Think Tank

Games typically consist of some sort of competition between opponents. Computer games have suffered from insufficiently intelligent opponents since their early development. As computing power has increased over the years games have grown bigger and their graphics better but most computer opponents still use very simplistic behaviour models. Think Tank was a brief investigation into artificial intelligence techniques and their suitability for controlling opponents.

Mix and Match sets a variety of preprogrammed simulated tanks against each other. A classifier system is used to compare the world which each tank perceives against a set of internal rules. Subsequent battles are between descendants of the winning tanks.

Stop part way through development there is.

CopyCat is a one-on-one battle between human and computer players. Starting with a untrained neural network the computer observes its rivals behaviour and attempts to mimic winning strategies.

Other ideas which were considered include.

Golems only do what they are told but by using statecharts this behaviour can be view and modified dynamically giving rise to very complex interactions.

Turing visits a more traditional area with explicit instruction equivalent to those found in any computer. In a similar way to Tierra these vehicles produce offspring and only the of these can fittest survive.