Artificial Intelligence in Video Games

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Computing and Artificial Intelligence".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2023) | Viewed by 6198

Special Issue Editors

Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy
Interests: computer graphics; video game programming; game engine architectures; procedural content generation; artificial intelligence for video games
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy
Interests: network architectures; distributed systems; multimedia transmission
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dipartimento di Informatica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 18, 20133 Milan, Italy
Interests: technical video game design; AI for video games; HCI; applied games; VR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly implemented in modern video games. AI solutions for video games differ significantly from those typical of classic AI; while the latter aims to emulate a human being and recreate a perfect behaviour to solve a given problem, AI in video games needs to recreate a believable behaviour in a specific context and pose a challenge to the player, while usually running on a CPU and memory budget. Moreover, this challenge must be the result of an imperfect behaviour that allows the player to win through reasonable effort and progress in the game.

AI techniques in video games are used to achieve a wide range of tasks, e.g., pathfinding, decision-making systems for non-playing characters (NPCs), procedural content generation (PCG), interactive storytelling, etc. Moreover, we are witnessing increasing interest in the application of recent and advanced techniques based on machine learning and neural networks.

This Special Issue encourages researchers to present high-quality, original research on artificial intelligent techniques for video games and serious games. Contributions focused on the application of AI to assist gameplay, to enhance the player immersion in the game world, and to support the game and level designers, are particularly welcome. Moreover, papers addressing the use of AI in video games exploiting the hardware capabilities (e.g., constrained computational resources, tracking, sensors) of mobile, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) devices, are of special interest for this Special Issue.

Dr. Davide Gadia
Dr. Dario Maggiorini
Dr. Laura Anna Ripamonti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • artificial intelligence for video games
  • non-playing characters (NPCs)
  • artificial agents
  • decision making systems
  • procedural content generation (PCG)
  • evolutionary computation in video games
  • machine learning approaches in video games
  • artificial intelligence to support game and level design
  • artificial intelligence and interactive storytelling
  • artificial intelligence techniques for serious games
  • artificial intelligence for video games on mobile devices
  • artificial intelligence techniques for VR and AR games

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3011 KiB  
Article
Biome Generation Tool: A Mixed-Initiative Software for the Procedural Generation of Biomes
by Gabriel K. Sepúlveda, Felipe Besoain, Sven von Brand and Nicolas A. Barriga
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(14), 8070; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13148070 - 11 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1244
Abstract
This article presents the Biome Generation Tool (BGT), a mixed-initiative procedural content generator plugin for the Unity3D game engine that uses an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) for the creation of biomes in videogames. A double-blind evaluation was performed with 28 videogame developers split into [...] Read more.
This article presents the Biome Generation Tool (BGT), a mixed-initiative procedural content generator plugin for the Unity3D game engine that uses an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) for the creation of biomes in videogames. A double-blind evaluation was performed with 28 videogame developers split into two groups. The experimental group received a standard BGT, while the control group received a version optimizing for the negative of the fitness function. A survey with semantic differential questions focused on AI impact, productivity, and user satisfaction was applied. The experimental group’s appreciation of the AI suggestions, perceived productivity increase, and satisfaction were significantly higher than those of the control group. From the results, we conclude that the BGT succeeds in assisting the development of biomes, generating products of acceptable quality while reducing the designer’s workload. In the future, we expect to confirm these results with a separate group of users evaluating the biomes built using BGT. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence in Video Games)
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29 pages, 8726 KiB  
Article
Designing and Evaluating a Serious Game for Learning Artificial Intelligence Algorithms: SpAI War as a Case Study
by Anastasios Barmpakas and Stelios Xinogalos
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 5828; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13105828 - 09 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1559
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) nowadays is the technology of the future, as its applications are constantly expanding in every aspect of human life. The spread of the internet has given a great impetus to technologies that apply AI algorithms and make their presence more [...] Read more.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) nowadays is the technology of the future, as its applications are constantly expanding in every aspect of human life. The spread of the internet has given a great impetus to technologies that apply AI algorithms and make their presence more and more intense in everyday life. However, despite the ubiquitous presence of AI, few people can comprehend its true meaning and the reason for its existence, especially the way it is applied. The purpose of this work is to present the design and pilot evaluation of SpAI War, which is a serious game that aims to introduce the user–student to the field of AI and its algorithms. Specifically, the paper presents the design of SpAI War in the context of the Educational Games (EG) design framework. This is followed by the results of the pilot evaluation of the game by 58 undergraduates and graduates of Informatics. The study utilized a survey based on the MEEGA+ model, and positive results were recorded in terms of player experience, game scenario, and perceived short-term learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence in Video Games)
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22 pages, 5475 KiB  
Article
Improved Belgian AI Algorithm for Dynamic Management in Action Role-Playing Games
by Qingwei Mi and Tianhan Gao
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(22), 11860; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122211860 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1596
Abstract
Artificial intelligence in games is one of the most challenging tasks in academia and industry. In action role-playing games, how to manage combat effectively is a key issue related to game development and the player’s experience. The Belgian artificial intelligence (BAI) algorithm is [...] Read more.
Artificial intelligence in games is one of the most challenging tasks in academia and industry. In action role-playing games, how to manage combat effectively is a key issue related to game development and the player’s experience. The Belgian artificial intelligence (BAI) algorithm is a classic but limited method that is widely used for combat management between the player and enemies. To address the poor adaptability of BAI, this paper proposes an improved Belgian artificial intelligence (IBAI) algorithm with dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) and implements two systems separately based on BAI and IBAI in Unreal Engine 4. Advantages on 12 parameters—10.086 mean total score greater, and 0.079 standard deviation smaller—demonstrate that the system based on IBAI has higher adaptability and a better player experience by comparing the two systems in different situations and inviting players to participate in gameplay experiences and questionnaires. The robust dynamic management mechanism of IBAI can help game designers and developers achieve the combat system of action role-playing games more efficiently, thus, shortening the development cycle and improving the player retention rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence in Video Games)
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