A Love StoryArtificial Intelligence in Video Games

Damián Isla, Co-Founder / Tech / The Molasses Flood

Today

What is [Game] A.I.?

Plus: A Couple Fundamental Truths

Where does A.I. Live?

Further Thoughts

WHAT IS [GAME] A.I.?

A.I. = Artificial Intelligence

Generally

Make computers smart (primary)

Make computers think like humans (secondary)

Early A.I.

“Within a generation ... the problem of creating 'artificial intelligence' will substantially be solved.”

- Marvin Minsky

“Machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do.”

- Herbert Simon

1967

1965

Fundamental Truth:

The hard stuff is easy, and the easy stuff is hard

Today AI

VisionRobotics / Control

Machine Learning

Data Mining

NLP

Planning

Applied Statistics

But What is Game A.I.?

Point 1

AI is about making computers smart.

Game AI is about making computers fun.

Smart is often not fun.

Fun is often not smart.

Point 2

Game AI is tightly interwoven with Game Design

AI is the gameplay.

1. AI coders need great design intuition, OR2. Designers need to be able to code, OR3. We need great tools for designers to express

behavior

Point 3

Game AI benefits from lots and lots of content.

If it looks and moves right, players think it’s smart.

If it looks or moves wrong, players think it’s dumb.

Fundamental Truth:

The hard stuff is easy, and the easy stuff is hard

Fundamental Truth:

90% of the effort is spent on the “easy” stuff.

WHERE DOES A.I. LIVE?

1 Character

Adversaries

Halo 2Bungie/Microsoft

Pac ManNamco

Alien: IsolationThe Creative Assembly

Adversaries

Workable Designer and engineer can author and maintain lots of “A.I.

content”.

Coherent A.I. seems alive Focused attention, priorities

Transparent player can explain and interpret actions player can predict

ThirdEyeCrimeMoonshot Games

http://youtu.be/BdH3eC_ZfIs

Companions

Half-Life 2Valve

Bioshock: InfiniteIrrational Games / 2K

Last Of UsNaughty Dog

Bioshock: InfiniteIrrational Games / 2K

http://youtu.be/2viudg2jsE8?t=10m46s

1 Character

2 Squad

Squads

FIFA 13EA Sports

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s HighwayGearbox

Player Approach

Generator 1 Generator 2

Player Approach

Generator 1 Generator 2

Halo 3Bungie/Microsoft

http://youtu.be/vMvbiqkAxO4

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

Crowds

Assassin’s Creed: UnityUbisoft

Grand Theft Auto VRockstar Games

Crowds

Aggregate Dynamics for Dense Crowd SimulationNarain et al. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

http://youtu.be/pqBSNAOsMDc

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

4 Strategy

Strategy

Total War: Rome IIIntroversion

StarCraft IIBlizzard

Strategy

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

4 Strategy

5 Societies

Societies

SimCity 2013Maxis / EA

Civilization VFiraxis

Societies

Civilization IVFiraxis

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

4 Strategy

6 Player Modeling

5 Societies

Player Modeling

Forza 5Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft

This is FootballSony

Player Modeling

Player Modeling

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

4 Strategy

6 Player Modeling

5 Societies

7 Procedural Generation

Procedural Generation

MinecraftMojang

No Man’s SkyHello Games

The Flame in the FloodThe Molasses Flood

http://youtu.be/SwSUpFovMTg

Procedural Narrative

<Versu>

FaçadeMichael Mateas and Andrew Stern

VersuLittle Text People

1 Character

2 Squad

3 Crowd

4 Strategy

6 Player Modeling

5 Societies

8 Analytics & Big Data

7 Procedural Generation

Analytics & Big Data

League of LegendsRiot Games

FarmvilleZynga

Analytics & Big Data

League of Legends (Oct 2013)

32.5 Million daily

1.3 Billion hours played per month

Farmville 2 (Dec 2012)

40 Million Monthly

8 Million Daily

Analytics & Big Data

A/B Testing

Log /Transcript Analysis

Population Clustering / Segmentation

etc.

CONCLUSIONS

Why I Do This

AI is Applied Research

Wide variety of challenges

Central to the player experience

History Repeats Itself

Game AI is recapitulating Academic AI

The Field is Fragmenting

Incorporating more statistical techniques

Questions?

Damian Isla@damian_isla