Yes you can use Markov Chains to model the stochastic transition functions. The general name for the approach is the Markov Decision Problem.

Timkin

quote: Original post by mojo pin
...I''m hoping for something a little more unpredictable than "If Player A has possession of the puck, then Player B should try to check him." I think "Player A is a ''good'' shooter, and Goalie B is a ''bad'' goalie, so Defenseman C should challenge Player A."

I''m confused about your intent. I understand you are trying to avoid predictability. You don''t like the first rule (above), but do you like the second one? Regardless, both of these could be written using fuzzy definitions, and it may enhance the game, but fuzzy systems are not, per se, unpredictable. This may be an academic point, but: while it may enhance the game play, fuzzy logic is entirely deterministic.

Team sports games are an excellent genre to experiment with all sorts of AI techniques. However, if this is your first attempt at such a game I''d recommend using a hierarchical FSM/blackboard based architecture as a platform from which to experiment with other methods. Once you have a basic framework it will be a simple matter for you to ‘plug in’ the more esoteric techniques.

To get decent behavior your agents will have to communicate with each other so it’s essential this capability is built into your design. Take your time and put a lot of thought into this aspect because it is the key to creating good looking team play.

I’d advise you to forget about fuzzy logic until you have these basics in place. After all, using FL in the way you suggest is only really going to hone the gameplay, it''s not going to make a dramatic amount of difference to the overall behavior of the agents.

As far as speed is concerned, don’t worry about it. If you are developing this game to run on a modern PC you’ve got oodles of CPU cycles to play with. That’s partly what makes designing the AI for games like this such fun. You can go wild with all those crazy, CPU hungry ideas you might have.


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