Overview   
   

Overview

Research internship I

A comparison of tools for cognitive modelling and their potential application in game engines

In the field of cognitive psychology models are created for describing human behaviour. I will compare a different set of tools, more specifically pyAct-R and SOAR, and research if they can be used to model the behavior of characters in video games. Furthermore I will look into the currently available tools for modelling behavior in game-engines. To conclude I will try and find out if these can be brought together.


Current status

Currently I have done a lot of reading on the working of Act-R and Soar, both cognitive modelling tools. I have found examples where both of them are used in a game development context. The goal now is to implement something basic myself as a proof of concept. On the other hand, I should start researching existing game engines (the examples used one from about 10 years ago) to see what the possibilities of integrating my own tools are. The goal is still: provide an easier way to model the behavior of NPC's. As it is now, it still has to be programmed, even though the use of act-r or soar greatly simplifies the code.

Research internship II

In my first Research Internship I started from the artificial intelligence world and worked towards creating models of human behavior using cognitive psychology. In research internship 2 I will do the opposite. Starting from the modelling world, I will work towards creating a transformation language to describe behavior in games. Once I have researched the possibilities and created a proof of concept, I will compare this with the work done in my first research internship. These two internships will then form the basis for my thesis.

Thesis

Rule-Based Generation of NPC Behaviour

In contemporary computer games the behavior of Non-Player Characters can become very complex. Specifying this behavior in code is hard and inefficient. In my thesis I will try to specify this kind of behavior in a rule based manner. You can follow my progress in the Research section. An overview of the meetings with prof. van Vangheluwe detailing the progress of this project can be found under Meetings

Overview of research
Maintained by Kevin Wyckmans. Last Modified: 2012/07/19 21:57:00.