{"title":"Exploring Deep Reinforcement Learning for Battling in Collectible Card Games","authors":"R. Vieira, A. Tavares, L. Chaimowicz","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961110","url":null,"abstract":"Collectible card games (CCGs), such as Magic: the Gathering and Hearthstone, are a challenging domain where game-playing AI arguably has not yet reached human-level performance. We propose a deep reinforcement learning approach to battling in CCGs, using Legends of Code and Magic, a CCG designed for AI research, as a testbed. To do so, we formulate the battles as a Markov decision process, train agents to solve it, and evaluate them against two existing agents of different skill levels. Contrasting with the current state-of-the-art, our resulting agents act fast and can play many battles per second, despite their limited performance. We identify limitations and discuss several promising directions for improvement.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115481576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A data-driven approach to identify factors correlated to online games performance","authors":"F. L. Freitas, C. Dorneles","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961117","url":null,"abstract":"In the online gaming industry, the use of engagement features has been an increasingly used strategy to expand business results. This practice is even more important in those business models in which the company's revenue is directly proportional to the level of user engagement, like in free-to-pay and gambling games. In this context, knowing the engagement features and other success factors like technical characteristics and distribution channels that result in more profitable games is a decisive factor for online game developers. This work aims to contribute to this challenge by proposing a data-driven approach based on Machine Learning (ML) models to identify which factors are correlated with the performance of online games, in order to contribute to improving development decision-making and business revenue.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122897907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Spatial Lexical Analyzer and 3D Grammars that Recognize Voxel Based Structures Using Linear Positional Grammars in Minecraft","authors":"G. Xexéo, Leonardo Santos","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961122","url":null,"abstract":"We introduce the use of 3D grammars for the identification of objects formed by voxels, i.e., discrete element cells that compose a 3D grid. We also show how to apply these grammars in a bot that can recognize structures in Minecraft. Our main contribution is a new spatial lexical analyzer that can decide the direction it must follow to obtain the next input by looking at the future positions and the expected next token in a Linear Positional Grammar. Moreover, we define different positional relations and specific grammars for various Minecraft structures.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128502280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rodrigo D. Moreira, Flávio R. S. Coutinho, L. Chaimowicz
{"title":"Analysis and Compilation of Normal Map Generation Techniques for Pixel Art","authors":"Rodrigo D. Moreira, Flávio R. S. Coutinho, L. Chaimowicz","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961116","url":null,"abstract":"Pixel art is a popular artistic style adopted in the gaming industry, and nowadays, it is often accompanied by modern rendering techniques. One example is dynamic lighting for the game sprites, for which normal mapping defines how the light interacts with the material represented by each pixel. Although there are different methods to generate normal maps for 3D games, applying them for pixel art may not yield correct results due to the style specificities. Therefore, this work compiles different normal map generation methods and study their applicability for pixel art, reducing the scarcity of existing material on the techniques and contributing to a qualitative analysis of the behavior of these methods in different case studies.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127289318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lauro Victor Ramos Cavadas, E. Clua, Troy C. Kohwalter, S. Melo
{"title":"Training human-like bots with Imitation Learning based on provenance data","authors":"Lauro Victor Ramos Cavadas, E. Clua, Troy C. Kohwalter, S. Melo","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961077","url":null,"abstract":"Believable NonPlayer Characters in video games are one of the most challenging problems in the game industry over the last years. Players demand to expect to perceive the NPCs as other human-based player. Modeling NPC behavior manually is not always a good choice, mainly due to the number of NPCs a game can have and the difficulty of modeling a large number of actions that they can take. Our main goal is create a believable NPC acting like a real player. This work proposes an approach to training an NPC using Imitation Learning so that it is as similar as possible to a human player. Through this strategy, NPCs are trained from various types of players, avoiding predefined behaviors. Our proposal trains agents with the use of provenance data sets, tackling cause-effects data mining possibilities, and use Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning framework to take actions similar to what a player would take. The model proposed was create to be generic and applicable to various games. We validate our presented model with the DodgeBall environment inside Unity ML-Agents Toolkit for Unity Engine. Some players was asked to play against our agent and they validated the believability of our trained NPCs.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131146553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Message from General Chairs","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/sbgames56371.2022.9961119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/sbgames56371.2022.9961119","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114225503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Artur O. R. Franco, Wellington Franco, J. G. R. Maia, M. F. Castro
{"title":"Generating Rooms using Generative Grammars and Genetic Algorithms","authors":"Artur O. R. Franco, Wellington Franco, J. G. R. Maia, M. F. Castro","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961112","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961112","url":null,"abstract":"Bi-dimensional game environments are usually not designed as a single piece, but built on top of smaller pieces called tiles which, are typically grouped into tilesets. These work as a palette for creating backgrounds, so the resulting map also demands careful positioning of game objects. However, many modern games demand a high volume of scenarios composed of a myriad of tilesets, i.e., creating this kind of game content may be difficult and challenging for humans, so Procedural Content Generation (PCG) techniques can be used to address this problem. In this paper, we propose a novel PCG technique to speed up this process. We model generative grammars whose association rules yield strings that represent the objects arranged in the scene. We show that it is possible to define simple generation directives leaving it to a genetic algorithm process to control the best distributions of weights on the rules. We evaluate our technique under the scenario of generating game rooms for the popular JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game), resulting in varied and good-looking rooms.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126621680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"2022 Brazilian Symposium on Games and Digital Entertainment","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/sbgames56371.2022.9961079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/sbgames56371.2022.9961079","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130286848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Safe and Topographic Path Planning with Deep Neural Networks","authors":"Cristian M. Weber, Edison P. Freitas, L. Silva","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961114","url":null,"abstract":"Path planning with the topographical characteristics of real-world terrains has been investigated in the solution of problems in simulation systems and computer games. Path planning in real-world terrains involves finding a path with a low cost in terms of distance traveled according to the terrain relief. This work investigates how the computations of the $A^{ast}$ algorithm have to be performed for an agent to obtain a hidden path from the view of an observer in such terrains with topography. This indicates that terrain features are important for obtaining a path with reduced topographical cost that permits visually hiding an agent from an observer in a given terrain location. Moreover, this work evaluates the use of deep neural networks in the approximation of the heuristic used by the pathfinding algorithm, optimizing the execution time and number of expanded nodes required to compute safe routes with lower topographic costs that are generated with the proposed Deep Safe and Topographic $A^{ast}$ (DSTA*) algorithm.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"168 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115972930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Character-based Model for Interactive Storytelling in Games","authors":"E. S. D. Lima, Bruno Feijó, A. Furtado","doi":"10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/SBGAMES56371.2022.9961071","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we present a novel character-based model for interactive storytelling in games, which combines multi-agent planning with a drama management strategy based on production rules to guide the narrative generation process. The underlying proposed method is capable of generating and controlling the enactment of character-based narratives in highly interactive game worlds. After describing the model, the paper proceeds to assess its applicability and performance. A fully implemented prototype game is used to demonstrate how the model works in practice.","PeriodicalId":154269,"journal":{"name":"2022 21st Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)","volume":"351 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125630872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}