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SirYakalot · **Re: newbie question -** 19-11-2010

Actually, perhaps a better question would be:

What would people recommend I use for a final year computing project where I want to experiment with implementing genetic algorithms and neural nets to code some bots that exhibit learning behaviour?

My two main problems are:

I don't want to have to code a whole new game myself as I don't have enough time - so i'd like to be able to just augment the AI of a 3d game with a genetic algorithm as there is only so much 'evolving' a 2d bot can do.

Testing is also a problem, in an ideal world i'd be able to test my learning bots against very hard-coded, predictable enemy bots that I could set to a number of different behaviours to see how they'd learn and evolve.

The reason I thought the source engine would be a good choice is because, in my naivety I thought I could pitch my learning AI bots against the half-life bots. Also the source engine already has a number of built in aspects which would be incredibly useful to not have to code myself - these are things like different body parts taking different amounts of damage, the ability to jump, crouch, pathfinding already built in etc..

however I'm realising that this is nowhere near as easy as I had first imagined.

Are there any frameworks out there that exist for AI testing purposes?

	(#3)
SirYakalot Member Status: Offline Posts: 2 Join Date: Nov 2010	Re: newbie question - 19-11-2010 Actually, perhaps a better question would be: What would people recommend I use for a final year computing project where I want to experiment with implementing genetic algorithms and neural nets to code some bots that exhibit learning behaviour? My two main problems are: I don't want to have to code a whole new game myself as I don't have enough time - so i'd like to be able to just augment the AI of a 3d game with a genetic algorithm as there is only so much 'evolving' a 2d bot can do. Testing is also a problem, in an ideal world i'd be able to test my learning bots against very hard-coded, predictable enemy bots that I could set to a number of different behaviours to see how they'd learn and evolve. The reason I thought the source engine would be a good choice is because, in my naivety I thought I could pitch my learning AI bots against the half-life bots. Also the source engine already has a number of built in aspects which would be incredibly useful to not have to code myself - these are things like different body parts taking different amounts of damage, the ability to jump, crouch, pathfinding already built in etc.. however I'm realising that this is nowhere near as easy as I had first imagined. Are there any frameworks out there that exist for AI testing purposes?