The Universal AI Starter Kit

#181 @Twisted,
I am looking at a project where I will need AI and have some specific questions about your kit:

1. Can AI actions be added?
2. Can AI actions be limited by AI class type? ie Only drivers can drive vehicles or certain AI can use rocket launchers.
3. Can AI be completely configured from script? This is paramount.
4. What is the practical limit for the number of AI in one simulation? Obviously this is dependent upon machine, but I was hoping for a rough number.
5. Can the AI find an enemy inside a structure on another level? Not necessary, but would make the sim more interesting.
6. Can the AI dynamically switch to path finding for areas that require traversing a specific path? Like a bridge across a ravine.
7. Is the AI state based to where they can only perform one action at a time? Like running away, attacking, hiding. Or can they perform a mixture of such actions?

I am looking for an AI solution that allows for somewhat complex solutions and the ability to define sequences of actions and add those to the action pool the AI can draw from. I am also looking to limit AI to classifications for abilities and actions. The interface for my sim will be completely hands off. No user interaction at all for parts of it. So being able to control everything from script is a must.

Everything I have seen in the videos looks promising. Good work!

#182 1+2. The UAISK behavior system is fairly versatile, in order to get a better idea of your first two questions, I'd recommend looking at the instructions here. One thing that I want to point out is that the kit is designed primarily for game development and I made it specifically for people who are looking for an easy and practical AI solution for their projects. So for instance, the way that I would give certain bots a rocket launcher is to just equip them with that weapon, as opposed to another weapon and to make sure I don't give it to bots that I don't want to have it. There's no need to make an entirely new class for that.

3. Yes, this is one of the strong suites of the kit; it is all script based.

4. It's not only dependant on the hardware limitations, but also the art that you are using as well as what else is going on in your game (physics simulations, etc.). Quite often the thing that limits the number of AI that I use in my game and demos is Torque itself (due to networking overhead and class inheritances). In fact due to all of these factors, and the wild variation between these aspects; it's my policy that if anyone gives you a solid number, they're lying to you. However, the second video from the bottom was meant to demonstrate that the kit can handle a fair amount of bots running around at once.

5. As I mentioned earlier, I tend to take the approach of practical game design with the kit. For the most part, the bots are designed to seek out and follow the player and other bots. Of course this means that they have to see the enemy first. So it depends on what you mean by "find an enemy inside a structure on another level".

6. For more detailed information about the kit's navigation system, check out this blog.

7. The short answer is no, but actually whether or not the AI can perform multiple actions at once has nothing to do with it being state based or not. You could just make a state that is designed to perform multiple actions at once, since actions aren't necessarily dependant on states.

Although I'm still not entirely sure what you want to do, I think I can say that you will almost certainly need to do some modifications to the kit to get it to do whatever you're going for. A lot of this will depend on the details of what you're trying to do, but in general The UAISK might be able to serve as a starting point. It's designed to be modular and customizable and for a project that is as specific as yours, any AI solution that you find will undoubtedly need some modification. It may be able to save you some time in the long run, but it's probably not going to be able to do everything that you need for such a unique project right out of the box.

#183 4. LOL
5. What I was thinking was if the AI can see a player on a level above it with a ray cast, can it find a suitable path via ramps, ladders, stairs, etc to get to that location? From looking at your description I am not sure it can, but that is okay. I can work around that.
6. Good explanation. What I was trying to understand was can a bot be switched to follow a Torque path object dynamically. It looks like it might work after reading

Quote:Set the value of the bot's pathname parameter to correspond to the name of that path that you want the bot to move along.

So for the instance of trying to get to the player where the player can be seen, but is not a direct path except via a ramp or stair set, then the AI could look for path points that are close to the player. If a path point for that path is close to the bot then it could set itself to follow that path and upon reaching a point close to the player it would take itself off that path. That is one way I see a bot using preset path objects to solve terrain and structure navigation issues. However that might require some sort of stack for each AI bot to do a complex action to solve a pathing issue. Like follow path to path point near enemy, take self off path at path point, resume engaging enemy.
7. I think this situation might be able to be handled with 2 state machines. One for movement states and one for upper body action states.

I am not sure your package will solve the issues I am looking at, but I do believe it could be a great starting point. At the very least it would allow me to see how someone solved some AI problems and created a working solution. Anything I use will require a lot of tweaking anyway. I figure to create a completely bot driven battle sim it will take a lot of coding to ensure it is not monotonous anyway.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. It has been insightful and thought provoking. Keep up the good work!

#184 Hello,

Does the Universal AI Starter Kit work with Torque3D MIT version 2.0 ?

Does it have A* path-finding and dynamic obstacle avoidance facility built-in ?

Is it suitable for creating RTS style games ?

How many maximum AI characters can I have in my level ?

Thanks,

#185 Does it work with "Torque3D MIT version 2.0" ?????

#186 I can't see any reason why it wouldn't Juggernaut. We're porting over to MIT 2.0 right now and not expecting any problems with the UAISK.

#187 Juggernaut@ You might be happier with a combination of UAISK and Walkabout.

UAISK is great as it "fills" in the gaps needed to manage the AI ... with basic pathfinding.

While Walkabout creates true 3D A* pathfinding, plus lots more such as cover points, etc.

And as to your initial question ... I just dropped it into a fresh MIT 2.0 build and UAISK works great.

#188 Thanks for the replies - Had to wait so many days ... phew ! Thanks anyway folks. :)

@Jeff Yaskus : I will check out UAISK. Thanks for mentioning. :) And also many thanks for confirming that they work with Torque3D MIT version 2.0

#189 I am currently using UAISK and Walkabout in Torque 3D MIT Version 3.0. 8-}

#190 I'm working on teaching the UAISK to play soccer....

#191 One caveat concerning recast / walkabout and UAISK ... while the AI work with this build, it has to be customized to actually call Recast/Walkabout functions to generate each new path.

Otherwise, the Ai just uses the default navigation methods -- which doesn't use A*

Just keep this caveat in mind :)

If you truly want A* path finding in action, some additional coding / tweaking of UAISK will be necessary.
At least, until someone posts code examples of how they updated UAISK ... to utilize recast.

(something I have been toying with and will gladly share, once working to my satisfaction ... if not done by others first)