Halo Wars Update 09.24.07

A.I.

Artificial intelligence is ridiculously important in games, especially RTS games.  There is Entity AI, which controls things like units and how they act/react as well as Computer Player AI (CPAI) that you play against in a skirmish game.  I’m sure we’ve all played games where units didn’t move or act the way we wanted them to, or as efficiently as they could.  Many a frustrated gamer has thrown their controller or pounded their fists on the desk after getting mowed down by a CPAI opponent that made them look like a Grunt biting the ankle of a Brute.

Like a lot of systems in games, if the Entity AI is doing its job, the player shouldn’t really notice it.  Their units are moving where they are told, they target the enemies that they are most effective at killing, and so on.  This is an ongoing struggle for developers when a game is being made, as the rules for the game can change daily, as can the role and number of units in the game.  Once the game gets a bit more fleshed out, the monumental task of creating what we call the CPAI begins.  

Ultimately, the philosophy that we’ve had at Ensemble Studios is that the most fun games are when you think you might lose but don’t.  The CPAI should attempt to provide the player with this challenge in each game.  We want to set the difficulty levels to where most players will find a challenge, but there will be a level that can beat them if they start making mistakes. Some of the questions that Technical Director Dave Pottinger sent out to the company awhile back to start gathering feedback on how the CPAI should behave were:

What makes a fun AI for you to play against or with?

Do you want the AI to try to coordinate with you as an ally or should it just do its own thing and not much up your plans?

Should the AI beat you?

How do you want the difficulty levels to work?

 
Game Head

We have had visitors! The gang from Game Head, the show on SPIKE TV, stopped by to film some footage in our office and interview Graeme Devine.  I believe they were grabbing this footage for a Halo-themed show that they have coming up, so perhaps they will slip in some stuff about Halo Wars.  I believe they do have a new piece of art from the game, a render of the Spirit of Fire, the ship that the game revolves around.  Watch for on or around September 25th! (Possibly TONIGHT!) Once the episode airs, we’ll post the image here on the website for you.


Halo 3 Release Day

The release of Halo 3 is coming up quick! We’re all looking forward to finishing the fight and checking out the amazing work that the guys at Bungie have been doing.  

We know you’re going to want to discuss the story and scenes from the game, but please do not spoil things for the rest of us.  If you create a thread with Halo 3 discussion that contains possible story/plot/gameplay spoilers, please just put a “**Spoiler Alert**” warning in the subject line so that the rest of us can choose not to read the discussion if we want to bury our head in the sand.

Best of luck finishing the fight, and I’m sure we’ll be running in to each other online.  Please be gentle with me.

 

Update 09.25.07

As promised, the Game Head episode aired last night so here is the render of the UNSC Spirit of Fire.  It is also available on our Media page.  This model will be used in cinematics:

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First post ^^

someone's gonna post before i hit enter. i know it.

Are the AI questions directed at us? or did you just miss out a bit of the AI bit?

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http://www.brokenlinestudios.net/forums/

A fun AI is one who can give you a challenge, but doesn't wipe the floor with your A** early in the game because it can click faster than you. But make them smart enough to patch up holes in their defense. So, you can Blitzkrieg your way in with Warthogs, but the next time you try that in the same place, you're guys are toast.

I would like the AI to coordinate with me, but I'm mostly going to be playing against it... right?

Yes, the AI should be capable of beating me. And a weak/medium/strong levels would be nice, although I would like a level were the computer has stored your basic strategies, and the strategies of your friends, so you could set it to that level, and it plays like your friend does.

Woot! Monthly update!

 

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Lethe:

Then you should be pretty happy with the game; it's a lot of fun.
Even if a squad of marines out of dozens of units on a battle field has shoulder pads .25" too thick for a fanboy's tastes :)

Inspires confidence, no?

Velo:

First post ^^

someone's gonna post before i hit enter. i know it.

Are the AI questions directed at us? or did you just miss out a bit of the AI bit?

We've answered these questions internally, with what we would like to see in an AI.  Please do feel free to answer these questions yourselves to give us additional feedback to draw on.

 

Yay! Um, I cant answer those questions right now.

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Angatar, Iron-Power

As far as AI is concerned, I'm not sure if you read this suggestion I had made, but have you given any consideration to an idea like this one for Artificial Intelligence purposes?

http://www.halowars.com/forums/thread/97282.aspx

 I would greatly appreciate an answer! :D
 

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~Still stuck on the Autumn, lookin' for that darn bottle of Scotch.

Lol at the beggining I thought they were going to be talking at UNSC AI.

 

Yea I would like an A.I that on easy it doen't just send a few units that get destroyed easily or on hard they send an impossible wave of units to completely own you.

And im glad to hear that you listen to our comments and put them as feedback ^_^ Why don't you join us in the Mods/Devs thread more often Thunder?

Great update, but I know someone will complain about "no pics" or "no gameplay" saying it was "just some stupid paragraphs". I enjoyed it though, thanks. Can't wait to see the picks of SoF.

Well, in AI i'd like to see some customisability

I know the covenant are usualy on the offencive, but they can't be on the offencive all the time in the game

Maby some sort of RPG-esque customisation screen for the AI, like

ATTACK : 10

DEFENCE : 4

if you put 10 attack + defence it's the equiv of an "impossible" AI setting on some games, amd maby like smaller sub settings, such as air usage, infantry usage, vehicle usage

I don't think i've seen that in an RTS yet, but could be wrong

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http://www.brokenlinestudios.net/forums/

Yea that would be an awesome way of "training" for multiplayer, practice on the best way to kill a turtler.

That would be a great idea... In keeping with the topic, also in conjunction with my previously stated idea, perhaps being able to choose an allied AI in the fashion I suggested before would give the gameplay more dynamics.  If you're worried about weather people are going to want an ambiguous AI or one that teams with them, let them choose. :)

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~Still stuck on the Autumn, lookin' for that darn bottle of Scotch.

Pheonix092:

Lol at the beggining I thought they were going to be talking at UNSC AI.

Lol me too :P

awesome trainer possibility ^_^

Smart AI will make me love the game. Do what I tell them to do and Ill be happy. =D I hope the Gamehead thing is tonight so I can see it. Ill be playing my Halo 3 all day tommorow.

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Thunder:

What makes a fun AI for you to play against or with?

I agree with your assessment. I most enjoy fighting an AI that is challenging, but that I still win on a consistent basis. I also would like to see an AI that might adapt to my strategies. I know smart AI are really difficult to design and that, but if you do it, I might send you guys cookies. :p

Thunder:

Do you want the AI to try to coordinate with you as an ally or should it just do its own thing and not much up your plans?

Having AI for allies is always frustrating, because they just go off and do their own thing, or worse, don't even do their own thing. I find that, in almost all genres of games, the friendly AI is usually almost a babysitting sentence for players. I mean, sure they are useful for catching bullets, but players like me like to try and keep their friends alive, and that usually just isn't tangible with the intelligence level of friendly AI. And in RPG and FPS games, that's alright. Those games are focused on you, the player, as a single entity. But in RTS games, I think your ally should not only be able to support himself without you saving him, but should also attempt to coordinate with you, attacking when you attack, complimenting your Warthogs with some Wolverines, that sort of thing.

Thunder:

Should the AI beat you?

Yes. While I personally prefer fighting an AI I will eventually beat, I think that on the highest difficulty settings, the AI should be virtually impossible to defeat. Its like the song Jordan on expert on Guitar Hero II. My friends (most of which are pretty decent at the game) don't play to get a score on the song, they compete to see who gets the furthest in before failing. They enjoy that. I just know there are some people who would enjoy seeing just how long they last fighting a monstrosity of an AI.

Thunder:

How do you want the difficulty levels to work?

I've always loved the numerical system, say from level 1 to level 10, but I think that the RPG-ish suggestion earlier would be really useful. However, you could probably get away with doing four levels: Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary.

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I like pi.

Wow, loved the update!  Gamertag, Thunder?

The AI should be able to do lieke they said, adapt to your strategies.  Support you and coordinate with you.  They should be able to identify if you are appraching an enemy base, register you force size within an area, and figure out what you need most based on what KNOWN units that are currently revealed in the fog of War they are up against.  It will then support you.  At the very least it should support you when you attack, but still guard you base.

Very promising, Thunder.

Nice job as always.

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