Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis

Michael Cook; Simon Colton; Azalea Raad

doi:10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412

Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis

Michael Cook, Simon Colton, Azalea Raad

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Designing game rulesets is an important part of automated game design, and often serves as a foundation for all other parts of the game, from levels to visuals. Popular ways of understanding game rulesets include using AI agents to play the game, which can be unreliable and computationally expensive, or restricting the design space to a set of known good game concepts, which can limit innovation and creativity. In this paper we detail how ANGELINA, an automated game designer, uses an abductive analysis of game rulesets to rapidly cull its design space. We show how abduction can be used to provide an understanding of possible paths through a ruleset, reduce unplayable or undesirable rulesets without testing, and can also help discover dynamic heuristics for a game that can guide subsequent tasks like level design.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18)
Editors	Cameron Browne
Place of Publication	Piscataway NJ USA
Publisher	IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages	17-24
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538643594, 9781538643587
ISBN (Print)	9781538643600
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412
Publication status	Published - 2018
Externally published	Yes
Event	IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games 2018 - Maastricht, Netherlands Duration: 14 Aug 2018 → 17 Aug 2018 Conference number: 14th https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/8473398/proceeding (Proceedings)

Publication series

Name	IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG
Publisher	IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Volume	2018-August
ISSN (Print)	2325-4270
ISSN (Electronic)	2325-4289

Conference

Conference	IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games 2018
Abbreviated title	CIG 2018
Country/Territory	Netherlands
City	Maastricht
Period	14/08/18 → 17/08/18
Internet address	https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/8473398/proceeding (Proceedings)

Keywords

Automated game design
Constraint inference
Procedural content generation

Access to Document

10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412

Cite this

Cook, M., Colton, S., & Raad, A. (2018). Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis. In C. Browne (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18) (pp. 17-24). (IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG; Vol. 2018-August). IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412

Cook, Michael ; Colton, Simon ; Raad, Azalea. / Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18). editor / Cameron Browne. Piscataway NJ USA : IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2018. pp. 17-24 (IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG).

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title = "Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis",

abstract = "Designing game rulesets is an important part of automated game design, and often serves as a foundation for all other parts of the game, from levels to visuals. Popular ways of understanding game rulesets include using AI agents to play the game, which can be unreliable and computationally expensive, or restricting the design space to a set of known good game concepts, which can limit innovation and creativity. In this paper we detail how ANGELINA, an automated game designer, uses an abductive analysis of game rulesets to rapidly cull its design space. We show how abduction can be used to provide an understanding of possible paths through a ruleset, reduce unplayable or undesirable rulesets without testing, and can also help discover dynamic heuristics for a game that can guide subsequent tasks like level design.",

keywords = "Automated game design, Constraint inference, Procedural content generation",

author = "Michael Cook and Simon Colton and Azalea Raad",

note = "Funding Information: IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is funded by EC FP7 grant 621403 (ERA Chair: Games Research Opportunities). Thanks to MPI-SWS for supporting the work of the first author. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.; IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games 2018, CIG 2018 ; Conference date: 14-08-2018 Through 17-08-2018",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781538643600",

series = "IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG",

publisher = "IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

pages = "17--24",

editor = "Cameron Browne",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18)",

address = "United States of America",

url = "https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/8473398/proceeding",

}

Cook, M, Colton, S & Raad, A 2018, Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis. in C Browne (ed.), Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18). IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG, vol. 2018-August, IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway NJ USA, pp. 17-24, IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games 2018, Maastricht, Netherlands, 14/08/18. https://doi.org/10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412

Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis. / Cook, Michael; Colton, Simon; Raad, Azalea.
Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18). ed. / Cameron Browne. Piscataway NJ USA: IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2018. p. 17-24 (IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG; Vol. 2018-August).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research

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T1 - Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis

AU - Cook, Michael

AU - Colton, Simon

AU - Raad, Azalea

N1 - Conference code: 14th

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Designing game rulesets is an important part of automated game design, and often serves as a foundation for all other parts of the game, from levels to visuals. Popular ways of understanding game rulesets include using AI agents to play the game, which can be unreliable and computationally expensive, or restricting the design space to a set of known good game concepts, which can limit innovation and creativity. In this paper we detail how ANGELINA, an automated game designer, uses an abductive analysis of game rulesets to rapidly cull its design space. We show how abduction can be used to provide an understanding of possible paths through a ruleset, reduce unplayable or undesirable rulesets without testing, and can also help discover dynamic heuristics for a game that can guide subsequent tasks like level design.

AB - Designing game rulesets is an important part of automated game design, and often serves as a foundation for all other parts of the game, from levels to visuals. Popular ways of understanding game rulesets include using AI agents to play the game, which can be unreliable and computationally expensive, or restricting the design space to a set of known good game concepts, which can limit innovation and creativity. In this paper we detail how ANGELINA, an automated game designer, uses an abductive analysis of game rulesets to rapidly cull its design space. We show how abduction can be used to provide an understanding of possible paths through a ruleset, reduce unplayable or undesirable rulesets without testing, and can also help discover dynamic heuristics for a game that can guide subsequent tasks like level design.

KW - Automated game design

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BT - Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18)

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Cook M, Colton S, Raad A. Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis. In Browne C, editor, Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG'18). Piscataway NJ USA: IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 2018. p. 17-24. (IEEE Conference on Computatonal Intelligence and Games, CIG). doi: 10.1109/CIG.2018.8490412

Inferring design constraints from game ruleset analysis

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

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