[FVG]: Robot AI

[Mike Ciance]

a lot to discuss here, some topics for starters:

-should we give the robots AI at all, or just have it be all-human?

-should we program one global AI, or have several different one-dimensional strategies that are determined randomly at the beginning of the match? (ex. just herd balls, just hang, just push opponants)

-should we have difficulty levels?

-should we increase the AI opponants' HP accuracy to compensate for possibly low AI?

-should we go as far as trying to make two allied AI robots work together in one strategy?


feel free to post anything else that should be discussed

[Nastay]

I vote yes, it would give the game a single player mode, but it would be hard to creat an AI that would react to the things being done on the other side of the field, this would be a REAL AI, not a probability thing that the human player may become.
Not only would you have to creat a way for them to interact, you would have to code for each robot's unique features, various methods of getting to the bar, getting the ball.... It would be a challenge, but it would be real cool to have it work.

[JoeXIII'007]

Yes, we should have robot AI. Keep it simple though. You can have many strategic AI settings that can be used on any robot, but keep each one simple. In other words, several 1D strategies.
Yes, difficulty levels are very necessary.
Yes, there should be increasing AI opponet HP accuracy.
No, we shouldn't go as far as making two AI bots work together in one strategy.

[Mike Ciance]

I think a good setup would be to have a few layers to this:

what we do is start with a base strategy. there can be tons of stuff in this, such as blocking other bots, pushing goals, etc. from that, strategic details will branch off into basic robot categories, based on their combinations of capabilities. (ex. all robots who only hang would be grouped together at this level, as well as robots that can hang and herd, robots that catch balls as they drop, and so on). when a robot goes to do a function, only then will the programming be specific to that robot. it will take from data how the robot achieves that particular action and performs it.

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by afflictionblade

-should we give the robots AI at all, or just have it be all-human?

Yes, we need to have AI, for single player matches, especially since network might not be up for a while.

Originally Posted by afflictionblade

-should we program one global AI, or have several different one-dimensional strategies that are determined randomly at the beginning of the match? (ex. just herd balls, just hang, just push opponants)

Well, it depends on the robot what you can do, so it has to be variable in some way. Maybe in the robot descriptor, there can be something which indicates what functions it perfoms, IE hang, herd... The AI could select one to do and go with that.

Originally Posted by affictionblade

-should we have difficulty levels?

Hm... Maybe. What do you think they'd effect, exactly? Maybe it could just make the AI slower at reacting/making decisions.

Originally Posted by afflictionblade

-should we increase the AI opponants' HP accuracy to compensate for possibly low AI?

Sure.

Originally Posted by afflictionblade

-should we go as far as trying to make two allied AI robots work together in one strategy?

Hard, but eventually. (I hope)

[Mike Ciance]

Originally Posted by Texan

Hm... Maybe. What do you think they'd effect, exactly?

easy - AI would be slow and HPs would be innacurate

medium - AI would be a faster and HP AI would be as accurate as those provided for the humans

hard - AI would be full-force, with slightly altered stats to assist. HPs would be very accurate

"Gracious Professional" - opponents would have unrealistic stat boosts (like in the kickoff videos) and HPs would be 100% accurate

[Astronouth7303]

My vote is to put the AI in the robot file. A bin would not take a capping strategy, while a herder won't hang. The robot file presents a configuration, and configures it self. the only thing the app does is tell it to use the AI.

The requirement is that, of course, it must honor user modes. (one thought is to have the AI feed the app Joystick info, and have the app filter that and maybe send it to the robot)

[Mike Ciance]

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

My vote is to put the AI in the robot file. A bin would not take a capping strategy, while a herder won't hang. The robot file presents a configuration, and configures it self. the only thing the app does is tell it to use the AI.

The requirement is that, of course, it must honor user modes. (one thought is to have the AI feed the app Joystick info, and have the app filter that and maybe send it to the robot)

well, we can still use much of the same code for similar robots