There have been several papers and articles written about using games for research. I am interested in this too, and so far it looks like Unreal Tournament is the most flexible - it is object oriented, it comes with an editor, neat things can be done with their mutators, etc.

Check out this site that has info, documentation, and source code. This was (is) a project called Gamebots by USC.

mmhh, i think unreal code was some kind of script language ... i rather stick to HL and write C/C++ code :D

@$3.1415rin

It''s nice to see the feedback Thanks guys !

Anonymous : I wonder about Unreal Tournament for a while, too. I havent been able to see the scripting engine, though.
Tribes 2 is mostly script based, too, so I think I would rather stick with it.

ALexjc : You see the problem of using an already used engine is the fact that you have to stick with the already existing underlying structure of the environment (the map format, if you prefer).
My problem is that I like the Tribes 2 engine levels... wide open spaces and few buildings. Stuff you cant really do properly in most BSP based games... unless you do some major modifying which means you need access to the graphic engine. And that''s something I dont really want to go near, if I can avoid it.
I havent totally dropped the idea of making my project basically a MOD. But I am not just sure yet

core : Mmmmh... my problem is that I dont like the Quake 2 engine that much If I was a genius programmer, I''d say "No problem", I''ll jsut recode the beast. But honestly I am not there yet ...

but you guys have any other ideas, let me know.

Any one heard about this Game AI wisdom book coming out soon ?



Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

Yeah - nearly all of the non speed critical code in UT is written in ''Unreal Script'' (only the core engine stuff is written in C - to keep those frame rates nice and crispy)- unless you want to learn a new syntax id stick with C++!

I remember an article at Gamasutra which was mainly about planning attacks and stuff for bots, can''t remember too much about it though.

I haven''t tried it, but I''ve heard that the scripting in Flashpoint is quite good. Although that might just be for level design and not actual game mechanics.

You might want to check BlitzBasic as well, I haven''t tried it or DarkBasic, but they seem to be in a similar vein.

And have you seen the articles at www.ai-depot.com? (I think the link is right), there are some good ones there which might help.

Trying is the first step towards failure.

UT''s UnrealScript is somethign along the lines of a Java Hybrid, fairly easy to get up to speed on the syntax. It woudldn''t be a bad thing to at least look into. It''s very versatile and you already have their scripts to learn from.

quote: Original post by ahw
It''s nice to see the feedback Thanks guys !

Honestly the gang made a ton of great suggestions. I stand by my original claim that the best testbeds for such things as you describe remain the various FPS SDKs, though the recent release of the Quake II code is a powerful attractor too. Of course if you think their code is convuluted (and it is) then stay away from it; you''ve got enough to do just building your AI!

quote:
Any one heard about this Game AI wisdom book coming out soon ?

Indeed I have since I did one of the chatpers . It''s pretty neat I think; you can find out more at either my site or at the AI Wisdom site, as you wish. The book is slated to be released in time for GDC.




Ferretman

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