Pogamut 3 - free Java platform for bot coding in UT2004, UDK and DEFCON games

[michalb]

Hi all,

this is in fact an ad for free non-commercial software, but I believe it is strongly related to what you guys are doing here (so I hope I won't get banned :-) ).

Ok, so here is the "ad":

We would like to announce a free toolkit for development of AI of bots in Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT2004), Unreal Development Kit (UDK), Unreal Engine 2 Runtime (UE2) and DEFCON (real-time strategy game) called Pogamut 3 ( http://pogamut.cuni.cz ).

Multiple game engines provide open scripting languages, which allow users to create scripted AI. External control mechanisms can be connected to many of these games using scripting languages, thereby providing a tool to control in-game characters from the outside. Pogamut 3 utilizes UnrealScript (Unreal Tournament scripting language) and the NetBeans Java platform to provide an out-of-the box development environment for AI of virtual characters inhabiting UT2004/UDK/UE2 worlds.

Pogamut 3 features:

• Java library for coding bots in UT2004, UDK, UE2 and DEFCON (real-time strategy game)
• an integrated development environment (IDE) with debugging support
  (plugin for NetBeans) featuring:
  • Management of running bots
  • 3D schematic visualization of the map in NetBeans
  • Visual editor of POSH ( http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~jjb/web/posh.html ) plans
  • Bot project templates (Java, POSH, Groovy) and several example projects

Moreover Pogamut 3 features:

• a Java installer
• Step by step tutorials and example bots
• Integration with reactive planner POSH
• City map for Unreal Engine 2 Runtime
• a community portal ( http://pogamut.cuni.cz ) with support forum, documentation, tutorials, links and source code (svn repository)

Pogamut 3 purpose:
The intended use of Pogamut platform is twofold. Firstly, Pogamut can be used to teach students about problematics of virtual agent development. Secondly, researchers or enthusiasts can use Pogamut for research or evaluation purposes. Pogamut allows user to fast code virtual character in an virtual world and solve a number of low level problems such as a) connecting to the environment, b) exporting information about the virtual world or c) providing API to control agents and the environment.

Perhaps the best picture about Pogamut's usage can be given by a list of projects which exploit Pogamut in some way:

• BotPrize competition ( http://www.botprize.org/ ) - international competition BotPrize recommended Pogamut for development of virtual agents. Summary about our participation in 2008: http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/pogamut/tiki...08+winning+bot
• Project Emohawk ( http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/emohawk/ ) is a virtual storytelling application built on top of the Pogamut platform.
• Genetic Bots ( http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/pogamut/tiki...e=Genetic+Bots) - is a project aimed at the evolution of bot's behaviour who are embodied in Unreal Tournament 2004 using genetic algorithms.
• StorySpeak ( http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/pogamut/tiki...age=StorySpeak ) is a language for specifying agent's programs. This language is especially designed for authoring of short virtual stories.
• Episodic memory for virtual agent ( http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/pogamut/tiki...+virtual+agent ) - project designed and implemented as a prototype of the episodic memory for virtual humans. The memory was inspired by up to date research on human memory's function for personal events (episodes) and human time perception.
• PojACT-R ( http://amis.mff.cuni.cz/pogamut/tiki...?page=PojACT-R) is a composition of Pogamut, Java and ACT-R (http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/ ). It is a plugin which connects Pogamut with the cognitive architecture ACT-R, specifically with the Java implementation of ACT-R called jACT-R ( http://jactr.org/ ).

For more information visit our community portal ( http://pogamut.cuni.cz ).

All the best,
Pogamut 3 team

[The Storm]

You hit the spot man! This is exactly what we are doing, thank you for the sharing.

[Whistler]

looks awesome - thanks for advertising

is it a new version of this?
http://forums.bots-united.com/showthread.php?t=6458

[michalb]

Yes, it is. :-)

We are now working on even better path finding for UT2004 and we want to test thoroughly binding to UDK in the next semester with students.

You're all welcome to try it out. Any suggestion/feedback/issues post on our forum at pogamut.cuni.cz