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Author Topic:   A solution to AC Shortcommings?

Mostly_UOP posted 03-11-99 03:52 PM ET
After reading this forum, my conclusion is that that majority of gripes are concerned with the "stupid" algorithms for the teraformers, city governors, faction interaction, and military units (excluding complaints about crashes). If AC follows the route of most game development, these algorithms will never be improved. The orginal designers are onto new projects, and the support staff is trying to eliminate bugs. Has there ever been a game that improved the A.I. after the product shipped?
My suggestion is to restucture the code so that each of the auto-control modules calls a DLL that implements the "next action" algorithm. The DLL source for the current algorithm will be available, plus a description of all paramters. For a language I would suggest C++.
The AC community could then modify the source to implement their prefered approach. The revised DLLs would then be posted so others would be able to "upgrade" AC. The ideal would be to have DLLs for most modules, so that other gripes could be solved, e.g. unit appearance. Each of the new DLLs would receive a rating based on evaluations of other users.
I know this will never happen, but I can dream, can't I?

Utrecht posted 03-11-99 03:59 PM ET
Actually, this has been discussed for CTP. I do not knwo if this will happen or not.
The problem with this is that it exposes one of the most propriety aspects of a game engine to competitors and to pirates.
But yes, it would be a great thing. Mabye we can have the AC equivelant of the Turing Prize.
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Author	Topic: A solution to AC Shortcommings?
Mostly_UOP	posted 03-11-99 03:52 PM ET After reading this forum, my conclusion is that that majority of gripes are concerned with the "stupid" algorithms for the teraformers, city governors, faction interaction, and military units (excluding complaints about crashes). If AC follows the route of most game development, these algorithms will never be improved. The orginal designers are onto new projects, and the support staff is trying to eliminate bugs. Has there ever been a game that improved the A.I. after the product shipped? My suggestion is to restucture the code so that each of the auto-control modules calls a DLL that implements the "next action" algorithm. The DLL source for the current algorithm will be available, plus a description of all paramters. For a language I would suggest C++. The AC community could then modify the source to implement their prefered approach. The revised DLLs would then be posted so others would be able to "upgrade" AC. The ideal would be to have DLLs for most modules, so that other gripes could be solved, e.g. unit appearance. Each of the new DLLs would receive a rating based on evaluations of other users. I know this will never happen, but I can dream, can't I?
Utrecht	posted 03-11-99 03:59 PM ET Actually, this has been discussed for CTP. I do not knwo if this will happen or not. The problem with this is that it exposes one of the most propriety aspects of a game engine to competitors and to pirates. But yes, it would be a great thing. Mabye we can have the AC equivelant of the Turing Prize.