Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
opponent's cards, which players can use to their advantage later. Eventually, a com-
puter might be programmed to do the same thing.
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Simulated people and creatures.
Many games use simple AI techniques to cre-
ate a behavioral model for simulated people or creatures. The simulated character
seems to respond intelligently to the human player's actions, at least within certain
limits. The models are seldom complex, and a player can usually tell the difference
between a simulated person and a real one within a few minutes. Simulating
human beings is the most difficult and also the most important problem in game
AI research.
Most current video games do not, in fact, contain much real AI. The point of video
games is to entertain, not to simulate intelligence in depth, so they usually contain
just enough AI to make the player feel as if the software is reasonably smart. The
players—who are already immersed in the make-believe world anyway—are often
happy to give the game credit for intelligence that it doesn't really possess. However,
we can't afford to rely on this. Sometimes the AI fails, and the game breaks the
players' immersion by doing something startlingly unintelligent; we need to
continue to improve our AI so this doesn't happen. The future looks promising.
Technological advances in both hardware and sof t ware are allow ing designers to
create increasingly sophisticated artificial opponents and simulated characters.
Artificial intelligence is one of the most important areas of research in game
development.
At its most elementary level, game design consists of inventing and documenting
the elements of a game. However, games don't exist in a vacuum; people create
them to serve a purpose. That purpose might be training or study, but most often
games are meant to entertain. You cannot become a successful game designer sim-
ply by creating games in the abstract. To make games for entertainment, you must
learn to be an entertainer. This section looks at how games entertain people.
Different people enjoy different things, so we have both grand opera and motorcy-
cle races as well as long, slow adventure games and short, frenetic arcade games. As
a well-rounded game designer, you should be able to create games that entertain in
a variety of ways.
DESIGN RULE
You Can't Please Ever yone
It is not possible to design an ideal game that pleases everyone, because everyone does
not enjoy the same thing. Do not try.
