Ant colony : a community AI experiment for video games

Abstract

Immersion is an increasingly large focus of developers in the media of video games. More than it ever was for games like Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, static non-player characters following pre-defined paths and making the same exact decisions through each play through of the game can be a breakpoint for immersion. What modern games have lacked is a legitimate sense of being a character inside a dynamic community. To make an attempt at solving this problem, I created the game prototype Ant Colony. This prototype showcases a community with many personality types that make decisions independently, and based on certain factors. Each individual AI chooses where he or she wants to go in the world, and decides his or her own fates.