[WF-Scripting] AI scripting

[RaFaL Pocztarski]

Bryce Harrington wrote:

> How are things coming now, btw?

Much better but still not working. :)

> Well, one of the first really big requirements that needs to be in place
> before we can come anywhere close to making predictions about when Mason
> will be ready is the STAGE server.  I would think it would require the
> better part of a year, at least, before STAGE is usable anywhere close
> to where Mason will need it.  This of course is highly dependant on the
> amount of work people can put into the server over that time.  The good
> news is that right now the team appears to be growing, and individuals
> who had run out of time previously, seem to have found extra time to put
> into it.  So, figure something on the order of a year.  Plenty of time,
> no?  So don't worry if for some months you've got little time; put in
> what you can when you can, and we'll get there.  :-)

Good, so if I start in a month or to I could still contribute. I have to
find some
time to learn Python and get more fammiliar with C++ in such projects.
The MiniForge
project sounds very good to me, I have to start with something much
easier than
Cyphesis and UClient.

> > Btw, what scripts would Mason need first?
>
> Zzorn is a better one to answer this than I, but I would assume that a
> safe starting point would be wildlife scripts - deer, flocks of birds,
> etc.  I suggest this in large part because people have already been
> writing these sorts of scripts for Cyphesis and Acorn, and so there is a
> wealth of examples there.

Do you know some really good Python tutorial? With everything needed for
AI in
Cyphesis?

> One thing that would be a big help, is to look at this page:
>    http://www.worldforge.org/website/rules/mason/tasks/
> and help Zzorn generate a section to list scripts-needed.  I think this
> would be a good starting point for the scripting, and would help us
> scope out what exactly we're going to need others to help with.

I think I could help there but after some time. I have to learn Python
basics and
get fammiliar with Cyphesis source code to be able to write some simple
scripts.

> How are you coming with this?  Let us know if you've run into problems
> so that we can get you in contact with the appropriate people to get ya
> fixed up.

I can compile everything but when starting uclient I got:

    DII failed to lookup module Registry
    Segmentation fault

I've no idea what's that.

> > How the scripts will be executed in a real game? Thousands of animals
> > and NPC's would need a lot of computing power. Will everything be done
> > on the server?
>
> Initially we'll do it all on the main server.  However, our architecture
> allows us to establish separate machines for running AI independently of
> the main server machine.  I expect we're going to explore a few
> different mechanisms for handling this.  If you can come up with clever
> low-processor means for computing the action of, say, a whole herd of
> sheep, that'd be a really cool thing to have.

I think animals in herds could be handled as a whole herd, and only
animals in some
specific cases whould be handled individually. I mean, that when ships
see a wolf
then they are running away - there's no need to let every ship think
individually if
it wants to run or not. There could be some higher `herd consciousness'
which would
decide what to do (run away, eat grass, seek water, etc.) and individual
animals,
when in herd, could think only about different details (like which part
of grass to
eat..).

And about AI on different machines, how high the bandwith between those
AI machines
and the main server shoud be? I mean, would it be possible to use a lot
of different
machines all over the world as AI servers controling NPC's and animals,
the same way
as client machines for PC's?

--

  -- RaFaL Pocztarski -- mailto:admin at rfl.pl -- http://rfl.pl/ --