Development of three AI techniques for 2D platform games

200 Pages·2005·6.12 MB·English

Department of Computer Science
Martin Persson
Development of three AI techniques for
2D platform games
D-level Dissertation (20p)
2005:11

Development of three AI techniques for
2D platform games
Martin Persson
(cid:13)c 2005 The author and Karlstad University

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Masters degree in Computer Science. All material in this
thesis which is not my own work has been identified and no mate-
rial is included for which a degree has previously been conferred.
Martin Persson
Approved, 9 December 2005
Opponent: Jan Eriksson
Advisor: Simone Fischer-Hu¨bner
Examiner: Donald F. Ross
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Abstract
This thesis serves as an introduction to anyone that has an interest in artificial
intelligence games and has experience in programming or anyone who knows not-
hing of computer games but wants to learn about it. The first part will present
a brief introduction to AI, then it will give an introduction to games and game
programming for someone that has little knowledge about games. This part inclu-
des game programming terminology, different game genres and a little history of
games. Then there is an introduction of a couple of common techniques used in
game AI. The main contribution of this dissertation is in the second part where
three techniques that never were properly implemented before 3D games took over
the market are introduced and it is explained how they would be done if they
were to live up to today’s standards and demands. These are: line of sight, image
recognition and pathfinding. These three techniques are used in today’s 3D games
so if a 2D game were to be released today the demands on the AI would be much
higher then they were ten years ago when 2D games stagnated. The last part is
an evaluation of the three discussed topics.
Keywords
Artificial intelligence, AI, Game, 2D, Platform, Line of sight, Image recognition,
Pathfinding.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the flowing people.
Simone Fischer-Hu¨bner, for all the advise and help throughout the project.
And for showing me that there exist people in the computer science world that do
not know who Pac-Man is.
Donald F. Ross, for approving this topic as a D-level dissertation. And for
setting an example for how code should not be written.
JanEriksson, forconstructivecriticismduringtheopposition. Andforpointing
out all the bad things in the dissertation.
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