AI in games

[Ansur]

Maybe this isn't the perfect place for putting this topic, but I'm looking for some help on a more theoretical aspect of AI.

I'm in a group that is presenting AI in games. My part is to explain the varieties of learning.
Now, I've seen this theoretically, but I can't think of a way to describe this using games.

Here's a snippit from a site I found :

Central to the process of learning, is the adaptation of behaviour in order to improve performance. Fundamentally, there are two methods of achieving this -- directly (changing behaviour by testing modifications to it), and indirectly (making alterations to certain aspects of behaviour based on observations). There are positive and negative sides to each, but direct adaptation does have the advantage of not limiting behaviour, which means that ultimately, a better goal may be achievable.

Could anyone enlighten me on this?
Ity doesn't need to be in function of Half-Life², just something to get me going. A link to a site with more of this might help as well!

 

[botman]

Generally learning in games is handled through Neural Networks (or NNs).

If you search on google.com for "neural networks games" you'll get tons of info.

botman

 

[Ansur]

Or I'm bad at googling, or I'm not really getting the result I'm looking for (which kinda is the same ).
I'm only getting games sa. backgammon, while I'm kinda looking for more 'real' games sa. RTS and FPS games.

E.g for our learning agent topic, we demonstrate that with Black and White.

Now, the way I'm seeing these direct & indirect thing (could be totally wrong, mind you):

direct learning: computer shoots with tanks at marines, sees they're not getting killed the way they're supposed to (fast) so starts making gattling guns. If that doesn't work, he'll try flamethrowers or whatever.

indirect learning: don't see it

Just to make it clear, I'm not asking you guys to my 'homework'. AI is not a course for me, so what I've learned from it is what I got from the internet. Although I find it amazingly interesting, I don't have the time to go deeper into this subject (for now).

 

[kenyo]

if you are interested in AI games arnt the best!
they are many corp's that are reasearching it!
and games probly got the least progress on the advancment of AI
tri google searching the word AI in stead of NNs witch is AI for games!

 

[SLH]

Search for something like 'finite state machine game'

EDIT: The first link searching in google (using above words):

http://ai-depot.com/FiniteStateMachines/FSM-Framework.html

It talks about the AI stuff in Quake and gives a simple example.

P.S. charactors in games generally don't have AI, unless they actually learn. Usually it's driven by a FSM. i.e. in a given state the computer decides what to do next based on the environment/game map etc. around it. These states, and transitions are hard-coded. True AI would be where the computer plays crap to begin with, not knowing what enemies are bad, or how to throw grenades properly etc. then gradually getting better.

Something like a RTS is generally more complex that a FPS, because in a FPS all you need to worry about is not getting hurt, and hurting others. In a RTS you've got to think more in the long term, managing resources, attacking weak points, knowing when to defend, and with what etc...

 

[SLH]

Sorry, i mis-read the question and went off on a bit of a tangent. Still, most of what i said is pretty useful i guess.

 

[Ansur]

Indeed it is, though atm not relative to the work I've to do
I'm gonna try, however, once I get a holiday, to read more about this subject. Its unbelievably interesting!