Game/AI

Game AI U?

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:33:05 -0800

I was catching up on the activity on this blog not long ago, and I read through the awesome thread that Adam started on Industry/Academic collaboration, and it occurred to me that I’ve never seen discussed here one of our industry’s biggest recent trends: the rise of the game schools – the Digipens, the Full Sails, the DeVrys. Even many of the standard 4-year schools are now offering full Game Design and Game Development degrees, or at the very least courses in these areas. Bungie had a recruiting booth at GDC this year – first time we’ve done it – and I think we were all surprised by the number of students coming out of such programs.

I was particularly surprised by the number of visitors we had who cited AI as their main focus of interest. The point was driven home at the AI programmers dinner when one of the Full Sail guys said something to me like “… and of course, everyone wants to do graphics or AI, those are the sexy fields…” Wow, really? When did THAT happen?

Slides and Further Thoughts on Building Better Battles

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:15:21 -0800

We finally got the slides for my GDC talk up on-line in a format other than the ultra-elitist powerpoint 2007:

http://www.bungie.net/images/Inside/publications/presentations/betterbattle.zip

That ZIP file contains a .ppt and .pdf, so take your pick. Unfortunately you get EITHER the correct fonts (pdf) or the correct animations (.ppt) but not both!

In the meantime, I thought I would take this opportunity to give a little more background on the development of the Objectives System.

What Didja See at GDC?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:24:56 -0800

I missed GDC this year, so I'm curious to hear from others about AI-related talks and/or demos. There were a few talks that sounded interesting -- Richard Evans on The Sims 3, Soren Johnson on Civilization, Damian Isla on Halo 3. Please post your thoughts on AI at GDC here, along with any relevant URLs.

Farewell to The Professor

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:51:51 -0800

Before we return to AI-related topics, I'd like to add a few more words regarding Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Tim Schafer for his kind words regarding Mark.

Second, I'd like to announce that the Retro Studios engineering team has organized a task force to finish Mark's book, Real-Time Cameras, along with the generous assistance of Mark DeLoura and Akintunde Omitowoju.

Thirdly, we said farewell to Mark last Friday in a very moving ceremony, and I'd like to repost some of what was said here.

Mark's wife Melanie asked me to say a few words:

I’m deeply grateful for having been able to know Mark as a colleague and as a friend.

When I think of Mark, I will always think of him as a man who gave of himself.

Mark gave us his time, his unstoppable energy, and his boundless enthusiasm. He gave to us from his endless knowledge and his rich imagination -- sometimes more than we could handle, always more than we deserved. He gave to us his deep and genuine warmth, which came from a heart even bigger than his extraordinary intellect. Mark gave us three games that will always be remembered, one book that will change our industry, and countless memories of a great friend. He gave us more than we could ever hope to repay.

Mark never acted out of ambition or self-interest. He gave of himself, and he gave because he had a vision for Retro and for the industry. He gave because of that vision, out of a genuine desire to help move all of us forward to that better place.

I offer my condolences to Mark’s family. I offer my condolences to everyone who considered Mark a friend. But I especially offer my condolences to those in our industry who never had the opportunity to work with Mark, to learn from him, and to know him as a friend, and will never know what they have missed.

Mark Haigh-Hutchinson and Real-Time Cameras

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:52:09 -0800

I need to take a moment to discuss the news about my friend and colleague Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

Mark was not only one of the finest engineers I have ever had the honor and privilege to work with, but one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever known.

Although the IGN article I linked to above is accurate, it is also incomplete – Mark did much more than the camera systems. If you've ever played Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and wondered who it was that created the player control and Wiimote aiming systems that received so much praise: you’re looking at him.

Call for Papers: AIIDE'08

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:06:00 -0800

AIIDE'08: The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence
and Interactive Digital Entertainment
October 22-24, 2008
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Submissions deadlines:
Papers and Industry Track abstracts due April 22, 2008
Extended abstracts for demonstrations due May 6, 2008

AIIDE'08 - the Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment - is intended to be the definitive point of interaction between entertainment software developers interested in AI and academic and industrial AI researchers. AIIDE'08 will include invited speakers, research and industry presentations, project demonstrations, and product exhibits. While traditionally emphasizing commercial computer and video games, we invite researchers and developers to share their insights and cutting-edge results on all topics at the interface of entertainment and artificial intelligence, including serious games, entertainment robotics, and beyond. AIIDE'08 is sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

(more below...)

Thoughts on Industry / Academic collaboration

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:39:12 -0800

I've just arrived home from a trip to London today to attend the kick-off meeting for the UK's EPSRC-funded AI / Games Research Network which is set to run for the next three years. As I came in my fiance asked me "How did it go? Was it nice?" and I struggled to express my feelings on the whole occasion.

Bungie A.I. podcast

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:28:04 -0800

I missed this one in August, but just stumbled across this Bungie podcast interviewing Peruvian A.I. wiz Damian Isla about Halo 2&3 A.I. It's a good listen.

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12705

The Halo series gets a lot of attention for it's multiplayer, but this podcast highlights the huge challenges faced in developing the single player campaign -- lots of characters on-screen at once strategically using a variety of equipment and vehicles, and even running around on moving platforms. No small feat.

Slow Cooking at The Restaurant

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:10:06 -0800

Congrats to both Paul and Damian for recently shipping blockbuster titles garnering well deserved critical praise (Metroid and Halo respectively). Hopefully we will hear some juicy tidbits about their AI technologies here soon (especially from Damian who created this blog!)

As the deadline for IGF2008 passes, I have to confess that the next installment of The Restaurant Game will not be "shipping" quite yet. I still have work to do to automate conversational characters from the captured gameplay data, and would like to collect even more data in the mean time. I'm aiming for IGF2009, but I'll only promise to get it out before DNF. I've documented my progress so far at analyzing the data in the form of a Masters Thesis.

To date over 7,500 unique players have completed 6,762 games (including NPR Science Friday's Ira Flatow). Data is still trickling in, and we're inching our way to 10,000 games. Thank you to those who have played. Apologies for the delay -- I just don't want to serve anything that's undercooked. I owe you all a free dessert.

-Jeff

Congratulations, Jonathan!

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:16:37 -0800

Apparently Jonathan Schaeffer, host of the annual AIIDE Conference (which I've unfortunately been too busy to attend for the last few years, despite serving in the Program Committee), has beaten checkers (addendum: you can read more about Chinook, or play it yourself, by clicking on this link).

Holy cow, that's awesome!

Congrats, Jonathan!

It's been a bit quiet around here lately ... I'm hoping to be able to contribute a bit more regularly once I'm done with some stuff I've been working on.

The Restaurant Game v1.9 Universal Binary

Fri, 25 May 2007 12:09:33 -0800

The Mac community has been greatly supportive of The Restaurant Game research project at the MIT Media Lab. As a show of gratitude, we have released Version 1.9 as a Universal Binary, allowing Intel Mac users to participate for the first time. There are also bug fixes and lighting improvements on all platforms.

To date, over 4,200 people have logged in, and we have collected data from 3,946 games. If everyone who reads this plays a couple times, we'll hit our goal of 10,000 games in no time!

If you would like to help raise awareness of this project, please click the Digg and Delicious links at the top of the project page: http://theRestaurantGame.net

And share the Trailer Video on YouTube.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this project!
-Jeff

AIIDE '07 - June 6-8

Tue, 22 May 2007 07:22:03 -0800

Hi all,

Just wanted to post an announcement about an upcoming game AI conference. Hope to see you there!
Rob

AIIDE '07 - Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment
June 6-8, 2007, Stanford University

www.aiide.org

The Third Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment Conference will be held June 6–8, 2007 at Stanford University, Stanford, California. AIIDE is the premier conference on artificial intelligence in computer games and interactive entertainment. It brings together technical leaders to examine how computer games can be improved using AI technologies, and to promote new approaches and commercial developments.

This year's program includes invited talks from acclaimed game developers and researchers, and numerous presentations about emerging developments in entertainment AI.

Invited Talks:

- Bruce Blumberg - Blue Fang Games
- Wolff Dobson and John Funge - AiLive
- Quinn Dunki - Pandemic Studios
- Richard Evans - Maxis / Electronic Arts
- Chris Hecker - Maxis / Electronic Arts
- Soren Johnson - Firaxis Games
- Peter Molyneux - Lionhead Studios
- Ken Perlin - New York University
- Neil Young - Electronic Arts Los Angeles
- and Chris Bateman - International Hobo

There will also be a full conference technical program with two paper tracks -- Research and Published Games, a workshop on Optimizing Player Satisfaction, and a lively poster/demonstration session.

For more information please consult the following pages:

Announcement page: http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AIIDE/aiide07.php
Conference program: https://www.aaai.org/Library/AIIDE/aiide07contents.php
Preliminary schedule: http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AIIDE/2007/aiide07schedule.php
Registration: https://www.aaai.org/Forms/aiide-registration-form.html

ICAPS 2007 Workshop on Planning in Games

Tue, 08 May 2007 05:19:33 -0800

Anyone interested in developing AI Planning Systems for games should consider a trip to Rhode Island this September for a workshop at the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling.

Call for Papers: ICAPS 2007 Workshop on Planning in Games
http://www.plg.inf.uc3m.es/icaps-pg2007
Providence, Rhode Island, USA, September 23, 2007

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2007

It Takes a Village

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:09:10 -0800

I can't make it to GDC this year, but I'd like to reach that audience to recruit more players to The Restaurant Game. I'm going to try a little viral marketing to aid my effort to reach the goal of capturing 1,000 gameplay sessions.

If you're going to GDC, and want to support the cause, print out a few copies of this flier and drop them in strategic locations -- near free stuff, near food, etc. Dropping some near the Independent Games Festival is probably a good idea too.

http://theRestaurantGame.net/restaurant_game_flyer.doc

I sincerely thank the 155 people who have played so far. Keep playing, and don't forget to Digg it, it's del.icio.us.

http://theRestaurantGame.net

The Restaurant is Open for Business, 24-7

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:36:49 -0800

Servers tests are complete, and The Restaurant Game is officially open for business around the clock. The servers will continue running for the next few months. You will find partners online most easily during peak dining hours of 7-9pm in your preferred time zone, but you are welcome to play any other time as well.

I will begin posting daily project stats on the web page soon. (How many games have been played, by how many players, etc).

Digg the Restuarant, it's del.icio.us. Help me spread the word about the project by clicking on the Digg and del.icio.us icons on the top of the Restaurant Game web page: http://theRestaurantGame.net