A new direction!

Hmm, so its been a while since my last post here, and i guess almost everything has changed in this time. Up till just recently I had been focussing my reading on Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithm's primarily. This research has proved rather fruitless when it comes settling on a research question, and since this is the whole point of the semester I have been getting rather stressed out with the whole topic.

Well i decided to just leave the subject alone completely for some time, and just take a little break. During this time I've been working on the other work to be completed this term. I've got my Networking assignment due in on the 19th just a couple of days after the proposal is due in. As well as these 2 incomming deadlines, I also have the Networking exam and the Games Professional Awareness exam + essay to work on. Can I cry now ? I can tell this next month is going to be a hectic one with MANY sleepless nights. Anyways back to the topic at hand...

When i decided to come back to the project, I thought about the sort of games that interest me, and potential issues I think could be improved. So this got me thinking about some of my favourite games over the past years. While having played such a huge variety of different games and genres over the years, one of my undeniable favourites has definitely been the Real Time Strategy (RTS) genre - including games from the Warcraft and Command and Conquer series'. But one thing that always annoyed me about these games was the crude way in which the enemy units traversed the terrains. Or the way in which the units would always seem to know where to travel and the shortest routes in advance. While this method is probably the most simple and effective from the perspective of the coder, it is does not serve to make the units seem smart. Mat Buckland states "“If the player believes the agent he’s playing against is intelligent, then it is intelligent”. So in terms of making the games more interesting and enjoyable improving on this crude path finding would be a great place to work on. More updates soon !

DON'T PANIC!!!111

I really have to question my sense of humour when i start to use lines from "Dad's Army" for an entry title, but oh well I guess nobody is perfect.

But seriously the proposal presentations are on Monday and I still have no firm idea of what my research question will be and what exactly I want to do (hence the panic). My idea's are mainly focused on the Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithm's i spoke of some time back, but I am very concerned about the feasibility of producing an application that utilises these techniques efficiently within the time frame. Dr Ozveren has said many times in the lectures this year that one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to their honours project, is that they attempt to undertake too much, and from my ideas I can definitely see that being an issue with my work.

At this minute I'm not really sure what to do, there is only so much reading I can do into a subject without settling on a field or topic in which to conduct my research this year. Ah well, even if the presentations are looming, I guess i still have a lot of time before the proposal itself is due :/ Back to the reading for me.

Recent Research and Reading.

It has been some days now since my last entry. During this time I have been reading up on various topics in the field of AI, looking for inspiration on the specifics for the upcoming proposal presentation /panic. There are a few different fields that have taken my interest. These include, but are not fully limited to:

Artificial Neural Networks (ANN):
For those who are unaware the study of Artificial Neural Networks involves the simulation of a biological brain electronically. This is achieved by using simple processing elements known as neurons connected together to exhibit complex global behaviour. The behaviour produced are the results of various inputs to the neurons, which are then multiplied by a pre-determined variable weight to produce a value within the neuron. If this produced value is above or below a certain value, then the nueron will either output, or remain passive.

Click here for a simple starter tutorial on the subject of artificial neural networks.

Genetic Algorithms:
For those who are not sure about Genetic Algorithms... welcome to the club. Seriously though, they seem very complicated from my intial research into the field, and the closest thing that has brought me to a decent understanding is another short tutorial found here

Anyways, its way past my bed time and i feel like a zombie, more inc soon.

Just had my first meeting and....

... It could have definitely gone better. Listening to some of the other guys ideas, I can tell their ideas are a whole lot focused than my own so far, and that I haven't done any where near the same amount of background reading or research. This is definitely something that needs to be worked on straight away.

Dr King had some interesting comments about my initial idea of a tactical AI that I hadn't thought about. He suggested maybe simplifying the scope of my research as my initial ideas cover so many broad subjects within the field of AI, but also to make the AI somewhat dynamic. What is meant by this, is that the AI is not so much set in its actions or routines, but that these can be altered through different stimuli. Another interesting thought was to have the decision making involved use a personality model in some way. Like to have the units vary in aggression or hostility throughout the level depending on what they encounter.

All in all the meeting was a very good eye opener, as I now believe that I have been far too complacent recently about the scale of this task at hand, so at least this will help me to focus on what needs to be done instead of all the fun ideas I have been having.

New week, New Month - First Project meeting inc!

Well its Monday and its the start of a new week (duh). My project supervisor for the Honours project this year will be Dr David King, with our first meeting taking place this Wednesday. Unfortunately its going to be a group meeting which, I don't really enjoy, but i guess it has to be done. I have been thinking some over the exact direction of my project and I still haven't decided on an exact course as of yet, hopefully this upcoming meeting will help focus my thoughts some.

Anyways a brief update, I sent my second worksheet off to Brian Morgan last week, and got that back with annotations, which i then forwarded on to Dr King, so we will see on Wednesday what he has to say about my ideas.