Category: Academia (Page 3 of 4)

In reading over the ridiculously overhyped gamer’s manifesto from last week, Jamie points out what I failed to, which is that people think they want realistic AI, but they really don’t. His quote:

One of the reasons we make game AI stupid is not always lack of processor power but often because a smarter AI would school our players too deeply and they’d turn to simpler games. Look at chess – we’ve got some great AI there, so great nobody wants to play against the computer. Stealth games would be another example: if the security in a stealth game actually was decent, playing these games would become an exercise in frustration instead of an exercise in feeling like a kick-ass ninja commando.

Yep. It is ridiculously easy to write an AI that will kill you instantly.* And you may think you want a world where every guard in the complex converges on you if you trip an alarm, but in reality, you don’t. It is actually a much larger challenge to write an AI that doesn’t pwn on demand, but still appears intelligent. Continue reading

For those who found the original Tetris just too complicated, I present: Tetris 1D!! (Thanks, Idlenews)

There’s an interesting commentary here about the constant battle between the hardcore gamers who tend to make hardcore games for themselves, and the marketing people who want to make the game as braindead as possible, and would also like to package a collectable drool cup in the box as well. Continue reading