An Angry Birds Level Generator with Rube Goldberg Machine Mechanisms

This study proposes a method for generating Angry Birds-like game levels featuring a domino effect generated based on Rube Goldberg Machine (RGM) mechanisms, which allow them to be completed by one shot of a bird. The proposed method generates a level by selecting predefined segments consisting of several objects arranged in a way that creates a domino effect among them. To increase the variability of generated levels, the proposed method procedurally generates a varying structure on the top of certain blocks in a predefined segment. Our results show that the proposed RGM generator is comparable to two existing generators, including the winner of the 2018 AIBIRDS Level Generation Competition, in terms of stability while it outperforms both baseline generators with respect to running time and an expressivity metric called "dynamic" which is introduced in this work to measure the time period where moving objects, including a shooting bird, reside in a given level. In addition, from the perspective on the destructive power of a shot, the proposed generator can generate levels featuring a successful domino effect with a high probability, in particular for levels with three to four segments.

[1]  Julian Togelius,et al.  The 2017 AIBIRDS Level Generation Competition , 2019, IEEE Transactions on Games.

[2]  Andrew R. A. Conway,et al.  Working memory, attention control, and the N-back task: a question of construct validity. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[3]  Jochen Renz,et al.  Procedural Generation of Levels for Angry Birds Style Physics Games , 2021, AIIDE.

[4]  R. Thawonmas,et al.  Effects of Angry Birds-like Live Streaming on Working Memory , 2019 .

[5]  Debra O’Connor,et al.  Application sharing in K-12 education: Teaching and learning with Rube Goldberg , 2003 .

[6]  Changeun Yang,et al.  Promoting Emotions with Angry Birds-like Gameplay on Rube Goldberg Machine Levels , 2019, 2019 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Asia (ICCE-Asia).

[7]  Jochen Renz,et al.  Generating varied, stable and solvable levels for angry birds style physics games , 2017, 2017 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG).

[8]  Ruck Thawonmas,et al.  Procedural generation of angry birds levels with adjustable difficulty , 2016, 2016 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC).

[9]  Chi-Un Lei,et al.  Teaching introductory electrical engineering: Project-based learning experience , 2012, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) 2012.

[10]  Antonios Liapis,et al.  Sonancia : sonification of procedurally generated game levels , 2015 .

[11]  Yuuki Okido,et al.  Promoting Emotional Well-Being with Angry-Birds-like Gameplay on Pixel Image Levels , 2019, 2019 IEEE 7th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH).

[12]  Arif Sirinterlikci,et al.  Introducing Engineering Design Through an Intelligent Rube Goldberg Implementation , 2010 .

[13]  Changeun Yang,et al.  Blow Up Depression with In-Game TNTs , 2018, 2018 IEEE 7th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE).

[14]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  Changeun Yang,et al.  Smile with Angry Birds: Two Smile-Interface Implementations , 2018, 2018 Nicograph International (NicoInt).

[16]  Ruck Thawonmas,et al.  Procedural generation of angry birds fun levels using pattern-struct and preset-model , 2017, 2017 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG).

[17]  Jochen Renz,et al.  Procedural generation of complex stable structures for angry birds levels , 2016, 2016 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG).

[18]  Claudio Fabiano Motta Toledo,et al.  A search-based approach for generating Angry Birds levels , 2014, 2014 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games.