Strategies for real-time video games

Abstract

Abstract Game developers spend a large portion of their time developing and tweaking the artificial intelligence in video games. Problems related to productivity in the development of AI have been solved using various modeling techniques in the field of AI, language design and easier to use editors. Using a domain specific language to assist in describing AI can increase productivity in this area. In addition to this, game developers can be relieved from irrelevant tasks such as worrying about performance, correctness of the implementation, memory management and optimization data structures and focus on the high level description of the game play. In this thesis, we focus on real-time video games and we investigate the development of a domain-specific language containing the necessary elements to describe and execute strategies to achieve goals in a real-time video game. We develop a domain-specific language to express strategies for computer controlled actors using techniques commonly found in embedded domain-specific languages, and in particular embedded domain- specific languages in Haskell. To demonstrate this language we have developed a prototype of a real-time strategy game that uses strategies implemented using the domain-specific language developed in this thesis.