Link

Related Works

Where our inspirations came from

  1. Reinforcement Learning
    1. Applications
    2. Game applications
  2. Group theories
    1. Hamilton’s rule
    2. Food chain
    3. Group benefits
  3. Believable NPC
  4. Experience design
    1. Surprise in a good way
    2. Emotional arc

Reinforcement Learning

Originally invented by a CS professor, reinforcement learning has shown great potential in games.

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a relatively new machine learning method that learns the best actions based on reward or punishment in an environment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_learning


Applications

https://towardsdatascience.com/applications-of-reinforcement-learning-in-real-world-1a94955bcd12

Game applications

https://deepmind.com/blog/article/alphago-zero-starting-scratch


Group theories

Can algorithms simulates the behavior patterns existing in the nature?

Hamilton’s rule

Hamilton’s rule

In the context of sociobiology, Hamilton proposed that inclusive fitness offers a mechanism for the evolution of altruism. He claimed that this leads to natural selection to favor organisms that behave in ways that correlate with maximizing their inclusive fitness. If a gene (or gene complex) promoting altruistic behavior has copies of itself in others, helping those others survive ensures that the genes will be passed on. Hamilton’s rule describes mathematically whether or not a gene for altruistic behavior will spread in a population: c<rb where r is the probability, above the population average, of the individuals sharing an altruistic gene – commonly viewed as “degree of relatedness”. b is the reproductive benefit to the recipient of the altruistic behavior, and c is the reproductive cost to the altruist

Food chain

Food chain, in ecology, the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism.

Group benefits

The world is full of animals that live in groups, and they do it for a few different reasons. For one, living in groups helps some animals avoid getting eaten by predators. Some even join forces to take down prey bigger than them with less risk and effort.
https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/2018/01/12/animals-live-groups/


Believable NPC

In the game, NPCs have been widely applied to facilitate the player’s experience. We look at believability, behaviors, characteristics, and interactions of the characters.

Example of believable NPC: Makeourway


Experience design

How to evoke the fun with experience design? How do we define the delightful experience in our game?

Surprise in a good way

Good experience of the game mentioned from our client is that when players start the game, they begin to get familiar with the gameplay and become confident of the scenario and environment. Then they will encounter some challenges and conquer them. And in between, there will be a surprise or bigger challenge that the player may encounter some frustration. However, they will learn through the process and get more comfortable with the surprise again. So there is actually a learning process in the player’s experience.

Emotional arc

Emotional arc of storytelling