Video Games With Acclaimed AI
- Creatures (1996-)
Creatures is an artificial life program where the user "hatches" small furry animals and teaches them how to behave. These "Norms" can talk, feed themselves, and protect themselves against vicious creatures. It's the first popular application of machine learning into an interactive simulation. Neural networks are used by the creatures to learn what to do. The game is regarded as a breakthrough in alife research, which aims to model the behavior of creatures interacting with their environment.
- Half-Life series (1998-)
A sci-fi first-person shooter featuring Dr. Gordon Freeman. The cut scenes are entirely interactive. A combination of scripting and AI is used to avoid interrupting the gameplay (i.e. you can use the crowbar to destroy things while being told what to do next). An AI security guard accompanies the player through some levels early in game. Squad AI is used effectively for the first time in the latter stages of the game. Despite not using any revolutionary technology, the AI is very well tweaked and integrated smoothly into the storyline.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999)
- Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999)
- Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
A first-person shooter where the player assumes the role of the Master Chief, battling various aliens on foot or in vehicles. Enemies use cover very wisely, and employ suppressive fire and grenades. The squad situation affects the individuals, so certain enemies flee when their leader dies. A lot of attention is paid to the little details, with enemies notably throwing back grenades or team-members responding to you bothering them. The underlying "behavior tree" technology has become very popular in the games industry (especially since Halo 2).
- F.E.A.R. (2005)
A first-person shooter where the player helps contain supernatural phenomenon and, naturally, armies of cloned soldiers. The AI uses a planner to generate context-sensitive behaviors, the first time in a mainstream game. This technology used as a reference for many studios still today. The enemies are capable of using the environment very cleverly, finding cover behind tables, tipping bookshelves, opening doors, crashing through windows, and so on. Squad tactics are used to great effect. The enemies perform flanking maneuvers, use suppression fire, etc.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series (2007-)
- Far Cry 2 (2008)
Read more about this topic: Game Artificial Intelligence
Famous quotes containing the words video games, video and/or games:
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)
“In 1600 the specialization of games and pastimes did not extend beyond infancy; after the age of three or four it decreased and disappeared. From then on the child played the same games as the adult, either with other children or with adults. . . . Conversely, adults used to play games which today only children play.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)