First Screenshot

Here is a screen shot of the map generator spoken about yesterday, it doesn't look like much yet, but its a start.

Hi there, remember me ?

Hmm, well its been a couple of months since I last wrote here. I've spent most of the last 2 months back home in Glasgow for personal reasons, and well its really played havoc with my plans, and my schedule.

Anyways with the project work I finally got started on the application last week, I'm using the OpenGL application and coding it in C++. For a starting point I have used one of the starting Nehe lessons from here specifically lesson no.6 for those interested.

The first thing that i have started to work on is the map generator. My initial idea is to have a map with all the tiles (aside from the starting and ending tiles) being randomly assigned. Each tile will be either green (grass), yellow (dessert), red(danger) and brown (mountains), with varying penalties assigned to each tile or travel costs.

So far I have managed to code a generator that creates an 80x80 size board of tiles that are each individually textured. The chose texture is randomly generated from choice of 2 (huge variety i know, but its the principle that is important) textures. This definitely forms the basis of my project but at the minute EVERYTHING is included into one C file, as the code is done on the Nehe tutorials. This is not acceptable for me, so i think before I advance too much coding into the map generator I will have to sit down and work on building a proper framework to complete this project under.

Hi, Happy New Year !

Well just got back into Fundee for the start of 2009, well rested from the holiday with a much needed break. Classes don't start back for another week which is a blessing in disguise as I was under the impression that they would start back this week, so I get another week of long lie ins :p

OMG OMG OMG!

Ok deadlines are tomorrow, It's also my birthday tomorrow and I'm meant to have friend coming up to stay from Londong to visit me, but seriously I haven't had a chance to worry about that as such.

This week I've already done 2 exams which i think went pretty dam good. So now all that is left is to reread my proposal and GPA essay's that are now pretty much complete. With regards to the networking the application is all done and dusted with the exception of the Dead Reckoning, gonna work on that through today and possibly tonight to get that implemented then update and finish off my report.

I'm tired, I'm cranky, I can't remember the last night i got a full nights sleep without my head spinning with ideas on what to write or what to code in the networking application. But It's almost done, one more day then i can go out and probably fall asleep within the first hour of my birthday celebrations with exhaustion. Back to work for me, soon its done.

Quick Update

Just had my meeting with Dr King and he seems fairly happy with the idea about the topic, and he seems to agree that it could make for some interesting research. He was a little unsure of what I was actually hoping to achieve at first, but after some discussion we had that cleared up so I'm confident this will lead to a successful proposal and project!

He had a couple of pieces of advice for me. He suggested that i try not to use the word personality in the research question as this is a very broad term, that will encompass so much more than what I am actually going to work on, so we decided that "behaviour types" would be a more appropriate wording for the research question.

• "What is the feasibility of further optimising current AI path finding techniques in an unknown landscape through the‭ ‬implementation of distinct behaviours types?"

So this is the final question that I have settled on, now what is left to be done is to put my research and reading into the proposal document.

Deadlines WTH!

Ok they are closing in all around me it seems, Networking / Games Professional Awareness and the Project proposal are all due in on the 19th (thanks Dr Ozveren :p) of December, which also happens to be my birthday. Something tells me that will be a fun evening :D

But back to the tasks at hand, been struggling a bit with my networking application, whilst working on the proposal somewhat. Haven't yet started on the GPA essay, have decided to prioritise the other pieces of work ahead of that one, for now.

Well finally ! I have settled on a research question for my proposal ! Wohoo !

• "What is the feasibility of further optimising current AI path finding techniques in an unknown landscape through the‭ ‬implementation of distinct personalities‭?"

The biggest advance i have made is the decision to focus on pathfinding in an unknown landscape. This is quite a leap from the usual path finding algorithms and decisions that units have to make. Normally the path for any given unit is pre-determined when its journey begins, the difference being when the unit is not fully aware of the terrain in front of it the path it undertakes will be constantly be changing depending on what the agent encounters on its way.

Now the theory behind this is when we apply this to enemy unit path finding AI, is that it makes for a much more believable and intelligent experience for the player. Now this type of research has already been undertaken to some extent, by a Professor A. Stentz in his paper on "Optimal and Efficient Path Planning for Unknown and Dynamic Environments" written in 1993.

The focus of my research will be to extend upong this pathfinding in unknown landscapes, but to also implement personalities to the agents to alter their individual path finding calculations in an effort to further optimise the travel time from the start node, to the destination zone.

Anyways I have another meeting scheduled for this Wednesday with Dr King, so I am eager to hear his ideas on the topic and focus.

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 !