A Question of Character: Rules to Play By

Artificial Intelligence and Computer Games

Volume

Papers from the 1999 AAAI Spring Symposium

Contents

Almost every type of computer game has some sort of AI scripting language which enables level designers to script a story arc for a mission or game level and to provide personalities and individual responses to different characters in a game. And whether the "characters" in a game are 3D polygonal virtual actors the player explicitly interacts with or virtual generals who direct massive armies but are never themselves seen, the goal of the AI is to make the characters come to life. Many scripting languages in games have some serious problems in speed or ease of use. Thus, we created a character management system we call the CCA (Character Control Architecture) and an efficient and easy to use rules system we call the IIIE (Ian’s Improved Inference Engine) for an unshipped 3D action~adventure title, Planetfall 2: The Other Side of Floyd. The system was designed for maximal extensibility and flexibility, and currently we are using the CCA and IIIE for controlling the mission scripting and tactical ship Al for a 3D Real-Time Strategy game (RTS)