[CF-Devel] [Fwd: New (maybe) ideas for artificial life in roguelikes]

crossfire-devel at archives.real-time.com crossfire-devel at archives.real-time.com
Sun Mar 21 12:15:59 CST 2004


This post seems to be highly interesting, I thought I would forward it 
to you since it pertains to a possible method of monster generation and 
is a cool idea.

John Q. Smith wrote the following post on rec.games.roguelike.development:

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      Hi everybody, I have a possibly new idea that may help create a
     
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      radically unique roguelike.  Then again, it may be a horrible idea,
     
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      which is why I'm testing it out here first.
     
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      I, like, everybody else here, am working on my own roguelike, and,
     
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      like everybody else here, I'm not content to make
     
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      yet-another-roguelike.  I want to make mine bigger, better, and more
     
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      innovative then the rest of them.  I probably won't, but you all
     
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      understand the desire to keep pushing the envelope.  After all, if
     
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      we're not making something different, then what's the point?  Anyway,
     
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      along with my idea.  Along with my interest in roguelikes, I have a
     
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      deep interest in programming AI, neural nets, genetic algorithms,
     
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      agents, and the like.  After a recent project, I began to think that
     
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      maybe some of these ideas could be incorporated into a roguelike.  To
     
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      get an idea of what I'm hinting at, let me describe my project that
     
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      gave me the idea.
     
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      My project was called Wonderland, and it was a simplistic ASCII world
     
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      with a 1000 x 1000 grid, each space containing either dirt, rock,
     
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      grass, water, bushes, or trees.  Then wonderland was populated with a
     
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      variety of different creatures, each with varying attributes, and a
     
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      unique brain.  As time wore on in Wonderland, the creatures all bred
     
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      to be stronger and smarter, or they died out.  Because all of the
     
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      creature's data (attributes, brain, etc.) were encoded in their genes,
     
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      the offspring of two creatures would share its parents genes.  Through
     
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      very simple and subtle changes in the brains of creatures, a variety
     
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      of radically different behaviors were produced.  Following is a
     
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      descriptions of creatures during there first generation, and then a
     
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      description of how they were when Wonderland was finally shut down.
     
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      Goblins - At the start, goblins were fast, relatively strong
     
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      omnivores, with relatively poor sight, but excellent noses for
     
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      tracking.  Their brains were initially made to allow them to be
     
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      relatively independant, but they eventually evolved into group
     
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      dwelling creatures, with a strong central leadership.  The strongest
     
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      of the herd would lead, and delegate tasks to weaker creatures, and
     
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      through this the various goblin tribes managed to flourish.  Note that
     
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      they eventually migrated from a riverside society to cave dwelling. 
     
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      Also note that none of these behaviors were programmed in, they
     
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      evolved that way on their own, into a species/society that best suited
     
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      them.
     
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      Ants - Ants were initially programmed to be fast, moderately strong
     
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      herbivores, with practically no sight, but terrific senses of smell. 
     
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      Initially they were programmed with a sort of hive mind, but they
     
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      gradually grew away from central leadership to more of a swarming
     
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      structure.  No individual made any decisions, and the ants were
     
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      individually very stupid, but by following very simple behavior
     
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      patterns the ants as a whole were very successful, but they were
     
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      unfortunately driven to near extinction by the balrogs.
     
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      Balrogs - Balrogs were immensely strong, moderately fast, with a
     
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      moderate sense of sight and smell.  They had a very slow gestation
     
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      period, with small litters, and since they had a very small initial
     
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      population, they grew and evolved rather slow.  Because of this, they
     
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      grouped into to a tribe-like society, where no individual made any
     
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      more decisions than the rest, but they all looked out for each other,
     
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      to ensure genetic survival.  They all cross bred and were extremely
     
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      good parents, protecting their children avidly.  They found the ants
     
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      to be the best source of food, and the least challenging to defeat, so
     
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      they eventually trapped the ants at their nesting sight, took up
     
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      residence their, and lived off a steady supply of newly hatched ants,
     
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      thus preventing the ants from breaking free.  Basically, the ants were
     
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      farmed by the balrogs.  Of all the emergent behavior to occur, this
     
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      was the least expected and most bizarre.  The balrogs biggest threat
     
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      were the raptors, and Alice.
     
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      Raptors - Raptors were fast, lethal, and with excellent senses of
     
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      smell and a unique sense of sight; they could only see movement
     
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      (unfortunately, no other species caught on to this inherent weakness
     
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      in their vision.  They changed little, although their hunting skills
     
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      did become more coordinated and efficient.  They were initially a hive
     
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      mind, but gradually grew to be more individualistic, but with
     
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      excellent communication skills, causing them to be the fiercest
     
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      hunters in all of Wonderland.  They seemed to be able to quickly take
     
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      up appropriate positions during the hunt.  For example, the most
     
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      splendid hunt I viewed occured with a pack of 5 raptors, against a
     
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      balrog who had strayed from the pack to try and find a fresh food
     
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      source (the ants were slowly dying out).  When the balrog was about 50
     
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      paces from the rest of his fellow's group, and well out of his allies
     
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      sight and smell range, 2 raptors cut him off.  The balrog turned to
     
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      fight, but a 3rd raptor showed up and the balrog changed his mind, and
     
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      ran.  To the north 2 more raptors appeared, and sensing trouble, he
     
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      ran to the west (since the north and southeast were blocked).  The
     
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      raptors continually shifted their flanking pattern, forcing the balrog
     
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      into a dead end cave, where he was ganged up on and slaughtered
     
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      simultaneously by all 5 raptors.  Not a single raptor died, despite
     
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      the fact that one balrog can kill two raptors and survive, and
     
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      sometimes a third, but the raptors teamwork saved them all.
     
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      Alice - Alice was the final type of creature in Wonderland, and also
     
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      the most unique.  Alice was one of a kind, which means no breeding. 
     
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      She was given an infinite lifespan, however, so she would never die
     
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      from old age.  She was the fastest creature in all of wonderland, and
     
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      also the weakest, but she possessed the most highly developed brain,
     
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      with as much memory as she could fill alloted to her, and superior
     
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      learning capabilities.  She also possessed the unique ability to move
     
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      any object in the environment; in effect, tool using.  She could move
     
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      rocks, trees, bushes, and other creatures (although they didn't go
     
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      quietly).  There were several points early on where she almost died,
     
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      but she eventually grew to be the most fearsome creature in all of
     
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      Wonderland.  If any group of creatures caught her scent or spotted
     
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      her, they would all flee.  Not because she was ferociously strong, but
     
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      because she always had a clever plan of attack which was devestatingly
     
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      effective.  For example, she once flanked the opening of a long and
     
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      narrow cave of goblins.  The goblins, not daring to leave the
     
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      'protection' of their cave, huddled deeper and deeper inside.  Alice,
     
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      meanwhile, casually dragged a number of rocks from nearby, and blocked
     
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      off the cave entrance.  Because she was the only one capable of moving
     
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      rocks, the goblins were trapped without a food source except each
     
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      other.  Alice waited a few days, when the goblins were weaker from
     
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      hunger and halved in numbers, then casually hurled the rocks that were
     
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      blocking the entrance into the cave, crushing and killing the
     
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      survivors, and giving Alice a few weeks worth of food.  There were
     
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      several other brilliant kills she achieved, but this post has run on
     
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      long enough.
     
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      While watching my experiment run its course, it was hard not to
     
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      imagine it as being a roguelike.  ASCII graphics, along with Alice's
     
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      '@', and I began thinking that the genetic algorithms, AI, and neural
     
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      net techniques could potentially provide a fresh gameplay experience
     
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      in a roguelike.  Traditionally, as the player grows in power, so do
     
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      the enemies, to compensate.  In this, you could just let the enemies
     
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      evolve, and they would naturally grow in power, plus they would get
     
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      smarter, forcing the player to think up new strategies to defeat
     
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      enemies.  For example, if the player always tried a certain technique
     
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      against goblins, eventually the goblins would anticipate it and make
     
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      plans to circumvent such a plan of attack.  This, I think, could have
     
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      a lot of potential and freshen the playing experience.  Well, this has
     
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      run on long enough, so, tell me what you think.
     
     

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