CS 330 Midterm 1

What are heuristics?

"A heuristic is a rule of thumb, an approximate solution that might work in many situations but is unlikely to work in all."[Millington, 2019], p. 23 "A heuristic is a process that produces an approximate solution."

What is an algorithm?

"A set of instructions that can be mechanically executed in a finite amount of time to solve some problem." [Gersting, 2014] "A sequence of operations that tells you what to do at each step, depending on what the outcome of the previous step was."[Goldstein, 2005] "An ordered set of unambiguous, executable steps that define a terminating activity." [Brookshear, 2000] For AI specifically: "Algorithms are step-by-step processes that generate a solution to an AI problem." [Millington, 2019], p. 14

What is a character?

A character (in game AI) is a simulated person or entity in a game whose behavior is controlled by the AI.

What is the Golden Rule of AI?

Both encoded knowledge and/or extensive computation can be used, as needed for the application. More knowledge → less computation and vice versa.

What is the importance of behavior changes?

Changes to character behavior more "noticeable" that continuing or repeating character behavior.

What is the perception window?

Character AI and behavior complexity should be scaled to the duration and role of the character in the game. It considers the following three things: *Amount of time the character is "on screen." *What the player can know about the character's situation. *Purpose of the character within the game's narrative.

What is the AI engine?

Consistent technical platform (code base) for AI development. Low level code (e.g., path finding, movement control) shared among characters and games.

What is the game engine?

Consistent technical platform (code base) for game development. Low level code (e.g., operating system interface, visual model processing) shared among games.

What does the tactics and strategy module in AI do?

Coordinate multiple characters. Provide guidance or specifics to decision making and movement.

What does the physics module do (not AI)?

Detailed physics-based simulation of certain actions or events.

What is the engineering of AI?

Developing methods for computers to perform tasks previously thought to require human intelligence What intelligent tasks can computers be programmed to perform? Game AI goals are closest to engineering.

What does the decision making module in AI do?

Given overall plan (strategy) and current situation (input), decide what to do next.

What are sensor models (not AI)?

Information about virtual world that character could be aware of. Based on world database and models of characters' senses or sensor capabilities

What does the world data base do (not AI)?

Information about virtual world used by AI modules. May be static or dynamic, e.g., fixed terrain vs. current vehicle locations. May be "representative" or "algorithmic", e.g., building and trees vs. route planning graph

What are the general hardware considerations for virtual reality?

Intent of VR is to immerse player in 3D virtual world. May also detect and interpret player motion. Requires separate image for each eye (to get 3D)and high frame rate (to avoid motion sickness). Specialized devices, e.g., Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. "Tiny proportion of the game market."

What was the symbolic era of AI like?

Knowledge base + reasoning algorithm = intelligence.

An algorithm must be what?

Mechanically executable, unambiguous, terminating, and correct.

What are communications models (not AI)?

Messages between characters.

What are the general hardware considerations for mobile?

Mobile gaming platforms increasingly prevalent. Primarily Apple iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android. For game development, both use C and C++ for "low level"; for "high-level" Apples encourages Swift, Android Java. Game engines (Unreal and Unity) support mobile platforms. Game development practices moving from low-level platform-specific to high-level cross-platform using game engines. Increasing power(processor, memory)of mobile platforms means same AI algorithms can be used for PCs, consoles, and mobile devices.

What is the lowest level of AI in game AI framework?

Movement. It tends to overlap with animation.

What are the general hardware considerations for personal computers?

PC hardware varies widely from machine to machine. Amount of computational power available to AI unpredictable. AI developers often assume minimum specification machine. AI for secondary (incidental, ambient) characters scaled. AI for main character(s) not scaled.

What are some tasks computers are bad at?

Recognizing faces Understanding natural language Creating new ideas

Character AI is assembled from what?

Repertoire of AI algorithms and character behaviors potentially useful for multiple characters or classes of characters. Scripts or decision logic that select and invoke them. "Mark ups" embedded in world database to assist AI, e.g., waypoints or object metadata.

What are the two types of character AI editors?

Rule-based: textual, resemble program code. Symbolic: graphical symbols for conditions and state machines

What is SIMD (Single instruction, multiple data)?

Same code executing for multiple characters concurrently, operating on different character-specific data. Pro: Improved performance on machines with SIMD support. Con: May require substantial code restructuring.

What is the illusion of intelligence?

Simple AI or even pre-scripted behavior can appear intelligent in the context of the game.

What are the general hardware considerations for consoles?

Specific hardware configuration known to developer. AI processor and memory budgets known and fixed. Hardware specific optimizations possible (unlike PC). Development (on PC) to testing (on console) transfer difficult. Console designs optimized for graphics, can be restrictive to AI.

What is a frame?

A single update of the screen image.

A program is an implementation of what?

An algorithm.

What are some tasks computers are good at?

Arithmetic Sorting and searching Games requiring logic (chess) Games requiring large databases (Jeopardy!)

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability for computers to perform some of the "thinking" tasks normally thought to require human intelligence.

What is the complexity fallacy?

Assumption that complex AI → better characters and gameplay. Complex AI can produce bad characters and gameplay

What were the early dats of AI like?

Automating tasks that required humans.

What are the three important factors of behavior changes?

Behavior changes more noticeable than steady behavior. Behavior changes should occur at expected moments. Untriggered behavior changes suggest bad or unfair AI.

What is the natural computing/statistical era of AI like?

Biologically-inspired algorithms, like neural networks.

What does the movement module in AI do??

Transform decisions into motion.

What are the general hardware considerations for augmented reality?

Transparent display with computer-generated graphics overlaid onto visible real-world. Standard display with computer-generated graphics overlaid overlaid on camera images of real-world.

What is the psychology of AI?

Understanding how human mental processes work. How do humans actually think?

What is the philosophy of AI?

Understanding the nature of thought and intelligence What can, in principle, be known or even thought?

What is frame processing?

Visibly moving characters and objects may need their location and orientation recalculated for each frame. Action games ~30-50 frames per second (fps)

What does the animation module do (not AI)?

Visual rendering of character actions selected by decision making.