Assignment 1 Algorithms, heuristics and hacks

                         
 Algorithms

The first thing that I will talk about in this topic of AI in relation to games is algorithms, this in very basic terms is a simple set of rules or instructions for the AI player that a coder will put into their games, but modern games nowadays use much more complex algorithms. The arcade game PAC-MAN uses a simple algorithms for the ghosts which in the game are the NPC characters. There are four ghosts which all have individual behaviour patterns, this means a different algorithm has been used for each ghost so that each one will move differently through the maze, only one ghost starts in the maze while the others stay in the ghost house (spawn area) and if the ghost gets eaten by a powered up PAC-MAN or the PAC-MAN dies then there is an algorithm that makes them re-spawn in the ghost house so that the game can be started again (Birch, 2010). The benefit of algorithms is that they can be used to make a character act or behave in a certain way giving them individual personalities and behaviours and the more complex the algorithm the more realistic the character becomes. This results in better immersion for the player, however on the other hand the characters become predictable as the players soon realise how each character will behave as they follow their given set of rules and cannot deviate from this, for example if a character has the instructions to take you from point A to point B they will do exactly that and cannot vary from these set of instructions (Sikder, 2010).
                               

(pngmart.com, 2016)

                                              Pinky     Blinking       Inky        Clyde 
Heuristics

The second thing that I will talk about is heuristics which in a gaming AI term is the concept of leaning by trial and error. In games the non player character is normally either the enemy or an ally player and they will be using algorithms to tell them what to do. Heuristics, however, will still be needed as the AI characters can make mistakes, they can get stuck on an object in the game, an example of this would be the game of AC Unity in which the non playable character can get stuck on a wall and continually walk into it as it followed it's instructions to walk in that direction but the wall is in the way. As a result the game was poorly received as this was not the only glitch and this impacted on the player experience.  Heuristics would be used in this situation to find a solution to the problem by breaking the original algorithm and finding another one that will correct this, if the wall was directly in front then an instruction could be as simple as go to the left or to the right and walking away.  The solution has to be quick as the players immersion is lost by this kind of AI mistake and the gaming experience can be ruined.  The good point however is that as long as the problem is resolved quickly the player experience can be brought back and the game enjoyed (Sikder, 2010) .

(Ahamed, 2015)

Hacks

The third and final thing that I will talk about is hacks.  Hacks in an AI gaming term is  simply where the non playable character gets information that it shouldn't have access to, which can be about the player or the environment and this can seem to the player  like the NPC can read their mind.  This can be considered lazy coding on the developers part because they should keep player experience in mind and try to maximise this when creating a game and coding in a hack so the AI player knows how many bullets will kill you or spawning on the player can break that experience and irritate the player, as they can feel the AI characters have too much of an advantage over them, thus the experience becomes less enjoyable and immersion can be lost.  On the other hand it can be used for a good purpose in a cinematic scene to increase the immersion for the player, an example of this might be that in a scene you need to be surrounded by enemies and this is created by using a hack.