Mappers in the Real World
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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by ReNo on Wed Nov 9th at 1:36pm 2005


I'm going to be using one of the common game AI techniques, such as some form of finite state machine or perhaps one of the slightly newer approaches such as motivational graphs or fuzzy cognitive maps. My current "favourite" would be a subsumption architecture, which has each character being driven by multiple, concurrently active FSMs, with the lowest level one controlling low level behaviour (eg. taking a step forward, jumping, etc...) and higher ones covering increasingly complex behaviour (eg. walk to the table, buy a drink, etc...). My concern is that having such a system in place might prove a bit too expensive if you are dealing with hundreds of characters at a time. I'll have to investigate optimisation techniques, the balance of behavioural complexity, number of characters and performance, and so on. I also plan on having controls that let the player (not that it is going to be a "game") turn on or off various behavioural traits (eg. rules or states in the character behaviour) to see the effect they have on the believability of the scene, and the performance.

I won't be having any sort of learning; given that I'm researching AI for BACKGROUND characters in games, the resources that are realistically going to be allocated to it in a game (in terms of memory and CPU time) are very low. Learning would be almost entirely wasted on characters that serve no real purpose other than to make an environment more believable.






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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by Underdog on Wed Nov 9th at 1:37pm 2005


? quoting Addicted to Morphine
In my opinion, I don't think you should censor yourself because of particular instances in which you felt your opinions were belittled.

Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep because you didn't feel inclined to share your reasoning, but I think this forum (like any other) would die for lack of dialogue if everyone followed your lead.

Since you broke your reply in half, I suppose I should answer it in kind:

1) Its not censorship exactly. More a kind of self imposed moderatorship. Threads that become personal because the other parties involved do not really know how to converse on any other type of level can go dangerously wrong. Look around you. People here are passionate about many topics. However, very few of them can post without imposing some sort of an attacking stance. They most probably do not see themselves in any such light, but its there none the less. Think about this for a moment and you may understand my view on this. Many times people here have said to me "How can you focus on the words WRONG and be so insulted?" I have noticed that other people focus on other words like yesterday when I typed the word "Stupid". I see this as the same issue, people focusing on key words. Many here do not I am sure. The point is, we all do it, yet very few actually comprehend why. Whats worse is when someone is assaulted for doing this action while others are allowed to continue unimpeded. If I can avoid an occurance by not participating then I will do so gladly. If someone doesn't see my lack of participating as correct then they need to ask themselves why, not me since its obviously their viewpoint that now is the main concern.

2) What makes you think that a kind of action of that nature isn't already in evident? Sorry to make #2 so short but its actually not my problem and since you brought it up I feel its your place to post reasons why, or why not.

In the end, as long as a dialog such as you and I are currently having can feel safe, I doubt few would avoid it if they found the topic interesting enough. Sadly, many here do not know how to keep a conversation going forward. They either become hostile in some way, no matter how minute it may be or the people just stop posting in that thread. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/sad.gif">




There is no history until something happens, then there is.



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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by Addicted to Morphine on Wed Nov 9th at 1:53pm 2005


I thought my reply was complete and fully formed.

1. Sure, there are some instances where dialogue has degenerated and stagnated, but I keep posting anyway.

2. People definitely still speak their mind and give their reasons for their opinions here. Look at ReNo for example, he just offered several points for why he thought consoles were a valid gaming platform. I don't know if I ever come across as brusque (I don't know, it's hard to look outside myself and see if I am or not) but I'm pretty sure every opinion I have, I have reasons for it and I'm not afraid to share. As long as I can express my thought process and lay out my position, I think there can be dialogue. I think many people on this website do the same thing. Sure, there may be a few of us here that make strong statements without an explanation, but if they were asked I bet they would be able to offer some reasoning for their opinions.






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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by Underdog on Wed Nov 9th at 2:02pm 2005


Yes but sometimes opinions go beyond words. Not that we have that many earth shattering discussions that would cause everyone to go brain numb but a few of us have not the give of gab when it comes to self expression.

Another point of interest, what if that someone hates confrontation? In todays politically correct mindset anything can go astray. Again, take my word "Stupid"

I use that word casually. Is no more intrusive than someone saying "Dude" all the time yet I know several people who will get violent if you use dude in a sentence with them in it. like "Dude your car has a flat tire" To them the word is offensive. I do not know exactly how, but its there none the less.

Forums that encompass the world should make allowances for casual words. I should not use the word thats true, but on the same note, no one should be so upset by it as to allow it to effect their replies when posting either. Unless of course I had specifically say "Reno you stupid s**t, consoles are for ..."

As I said, I think its stupid to eat cold cereal for breakfast when you could have eggs and bacon. Its not meant as offensive, its just how I view the topic.




There is no history until something happens, then there is.



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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by Captain P on Wed Nov 9th at 2:38pm 2005


AI is cool stuff yeah. I had to do a Sudoku-solver too and a Logigram-solver as well. Now we're busy with building AI for a board-game called Pente, at the end of the period we're going to put our AI's against each other to see who built the best AI.
Definitely one of the more interesting courses in this study. It was originally a 4th year course, I'm 2nd years now, but it's now also introduced in the 2nd year. Funny thing is, I'm doing the 4th years course together with 2 schoolmates so we can skip the 2nd year part of it. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">






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Re: Mappers in the Real World
Posted by ReNo on Wed Nov 9th at 3:01pm 2005


I guess it mostly breaks down to definition of words - something we've stumbled on in the past at the snarkpit. "Stupid" by definition (or at least by the one I subscribe to) means lack of intelligence, and when an object is described as stupid I normally take that to mean the idea of the object makes little sense. Going by this I find it very hard to understand how consoles could be described as "stupid" - but then that is, I guess, not what you meant. Or maybe it is. Argh I don't care any more <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">







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