Video Games

[MrBogosity]

I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.

Would it work? Has it been done?

[kiri2tsubasa]

I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.

Would it work? Has it been done?

I think they have been working on something like that.  I think in the game Red Orchestra, enemies that use Mounted Machineguns will use suppression fire and the enemies will try and flank you while you are being suppressed.  Out side of that, I am not sure, but I think they are working on that.

[Virgil0211]

I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.

Would it work? Has it been done?

That sounds a bit like the idea behind the AI in the Left 4 Dead series, though I'd have to look things up again to be sure. It may have just been randomly generated level layout/enemy spawn points, but I thought I remembered something about the AI adapting to your methods in there somewhere.

But yes, that would be cool for a more strategic game like an RPG.

[Lord T Hawkeye]

I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.

Would it work? Has it been done?

They did make a poker playing AI that actually studies your patterns of play and stores the data to adapt it's strategy.  It nearly beat two poker champions.

[AnCap Dave]

Speaking of cheating AI, I'm convinced that the Pokemon games give the AI all kinds of advantages over the player.

I find status effects rarely work on my AI opponents such as confusion and paralysis. Every time I confuse the opponent, they rarely ever take damage from the confusion and they snap out of it after 1 turn. Not to mention, paralysis rarely ever prevents them from being able to move. And the combination of the two, commonly known as parafusion, which is supposed to make it so they only have a 25% chance to attack, has NEVER worked in my favor. However, if they do any of these things to me, my team is as good as dead.

I'm currently playing HeartGold on the Nintendo DS and am currently on the 8th gym leader. I get her down to her last Pokemon, and I only have 1 Pokemon left. Her last Pokemon is at less than half health and I could potentially win here. All I needed was that her attack didn't critical hit so I could hit her Dragonair with a Blizzard, which is its weakness. Of course the thing gets that critical hit causing me to lose the battle.

[Lord T Hawkeye]

This was an example of just short sighted programming. 

Final Fantasy 7 has a boss who normally wasn't hard but had a 100% fool proof way to beat you if it happened to use it.

Carry Armor was a robot who had two large arms that had their health and action.  The arms could simply attack a character or pick them up.  If they did the later, they would damage the character whenever the arms were damaged.  The only way to make them let go was to kill either the character or the arm and since the arms had way more health than your allies did, the former was usually the result.

Problem: If you kill the ally and the arm drops him, if he decides to pick up the third remaining character for his next action, it was game over instantly.  Utterly NO way to avoid this.