Advanced SIKS-course on AI for Games


INTRODUCTION
On October 05 and 06 2009 the School for Information and Knowledge Systems
(SIKS) will organize an advanced course on AI for Games ". The course
takes two days, will be given in English and is part of the so called
Advanced Components Stage of the Educational Program for SIKS-Ph.D.
Students. Although these courses are primarily intended for
SIKS-Ph.D.Students, other participants are not excluded. However, their
number of
passes will be restricted and depends on the number of students taking the
course. The course is given by experienced lecturers actively involved in
the research areas related to the topics of the course.

The course focuses on advanced AI-techniques in modern video games. It is
based on the book "Artificial Intelligence for Games" written by Ian
Millington (2006). However, it is not required to purchase the book.

Especially Phd-students working on the SIKS-foci "Computational
Intelligence" and "Agent Systems" are strongly encouraged to participate.

LOCATION: The Open University in Eindhoven

COURSE DIRECTOR: Dr. P. Spronck (OU/UvT)

PROGRAM

Day 1:

10:00-12:00 (15 minutes break included): Decision making in games.
Topics:
- Complexity fallacy
- Heuristics and cheats
- Decision trees
- State machines
- Fuzzy logic
- Markov systems
- Goal-oriented behaviour
- Rule-based systems
- Blackboard systems
- Scripting

12:15-13:00 NWScript.
Introduction to the programming language NWScript and practicum requirements.

13:00-14:00 Lunch.

14:00-18:00 Practicum.

The practicum-assignment mimics a battleground in World of Warcraft,
programmed in Neverwinter Nights. Students are asked to collaborate in
small groups (2, 3 or 4) using the programming language NWScript, which is
sufficiently powerful to implement all techniques that were taught in the
morning session.


Day 2:

10:00-10:45 Tactics and strategies
Topics:
- Waypoint tactics
- Tactical movement
- Tactical analyses
- Influence maps
- Group decisions and cooperation

11:00-11:45 Learning in games.
Topics:
- Parameter modification
- Hillclimbing
- Annealing
- N-grams
- Decision tree learning
- Reinforcement learning
- Dynamic scripting

12:00-12:45 Practicum

13:00-14:00 Lunch.

14:00-16:45 Practicum.

17:00-18:00 Tournament.
Two teams of students compete in 5 minute sessions. All teams combat each
other. Points gained in the 5-minute sessions are added and the team with
the highest total score wins the tournament. The winning team will be
asked to give a short presentation, revealing the chosen strategy and
tactics.

REGISTRATION:

In the conference center there is a limited number of places and there is
interest from other groups in the topic as well. Therefore, an early
registration is required. For registration, please send an e-mail to
office@siks.nl and inform Mrs. Corine Jolles that you want to participate.
You may also inform her on your dietary needs.

Deadline for registration for SIKS-Ph.D.-students: September 28 2009

After that date, applications to participate will be honoured in a
first-come first-serve manner. Of course, applications to participate from
other interested groups are welcome already. They will receive a
notification whether they can participate as soon as possible.