AI Game Development: Synthetic Creatures with Learning and Reactive Behaviors

Key Topics

• Foundations in Scripting

• Scripted Weapon Selection

• Evaluation

The previous chapters prepared the way for a preliminary implementation by analyzing the platform, defining (providing an understanding of) the problem, and providing a specification to interact with the world. The first prototype performs weapon selection using a voting system, implemented in a scripting language.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• An overview of scripting languages, from a very high-level point of view. The focus is drawn to the advantages of scripting as an essential tool in our reactive architectures, complementing the generic AI techniques discussed throughout this book. This discussion covers typical features of scripting environments, the languages, and how scripts can be considered as other components in the AI system.

• The principles behind voting systems, notably how they can achieve weapon selection. A script is used to implement the voting system.

• An evaluation of the system, and a description of the experimentation procedure used to set up the voting system in practice. Some of the problems with adjusting votes are resolved by suggesting a learning approach.

At the end of this chapter, the strengths and weaknesses with scripted voting systems will be more obvious, particularly as a solution to weapon selection. Analysis points in the direction of hybrid approaches, including a learning component, will be discussed. But first, let's take a deeper look at scripting languages in game AI.