tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802729663053057372.post6874676443020481462..comments2023-04-06T05:09:09.918-07:00Comments on The Ponderous Pixel: What do we want from our AI?Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03807160366853341640noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802729663053057372.post-66233699700646235612012-10-19T19:28:00.180-07:002012-10-19T19:28:00.180-07:00The thing is, though, that these games do often re...The thing is, though, that these games do often revolve around the character. Why is the red koopa patrolling if not to keep Mario out? Sure, maybe it's the smith's job to sell equipment to people other than the Dragonborn, but if he tells you to piss off because he's got another 9,997 swords to make for Ulfric Stormcloak you're going to have to figure out something to do while you wait. The key is to make a world that feels believable while still having that world be tailored to your experience. I think an important part of that might be to keep you from thinking about it too hard sometimes...Solomonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03807160366853341640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802729663053057372.post-66972472841941263732012-10-19T11:24:23.914-07:002012-10-19T11:24:23.914-07:00This is my favorite post of yours so far. How to m...This is my favorite post of yours so far. How to make "good" AI is a tangled, knotty question that probably has no answers. Nonetheless, it is (to state the obvious) phenomenally important. <br /><br />It reminds me of the 1979 classic on artificial intelligence -- Godel, Escher, Bach -- written by Douglas Hofstadter. In it, Hofstadter investigates the means by which simple components, collectively, accumulate "awareness" through capacities for self-reference. I don't want to oversimplify (or spoil) his very elegant writing, but I think there it contains a huge insight which is routinely overlooked in games.<br /><br />Artificial intelligence, bluntly written, makes characters "do the right thing" in certain circumstances. Zerg AI knows its early build order, any FPS baddy worth his salt will strafe and run when you're shooting at him, and maybe if we're lucky, Skyrim's residents will know to acknowledge our undress. Each of these if-then conditions is important to drawing a good AI, but each above action, also, feels dumb, and obviously scripted.<br /><br />More elegant AI, to continue the acting analogy from the blog post, is not primarily driven by a script, but by a set of motivations. "Good AI" has purpose, in addition to a toolbox of actions. This is a little abstract, but here are a couple of examples: a major problem, I am convinced, with NPCs everywhere, is that they have no self-defined reason to be. As a result, if the "shop guy" is only there to sell you new swords, nothing else you do in relation to him has particular relevance -- unless the designer has coded conditional responses. This makes the game experience get meta, and quick. On the other hand, consider those pesky ghosts from Pac-Man. They may be dumb as hell, but damned if they don't know what they want.<br /><br />Think again of "patrolling" enemies, like red troopas from SMB. Although they are also simple, their straightforward coding gives them simple motivations: stay on this ledge. They're purpose is to guard. <br /><br />This is not to slight the massive efforts and skill required to make even passingly believable humans in triple-A titles. It isn't easy to instill purpose into characters who, ultimately, exist just to be a) shot, b) observed, c) talked to, or d) milked for information. But the problem is, if they don't have something else to do, the whole facade falls away. When NPCs exist only "for" the PC, they are computers. When they have desires, they are characters.Eli Blood-Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17788766961308272848noreply@blogger.com