Blame it on the beers I had this evening, or the fact I didn't have nearly enough, but I came up with an idea for a comp, or maybe just a community game of sorts, that could be interesting.
Basically the premise behind this 'game' would be to have a battle ground made by one of the judges.
This battleground is pretty much just a game with a couple of levels.
Users can download this game, and their goal is to make the best possible AI they can to defeat an opponent.
As for this opponent, it could be a number of things. It could be a player, it could be an AI made by the judges, or it could be another AI made by another user where a round robin style contest is played amoungst players.
But it doesn't have to end there.
You could have different arenas for different styles of AI's.
You could have an arena for platform AI's.
An arena for top down AI's.
An arena for turn based AI's.
An arena for pathfinding AI's
...and so on...
Of course this does mean there would have to be a number of strict rules as far as programming goes. All depending on how the 'game' operates, what the users AI has to accomplish, and what limitations and restrictions have to be implied on the user's AI.
Also, it would probably mean 'judges' of such a thing would have to be involved in putting these matches together somehow.
Although having the possibility of relaying information to users by some kind of online correspondence would be very cool. But alas, i'm getting ahead of myself a bit there.
Anyway...tell us what you think. And if worst comes to worst, i'll embark on some kind of programming journey myself.
MUGGUS
Come and annoy me more at
www.muggus69.tk STOUT ANGER!!!
Hell, im quite good at coding some AI like topdown and platformer... Oh did I understand right that the everybody's AIs are put in one game to fight against each other? (my english=average) If you do, well THAT'S AN EXCELLENT IDEA!!!
Beware, be alert, prepare to defend yourself, or just run for your lives(!), because
JarmoNator has entered the building... (see avatar)
that dark human beast is almost unstoppable, invincible and totally gone CRAZY!
I had a few more today, so my thinking is a bit better.
It's a pretty far out idea, but if well moderated and judged, it could be a decent contest. Almost like those shows ya see on TV with the home-made robots and shit. And if it were possible to have viewers...then, oh mate, it would be the only Click 'spectator sport' to date!
MUGGUS
Come and annoy me more at
www.muggus69.tk STOUT ANGER!!!
As far as keeping things fair and putting it all together goes, I think the best idea would be to have the robots capable of moving, firing line-of-sight detection objects (perhaps a short-range one or a long range one, or else be capable of receiving the distance at which the detector struck something), and performing sime kind of attack, all based on flag triggers and handled in the main body of the frame code to prevent people being a little too creative with the bots' abilities.
This way the critters can have all of their AI contained in MMF's behaviour attached to to them, and the coding would consist of setting triggers and interpreting the detector information, but not concerned with creating objects or manipulating them. It decreases the usefulness somewhat as an AI example, but it's more of a test of bot programming abilities. Plus, it's fair.
And, because behaviour is internal to the object, judging them would just be a case of copy & pasting the bots in and running.
There could be a number of ways to do this. Depending on what exactly you're testing.
The most simple way, and probably the most fair now that I think of it, would be to test an AI in some kind of obstacle course of sorts.
For example; in a top down environment, you could have some kind of maze or path is has to negociate, then it may have to dodge some kind of incoming obstacles otherwise it'll be sent back in the course, and then finally it'll might have to do some kind of target practice range. The key would be to test how fast a users AI could complete this course.
Of course you'd have to have limitations for the AI itself. As far as speed and 'weaponary' go.
Another idea that just came to me would require alot more programming on the 'judges' end. Basically they make an engine for users AI to fight other user AI's, but all of the programming for the user is stored in an external file of sorts...possibly just an INI, and this is fed into the bot itself.
This is a much more complex idea, and i'd probably have to think how exactly it could be done, but it has potential as far as i'm concerned. Depending on how well the engine is made, and depending how and what exactly has to be included in these external AI files.
Anyway, that's my 2 beers, i mean cents worth on my own idea.
MUGGUS
Come and annoy me more at
www.muggus69.tk STOUT ANGER!!!
I think its a cool idea I like the battle pit one, (the AI creators are given a template to work with to smarten up their bot with its behaviours, and they are unleashed into a pit with the rest)
I agree with Kramy. That way, the AI would be easier to make.
Click Battlebots would be fun, though there'd have to be a TGF division so I can compete. And having teams like in battlebots would be fun too, but I think working with yourself is better for small proggies.
A multiplayer Battlebots in click fashion would be teh r0x0r. You could select the colors of your robot, what weapons to mount on it, what type of armor, etc. And you have to pay money for all of that, but you win money by winning matches.
Okay, i'm getting a little ahead of myself here. But i'll compete, but the template has to be TGF friendly.