Automatic Content Generation in the Galactic Arms Race Video Game

Simulation and game content includes the levels, models, textures, items, and other objects encountered and possessed by players during the game. In most modern video games and in simulation software, the set of content shipped with the product is static and unchanging, or at best, randomized within a narrow set of parameters. However, ideally, if game content could be constantly and automatically renewed, players would remain engaged longer. This paper introduces two novel technologies that take steps toward achieving this ambition: 1) a new algorithm called content-generating NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (cgNEAT) is introduced that automatically generates graphical and game content while the game is played, based on the past preferences of the players, and 2) Galactic Arms Race (GAR), a multiplayer video game, is constructed to demonstrate automatic content generation in a real online gaming platform. In GAR, which is available to the public and playable online, players pilot space ships and fight enemies to acquire unique particle system weapons that are automatically evolved by the cgNEAT algorithm. A study of the behavior and results from over 1000 registered online players shows that cgNEAT indeed enables players to discover a wide variety of appealing content that is not only novel, but also based on and extended from previous content that they preferred in the past. Thus, GAR is the first demonstration of evolutionary content generation in an online multiplayer game. The implication is that with cgNEAT it is now possible to create applications that generate their own content to satisfy users, potentially reducing the cost of content creation and increasing entertainment value from single-player to massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) with a constant stream of evolving content.

[1]  Grace Jordison.  Molecular Biology of the Gene , 1965, The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

[2]  W. Reeves.  Particle Systems—a Technique for Modeling a Class of Fuzzy Objects , 1983, TOGS.

[3]  Ricki Blau,et al.  Approximate and probabilistic algorithms for shading and rendering structured particle systems , 1985, SIGGRAPH.

[4]  R. Dawkins.  The Blind Watchmaker , 1986 .

[5]  Craig W. Reynolds.  Flocks, herds, and schools: a distributed behavioral model , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[6]  E. Spanier,et al.  Molecular biology of the gene(fourth edition). Vol. I. General principles. Menlo Park/California; Reading, Massachusetts; Don Mills, Ontario; Wokingham, U.K.; Amsterdam; Sydney; Singapore; Tokyo; Madrid; Bogota; Santiago; San Juan: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1987. 765 pp., DM 12 , 1988 .

[7]  George Cybenko,et al.  Approximation by superpositions of a sigmoidal function , 1989, Math. Control. Signals Syst..

[8]  Karl Sims,et al.  Artificial evolution for computer graphics , 1991, SIGGRAPH.

[9]  Stephen Todd,et al.  Evolutionary Art and Computers , 1992 .

[10]  David E. Breen,et al.  A Particle-Based Model for Simulating the Draping Behavior of Woven Cloth , 1993 .

[11]  Byoung-Tak Zhang,et al.  Evolving Optimal Neural Networks Using Genetic Algorithms with Occam's Razor , 1993, Complex Syst..

[12]  G. L. Nelson.  Sonomorphs: An application of genetic algorithms to the growth and development of musical organisms , 1993 .

[13]  Karl Sims,et al.  Evolving virtual creatures , 1994, SIGGRAPH.

[14]  Lee Altenberg,et al.  Evolving better representations through selective genome growth , 1994, Proceedings of the First IEEE Conference on Evolutionary Computation. IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence.

[15]  I. Harvey.  The artificial evolution of adaptive behaviour , 1994 .

[16]  David B. Fogel,et al.  Evolving Neural Control Systems , 1995, IEEE Expert.

[17]  Larry D. Pyeatt,et al.  A comparison between cellular encoding and direct encoding for genetic neural networks , 1996 .

[18]  Linda World,et al.  Aesthetic Selection: The Evolutionary Art of Steven Rooke [About the Cover] , 1996, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[19]  Phil Husbands,et al.  Two Applications of Genetic Algorithms to Component Design , 1996, Evolutionary Computing, AISB Workshop.

[20]  Wolfgang Straßer,et al.  A fast, flexible, particle-system model for cloth draping , 1996, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[21]  Jeff Lander.  The Ocean Spray in Your Face , 1998 .

[22]  Andrew P. Martin.  Increasing Genomic Complexity by Gene Duplication and the Origin of Vertebrates , 1999, The American Naturalist.

[23]  X. Yao.  Evolving Artificial Neural Networks , 1999 .

[24]  Craig W. Reynolds.  Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters , 1999 .

[25]  Risto Miikkulainen,et al.  Solving Non-Markovian Control Tasks with Neuro-Evolution , 1999, IJCAI.

[26]  Nao and Iba Hitoshi Tokui,et al.  Music Composition with Interactive Evolutionary Computation , 2000 .

[27]  Sung-Bae Cho,et al.  A 3D modeling system for creative design , 2001, Proceedings 15th International Conference on Information Networking.

[28]  Ming C. Lin,et al.  Automatic simplification of particle system dynamics , 2001, Proceedings Computer Animation 2001. Fourteenth Conference on Computer Animation (Cat. No.01TH8596).

[29]  Hideyuki Takagi,et al.  Interactive evolutionary computation: fusion of the capabilities of EC optimization and human evaluation , 2001, Proc. IEEE.

[30]  Risto Miikkulainen,et al.  Evolving Neural Networks through Augmenting Topologies , 2002, Evolutionary Computation.

[31]  Markus H. Gross,et al.  Particle-based fluid simulation for interactive applications , 2003, SCA '03.

[32]  Penousal Machado,et al.  All the Truth About NEvAr , 2002, Applied Intelligence.

[33]  Risto Miikkulainen,et al.  Real-time neuroevolution in the NERO video game , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

[34]  Jon McCormack,et al.  Open Problems in Evolutionary Music and Art , 2005, EvoWorkshops.

[35]  Andrew Stern,et al.  Procedural Authorship: A Case-Study Of the Interactive Drama Façade , 2005 .

[36]  Michael Nitsche.  Designing Procedural Game Spaces : A Case Study , 2006 .

[37]  Shimon Whiteson,et al.  Comparing evolutionary and temporal difference methods in a reinforcement learning domain , 2006, GECCO.

[38]  David Hart,et al.  Toward greater artistic control for interactive evolution of images and animation , 2006, SIGGRAPH '06.

[39]  Kenneth O. Stanley.  Exploiting Regularity Without Development , 2006, AAAI Fall Symposium: Developmental Systems.

[40]  Brad Johanson,et al.  GP-Music: An Interactive Genetic Programming System for Music Generation with Automated Fitness Raters , 2007 .

[41]  Kenneth DeJong.  Evolutionary computation: a unified approach , 2007, GECCO.

[42]  Phil Husbands,et al.  An Introduction to Evolutionary Computing for Musicians , 2007 .

[43]  Colin R. Reeves,et al.  Evolutionary computation: a unified approach , 2007, Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines.

[44]  Kenneth O. Stanley,et al.  Compositional Pattern Producing Networks : A Novel Abstraction of Development , 2007 .

[45]  Penousal Machado,et al.  The Art of Artificial Evolution: A Handbook on Evolutionary Art and Music , 2007 .

[46]  Simon Colton,et al.  Towards a general framework for program generation in creative domains , 2007 .

[47]  Julian Togelius,et al.  Towards automatic personalised content creation for racing games , 2007, 2007 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games.

[48]  Julian Togelius,et al.  An experiment in automatic game design , 2008, 2008 IEEE Symposium On Computational Intelligence and Games.

[49]  Jimmy Secretan,et al.  Picbreeder: evolving pictures collaboratively online , 2008, CHI.

[50]  Kenneth O. Stanley,et al.  Exploiting Open-Endedness to Solve Problems Through the Search for Novelty , 2008, ALIFE.

[51]  Christian Jacob,et al.  Swarming for Games: Immersion in Complex Systems , 2009, EvoWorkshops.

[52]  Charles E. Hughes,et al.  How novelty search escapes the deceptive trap of learning to learn , 2009, GECCO.

[53]  Kenneth O. Stanley,et al.  Exploiting functional relationships in musical composition , 2009, Connect. Sci..

[54]  Simon Colton,et al.  Evolving Simple Art-Based Games , 2009, EvoWorkshops.

[55]  Kenneth O. Stanley,et al.  Interactive Evolution of Particle Systems for Computer Graphics and Animation , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

[56]  V. Ramakrishnan,et al.  Measurement of the top-quark mass with dilepton events selected using neuroevolution at CDF. , 2008, Physical review letters.