics

• Most games need some system to detect when two
  objects are colliding, and some way to resolve
  that collision.
• This is typically referred to as Physics,
  although a physics system can be considerably
  more complex.

10
Animation

• A typical video game will have fairly complex
  animation applied to the characters. Its the
  AIs job to control these animations.

11
Camera
12
Component Interaction
13
Interaction with the rest of the game
14
Tuning is Critical

• If you cant control the behaviour, you cant
  make it fun.