Transcript Next-Gen Content Creation for Next-Gen AI Damián Isla Moonshot Games The Photoshop of AI Debate Structure vs.

Next-Gen Content Creation for
Next-Gen AI
2
Damián Isla
Moonshot Games
The Photoshop of AI Debate
Structure vs. Style –Hecker, GDC 2008
Photoshop of AI – Hecker, Rabin, Isla, Reynolds,
Pfiefer, GDC 2009
Next-Gen Content Creation for Next-Gen AI – Isla,
FDG 2009
The Photoshop of AI Debate – Mateas, AIIDE 2009
Style vs. Structure
For “hard interactive problems”, there are
representations that are both
(a) Computationally tractable
(b) Expressively parameterizable
E.g. bitmaps, the texture-mapped triangle
AI Content Creation
Can there exist a style/structure breakdown
that makes a Photoshop of AI possible?
What’s the best way to author AI content for
games?
(And who does the authoring?)
(And what the hell is “AI Content” anyway?)
?!
“A small studio making
downloadable games with triple-A
production values and technology.”
The Starting Point
The central competency of Game AI is
expressive power for the behavior author,
not “intelligence”
“Intelligence” is only useful insofar as
 It enables gameplay
 It supports the fiction
 It makes the game more fun
The Problem
AI is HARD
 Technically complex
 Highly interconnected
 Impossible to test
 Culturally awkward
The Problem
Designer
Engineer
Fundamentally not
in a position to fully
specify all funrelevant behavior
Fundamentally not
responsible for fun
2 Solutions
1. Need a new breed of engineering-competent
designers or design-sensitive engineers
(Michael Mateas)
2. Need better authoring paradigms, a
“Photoshop of AI”
(Chris Hecker)
The Photoshop of AI
Photoshop of AI = WYSIWIG AI
Why are we so very, very far from WYSIWIG?
What does WYSIWIG even mean?
Wisdom from Douglas Adams
AI is a 5-dimensional
problem
How do you
 Visualize
 Explore
 Specify
that entire space?
AI Content Creation
How do we currently author AI content
for games?
AI Content Creation
AI is HARD
 Technically complex
 Highly interconnected
 Impossible to test
 Culturally awkward
The path of least
resistance:
“do it in code”
AI Content Creation
Everything
in code
Everything
in data
STATE OF THE ART
Disclaimer
Two things I’m not going to talk about
 Genre-specific AI
 RTS, FPS, racing, etc.
 The Periphery
 Don’t deal with the 5D problem
 Don’t suffer from a lack of expressive control
The State of the Art
Imperative
when A happens, do B
x 10,000
hide
idle
Our old friend, the FSM
fight
search
hide
cover
grenade
fight
melee
shoot
root
uncover
search
pursue
idle
sleep
Managing Complexity in the Halo 2 AI (GDC 05)
BT Editor Prototype, Alex Champandard, AIGameDev.com
misBeHavinG BT Editor, Michael Dawe, Big Huge Games
The State of the Art
Declarative
“I’ll describe what can be done, and
then you take care of the details.”
The Sims, EA/Maxis
Halo 3: Building a Better Battle (GDC 08)
Halo 3: Building a Better Battle (GDC 08)
F.E.A.R., Jeff Orkin, Monolith Productions
F.E.A.R., Jeff Orkin, Monolith Productions
SPIROPS A.I.
SO WHERE IS THE PHOTOSHOP
OF AI?
Where is the PSOAI?
One thing we can say:
It will be some form of off-line learning.
(If it is possible at all)
Where is the PSOAI?
Two possibilities:
 Behavior Capture
 Cooperative / Expert-system / Virtual actor /
Reinforcement-learning AI Extravaganza
AC Game Recording Viewer, Artificial Contender, TruSoft
AC Knowledge Viewer, Artificial Contender, TruSoft
The Restaurant Game, Jeff Orkin, MIT Media Lab
http://theRestaurantGame.net
Behavior Capture
Pros:
 Leverage the data-mining revolution
 Potentially no custom interface at all?
Questions:
 Iteration time
 Tweakability
 Transparency
 Are we learning the right things?
 Are we learning the deep structure?
The State of the Art
Cooperative / Expert-system / Virtual
actor / Reinforcement-learning AI
Extravaganza!
?
?
"If you know your
character's
thoughts, the
proper vocal and
bodily expressions
will naturally
follow."
"All action on
the stage must
have an inner
justification, be
logical,
coherent, and
real."
Constantin Stanislavski
(1863-1938)
Method Acting
Designer
Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. You should have run
away screaming right there.
AI
Really? What, because of the grenade?
Method Acting
Designer
No, no, because of the kitten.
AI
Huh. So I’m afraid of kittens?
Designer
Yes.
Method Acting
AI
So would you say I’m more afraid of kittens or of
water?
Designer
Well, I hadn’t thought of it, but … yeah, I would say
you’re more afraid of kittens.
AI
Alright. Let’s go again!
Cooperative AI
 Medical Expert Systems
 Mycin
 CALO/IRIS
 Clippy
2 Solutions
1. Need a new breed of engineering-competent
designers or design-sensitive engineers
(Michael Mateas)
2. Need better authoring paradigms, a
“Photoshop of AI”
(Chris Hecker)
2 Solutions
With Reservations:




It will be a form of coding
But we need more powerful representations
The tension between design and engineering is a
useful and necessary one.
Behavior specification will (and should) be done by
designers*
* where “designer” is defined as the person responsible
for making the game fun.
Thanks
Alex Champandard, AiGameDev.com
Petra Champandard-Pail, AiGameDev.com
Michael Dawe, Big Huge Games
Brett Laming, Rockstar Leeds
Steve Mariotti, Nihilistic Software
Michael Mateas, UC Santa Cruz
Jeff Orkin, MIT Media Lab / Monolith Productions
Brian Schwab, SCEA
Bungie Studios