This is the funniest SNL sketch I've seen in forever. Justin Timberlake is a comic genius. You have to watch this to the punchline. Trust me, you'll know what it is.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Gamer Table
This table is a GM's dream (and a player group's I believe). I seriously want to set something like this up for my group, but funds are limited and at this point I think a laptop alone would be nice.
Anyway, I've been listening to the GeeksOn podcast and working on XNA tutorials at school. So I've still not had time to start my own podcast. (I'm going to use GCast for it though) Once I do, it will be posted to here, though. Not, it seems, that many people come to visit my blog anyway.
Hopefully I will have some more poignant stuff to comment on tomorrow, meanwhile I'm going to get on WoW and let ideas for my book run through my mind as I kill elementals. (Frost resistance sucks!)
Anyway, I've been listening to the GeeksOn podcast and working on XNA tutorials at school. So I've still not had time to start my own podcast. (I'm going to use GCast for it though) Once I do, it will be posted to here, though. Not, it seems, that many people come to visit my blog anyway.
Hopefully I will have some more poignant stuff to comment on tomorrow, meanwhile I'm going to get on WoW and let ideas for my book run through my mind as I kill elementals. (Frost resistance sucks!)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Fergie VS Gwen Stefani
Whose song more annoyingly gets stuck in your head??? I'm thinking Fergilicious, but then I hear Wind it Up and it stays in my head until I hear Fergilicious again. I can't get them both out of my head at the same time. It's not fair. Anyway. I plan to begin posting again, including podcasts. Meanwhile, avoid those songs!!!!!!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
The Worst and Best of AI in Video Games
The worst AI I have ever seen in a video game is Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. In this game, a player knows exactly when and where anything will be. The decisions made are nearly always the same. A player could attack a guard and be sure that people would run and any guards in the area would charge the player. However if you hop over a barrier, such as a wall or plant and shoot a guard with a bow or cast spells at him, the guard would either run forward into the wall or hack in mid air at no-one. To make it more simple, one had only to make a spell to walk in the air and sit on a house or simply attack the guard from mid-air. It was a simple thing to know that if you attacked a guard the right way and they did not see you, they would find you and hunt you down anyway.
On the other hand, the best AI I have ever seen comes from the sequel to Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In this game, the guards will chase you down, kill other people, if they attack you, then loot them and continue attacking you after. They will pull out a bow and arrow to hit you if they cannot otherwise. If you are sneaky enough and hit the guard while he is not looking, he may think it was another bloke behind him. You can get guards to attack other people this way. In addition, if other citizens are around, they may help the guards, or you, depending. If you attack their leader, such as a religious leader, they may run away, or run to get more powerful weaponry, or simply attack you with whatever they can pick up and use. The citizens can be found practicing their skills and stealing other people’s stuff. Even the animals may be attacking you or another animal or guard nearby. If you hear an animal attacking, you may be surprised to find a guard in the middle of the woods is the target, instead of you, or perhaps a deer is on the menu. There is even a champion in the coliseum that the people will hate you for killing, or, if you uncover an evil secret of his, they will love you for it. However, even more so, the guards will block your attacks, people will steal YOUR stuff, and there is no way to play the EXACT same game twice. However, you can come close.
AI has a long way to go, recently Physics cards have been introduced by the same companies that make Graphics cards, and I do not believe that AI cards are far off. It is probably only a matter of years before the AI is the focus, as physics are now, and graphics were in the nineties. AI cards will likely be in either the next generation of video games (PS4 anyone?) or the one after that at the latest (2015). I see no reason not to take the power you could cram into a little card like that, especially at that point in the future, (10 GHz processors in watches?) and use it to increase the intellect of everything in a game. If games are more real, they will be more adaptively involving. More adaptive means they will become obsolete slower, allowing more production time in between games, allowing higher price points, and better products and profits. A likely win/win situation for all involved.
On the other hand, the best AI I have ever seen comes from the sequel to Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In this game, the guards will chase you down, kill other people, if they attack you, then loot them and continue attacking you after. They will pull out a bow and arrow to hit you if they cannot otherwise. If you are sneaky enough and hit the guard while he is not looking, he may think it was another bloke behind him. You can get guards to attack other people this way. In addition, if other citizens are around, they may help the guards, or you, depending. If you attack their leader, such as a religious leader, they may run away, or run to get more powerful weaponry, or simply attack you with whatever they can pick up and use. The citizens can be found practicing their skills and stealing other people’s stuff. Even the animals may be attacking you or another animal or guard nearby. If you hear an animal attacking, you may be surprised to find a guard in the middle of the woods is the target, instead of you, or perhaps a deer is on the menu. There is even a champion in the coliseum that the people will hate you for killing, or, if you uncover an evil secret of his, they will love you for it. However, even more so, the guards will block your attacks, people will steal YOUR stuff, and there is no way to play the EXACT same game twice. However, you can come close.
AI has a long way to go, recently Physics cards have been introduced by the same companies that make Graphics cards, and I do not believe that AI cards are far off. It is probably only a matter of years before the AI is the focus, as physics are now, and graphics were in the nineties. AI cards will likely be in either the next generation of video games (PS4 anyone?) or the one after that at the latest (2015). I see no reason not to take the power you could cram into a little card like that, especially at that point in the future, (10 GHz processors in watches?) and use it to increase the intellect of everything in a game. If games are more real, they will be more adaptively involving. More adaptive means they will become obsolete slower, allowing more production time in between games, allowing higher price points, and better products and profits. A likely win/win situation for all involved.
Monday, March 27, 2006
My Favorite Game
My favorite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda. I had the gold cartridge and my Grandparents got it for me. It was the first game that you didn't have to sit down and play. You could save it with the battery in the cartridge. My father would play it with me and beat it before I did. I loved that. The way that Link would get stronger, gaining more hearts and better swords as he went through was new to me. That you could throw bombs into the mouth of a Dodongo(sp?) was so neat. I loved blowing up the walls to see which ones would leave a hole I could sneak through. I burned so many bushes and snork looking things I lost count after an hour. That game (and most of the zelda's after it) were the best games I've ever played.
My current favorite game is one I haven't had the chance to play very much. I have been very busy at school and with World of Warcraft (my second favorite game). But, the first favorite, currently is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Pulling someone who is trying to kill me towards a guard and watching the guard help me is normal, but watching that same guard loot the body we just killed before I can get to it is ridiculously cool. Having the option to save the world and be a good guy is fun and the option to be a bad guy is becoming the norm, but the option to be Robin Hood or to just go hunt some deer and steal anything I can from some lady down the street is wonderful. I love the AI too. The NPCs act almost human, you never know what will happen when you attack them or talk to them, or board their ship or enter their house. They may attack you, greet you, offer you something, ask you to leave, or just ignore you. That is why this game, where I can burn anyone I walk by and reap the consequences, is my favorite of the moment.
My current favorite game is one I haven't had the chance to play very much. I have been very busy at school and with World of Warcraft (my second favorite game). But, the first favorite, currently is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Pulling someone who is trying to kill me towards a guard and watching the guard help me is normal, but watching that same guard loot the body we just killed before I can get to it is ridiculously cool. Having the option to save the world and be a good guy is fun and the option to be a bad guy is becoming the norm, but the option to be Robin Hood or to just go hunt some deer and steal anything I can from some lady down the street is wonderful. I love the AI too. The NPCs act almost human, you never know what will happen when you attack them or talk to them, or board their ship or enter their house. They may attack you, greet you, offer you something, ask you to leave, or just ignore you. That is why this game, where I can burn anyone I walk by and reap the consequences, is my favorite of the moment.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Artificial Intelligence... (the Turing test, Captcha and the Chinese Room)
The turing test is a test that says if a computer can be mistaken for a human, it is truly thinking. The test has a few flaws however. How does one make a judgement that the computer is being mistaken for a human? How do you determine how many people need to be fooled or how intelligent the humans themselves need to be to prove it? If a computer fools a person into believing it is human is it the computer that fools the human, or the human who programmed the computer that fools the human? With enough experience, algorithms, etc. humans can write programs to fool anyone and anything.
The Captcha test, for example, is a test waiting to be beaten by a very talented programmer (likely working on a spam bot). The squiggly text that appears is difficult to identify, however there are programs that can read facial features, and those appear to be more difficult to decipher. Artificial Intelligence of this style is in its infancy, yet making leaps and bounds. That a program can be so good as to beat another program, or a human, is not sentience or true artificial intelligence. It is like a man in a room...
The Chinese Room argument says that ANY program would be like a man in a room with rules in english for manipulating chinese characters. To the people outside the room it appears as if the man understands chinese, however he is not receiving translations or any way to learn the language, all he has is "move this character here, move this one there" and therefore does not gain any understanding of chinese. A computer, like this human, is simply manipulating our language by using commands in binary, such as "put this letter here, put these words here." It appears as if the computer understands what we are inputting and what it is outputting, but it has no greater understanding of the english language than the man in the room has of chinese.
The symbol grounding problem: I will choose typing. When a typist types, they feel the keys. There is a bump on the F and J key to indicate to the index finger on each hand where they should be, different pressure is put on these fingers than on the other fingers to locate the position of all the fingers. After this the typist must memorize where the keys are and reach with each individual finger, sometimes at the same time. The typist must be controlling each finger individually and subconciously. If the typist begins to think about it too long, they will mess up more, type slower (like I am now) and generally have more troubles. Typing uses a sensory of the keys and knowledge of the location of the fingers at all times. There is a necessity to understand what the feelings coming from the hard plastic keys does to the skin to indicate that the finger is on a key.
For an abstract idea, let's take something Socrates would enjoy, honor. What is honor? Honor is easily described by example, but how would you describe it by definition? The act of doing the right thing? That is an honorable act, so therefore is honor the right? But what is right? At any given moment something may be right or wrong, how can we decide and moreso, how can we explain this to a computer? Honor must therefore not be necessarily the right, it is going beyond that or else, stopping at a red light would be honorable. Going to work would be honorable. These things fall short of honor, they are common. Saving a person from drowning is honorable, so is honor the act of doing the right thing, when it isn't easy? or is it something that is right, but not common? This is difficult and well over 250 words so I am ending this, but one last question... Is honor a difficult, or impossible thing to define for a computer, there is so much to it, how do you describe what is right to a computer without a list of every conceivable variable in existence?
The Captcha test, for example, is a test waiting to be beaten by a very talented programmer (likely working on a spam bot). The squiggly text that appears is difficult to identify, however there are programs that can read facial features, and those appear to be more difficult to decipher. Artificial Intelligence of this style is in its infancy, yet making leaps and bounds. That a program can be so good as to beat another program, or a human, is not sentience or true artificial intelligence. It is like a man in a room...
The Chinese Room argument says that ANY program would be like a man in a room with rules in english for manipulating chinese characters. To the people outside the room it appears as if the man understands chinese, however he is not receiving translations or any way to learn the language, all he has is "move this character here, move this one there" and therefore does not gain any understanding of chinese. A computer, like this human, is simply manipulating our language by using commands in binary, such as "put this letter here, put these words here." It appears as if the computer understands what we are inputting and what it is outputting, but it has no greater understanding of the english language than the man in the room has of chinese.
The symbol grounding problem: I will choose typing. When a typist types, they feel the keys. There is a bump on the F and J key to indicate to the index finger on each hand where they should be, different pressure is put on these fingers than on the other fingers to locate the position of all the fingers. After this the typist must memorize where the keys are and reach with each individual finger, sometimes at the same time. The typist must be controlling each finger individually and subconciously. If the typist begins to think about it too long, they will mess up more, type slower (like I am now) and generally have more troubles. Typing uses a sensory of the keys and knowledge of the location of the fingers at all times. There is a necessity to understand what the feelings coming from the hard plastic keys does to the skin to indicate that the finger is on a key.
For an abstract idea, let's take something Socrates would enjoy, honor. What is honor? Honor is easily described by example, but how would you describe it by definition? The act of doing the right thing? That is an honorable act, so therefore is honor the right? But what is right? At any given moment something may be right or wrong, how can we decide and moreso, how can we explain this to a computer? Honor must therefore not be necessarily the right, it is going beyond that or else, stopping at a red light would be honorable. Going to work would be honorable. These things fall short of honor, they are common. Saving a person from drowning is honorable, so is honor the act of doing the right thing, when it isn't easy? or is it something that is right, but not common? This is difficult and well over 250 words so I am ending this, but one last question... Is honor a difficult, or impossible thing to define for a computer, there is so much to it, how do you describe what is right to a computer without a list of every conceivable variable in existence?
Monday, January 16, 2006
According to Dr. Hugo De Garis in "The Artilect War", would you be a part of The Cosmists or The Terrans?
I read most of "The Artilect War" by Dr. Hugo de Garis and have to say that his theories sound disturbing, pessimistic, and plausible. I do not believe this war will necessarily happen, however. I also read the reasons given for each side: Cosmists and Terrans. I disagree with most of the reasoning on both sides. Being an open-minded Christian, I feel it is disgusting to imagine creating these artilects as deities to be worshipped. That being said, I feel they should be created. I fear very little, especially from hyper-intelligent robots. There are a few reasons I feel the creation of these "artilects" should not be deterred.
The first reason is that I do not believe it will be possible to create true artificial intelligence on this scale. While I do not fully understand all of the science provided in the text, I believe that emotion or sentience are two things that would be difficult (impossible?) to create in artificial life forms. I may be wrong, but if so, I have more reasons.
I feel that even if they were created and became as intelligent as the Dr. points out and they viewed us as rocks or mosquitoes, there would be little or no threat. I know no human with a vendetta against all of rock-kind or mosquito-kind (except maybe in third world countries where they transmit so many diseases). Unless we were viewed as a threat to their kind, they would have no logical reason to dispose of us. Furthermore, they would likely stay in our area of space for a short period of time. As soon as they developed a means to travel quickly (which shouldn't take long with their extreme intellect) they would leave this solar system. They would take only minutes, perhaps seconds, to learn everything about this solar system (including earth, all of its species, and the other planets) and would likely pursue more knowledge.
If they have such extreme intellect and sentience, they could figure out how to help us evolve to their level (biologically) in a shorter time. They would likely desire companionship and produce more of themselves, but also wish to raise us up to their level as a biological equal. The fourth and final reason I have to say, "go ahead" and be a cosmist (though I disagree with most of their described reasoning) is that I believe in an all-mighty Deity who will not let all of human kind perish until His return. However, if this means an "Artilect War" before hand, so be it. He has his reasons and I see no benefit to destroying humanity with a war over whether or not to create them because they may destroy us if we do. What kind of circular logic is that?
The first reason is that I do not believe it will be possible to create true artificial intelligence on this scale. While I do not fully understand all of the science provided in the text, I believe that emotion or sentience are two things that would be difficult (impossible?) to create in artificial life forms. I may be wrong, but if so, I have more reasons.
I feel that even if they were created and became as intelligent as the Dr. points out and they viewed us as rocks or mosquitoes, there would be little or no threat. I know no human with a vendetta against all of rock-kind or mosquito-kind (except maybe in third world countries where they transmit so many diseases). Unless we were viewed as a threat to their kind, they would have no logical reason to dispose of us. Furthermore, they would likely stay in our area of space for a short period of time. As soon as they developed a means to travel quickly (which shouldn't take long with their extreme intellect) they would leave this solar system. They would take only minutes, perhaps seconds, to learn everything about this solar system (including earth, all of its species, and the other planets) and would likely pursue more knowledge.
If they have such extreme intellect and sentience, they could figure out how to help us evolve to their level (biologically) in a shorter time. They would likely desire companionship and produce more of themselves, but also wish to raise us up to their level as a biological equal. The fourth and final reason I have to say, "go ahead" and be a cosmist (though I disagree with most of their described reasoning) is that I believe in an all-mighty Deity who will not let all of human kind perish until His return. However, if this means an "Artilect War" before hand, so be it. He has his reasons and I see no benefit to destroying humanity with a war over whether or not to create them because they may destroy us if we do. What kind of circular logic is that?
Thursday, January 12, 2006
My first game
I have finally finished my first game (complete game) it is magnificently boring. I did the clown tutorial thing and couldn't just stick to that, I added a wasp instead, that speeds up when you scroll over it, lays an egg when you click on it and multiplies very quickly if you're good. That being said, I have no idea how to add a second level or what variables I can use with gamemaker to do that. I haven't tried yet, so I will look later, my family is calling and my kids want to eat.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
AI Work
Pattern recognition: The act of taking raw data and using it to anticipate certain actions based on that data.
Game AI: is the technique of making NPCs produce the illusion of intelligence, while still being defeatable. It is not producing an NPC that can destroy everything, and never die, but an NPC that gives the illusion of a challenge, while being able to lose to the player.
IQ: Intelligence Quotient. This is a standard method for computing the intelligence of an individual relative to the intelligence of society as a whole. (That is why by definition, 100 is average)
Game we haven't played: ES IV: Oblivion Radiant AI (new system... based on behavioral AI) Character's awareness isn't strictly limited to a few hard-scripted objects or activities... interaction with EVERYTHING based on set parameters, not scripting... controlled by own agenda, schedule, and motivation...
Game AI: is the technique of making NPCs produce the illusion of intelligence, while still being defeatable. It is not producing an NPC that can destroy everything, and never die, but an NPC that gives the illusion of a challenge, while being able to lose to the player.
IQ: Intelligence Quotient. This is a standard method for computing the intelligence of an individual relative to the intelligence of society as a whole. (That is why by definition, 100 is average)
Game we haven't played: ES IV: Oblivion Radiant AI (new system... based on behavioral AI) Character's awareness isn't strictly limited to a few hard-scripted objects or activities... interaction with EVERYTHING based on set parameters, not scripting... controlled by own agenda, schedule, and motivation...
Monday, January 09, 2006
In the beginning...
I'm really excited about this program. I moved to the Charlotte area over two years ago and began looking for a game design program. I almost moved to Florida to attempt Full Sail, but could not afford it. I have a wife and two kids (with one more on the way) so instead I settled on doing an AS transfer program and getting a BS in Computer Science. Fortunately my wife saw the new degree signs and I went home last week (on Tues) and dropped all of my other courses, except C++ and added four courses of SGD. So I am taking AI, Programming, 3D modeling, and intro. I can't wait to start making games. There are so many ideas in my head and on various notebooks throughout my house. I can't wait to unleash them on the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)