Using Nodes to Develop Strategies for Combat with Multiple Enemies

Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Entertainment I

Volume

Papers from the 2001 AAAI Spring Symposium

Contents

Nodes (or waypoints) are commonly used in computer games for the navigation of computer controlled characters (also known as non-player characters or NPCs). The following paper demonstrates how these nodes can also be used to develop combat strategies for NPCs that engage in combat with multiple enemies. By storing data about node relationships in a bit string class, tactical information about locations in the environment can efficiently calculated and exploited by NPCs.