General game playing
General game playing is the design of artificial intelligence programs to be able to play more than one game successfully.[1] For many games like chess, computers are programmed to play these games using a specially designed algorithm, which cannot be transferred to another context. For example, a chess playing computer program cannot play checkers. A General Game Playing system, if well designed, would be able to help in other areas, such as in providing intelligence for search and rescue missions.
Stanford project
General Game Playing is a project of the Stanford Logic Group of Stanford University, California, which aims to create a platform for general game playing. The games are defined by sets of rules represented in the Game Description Language. In order to play the games, players interact with a game hosting server[2][3] that monitors moves for legality and keeps players informed of state changes.
Since 2005, there have been annual General Game Playing competitions at the AAAI Conference. The winner of the competition is awarded with US$10,000. So far, the following programs were victorious:[4]
- 2005: Cluneplayer, by Jim Clune (UCLA)
- 2006: Fluxplayer,[5] by Stephan Schiffel and Michael Thielscher (Dresden University of Technology)
- 2007: Cadiaplayer,[6] by Yngvi Björnsson and Hilmar Finnsson (Reykjavik University)
- 2008: Cadiaplayer, by Yngvi Björnsson, Hilmar Finnsson and Gylfi Þór Guðmundsson (Reykjavik University)
- 2009: Ary, by Jean Méhat (Paris 8 University)
- 2010: Ary, by Jean Méhat (Paris 8 University)
- 2011: TurboTurtle, by Sam Schreiber
- 2012: Cadiaplayer, by Hilmar Finnsson and Yngvi Björnsson (Reykjavik University)
- 2013: TurboTurtle, by Sam Schreiber
Other approaches
There are other general game playing systems, which use their own languages for defining the game rules. In 1992, Barney Pell developed the system Metagame.[7] This system was able to play a number of chess-like games, given game rules definition in a special language. In 1998, the commercial system Zillions of Games was developed by Jeff Mallett and Mark Lefler. The system used a LISP-like language to define the game rules. Zillions of Games derived the evaluation function automatically from the game rules based on piece mobility, board structure and game goals. It also employed usual algorithms as found in computer chess systems: alpha-beta pruning with move ordering, transposition tables, etc.[8] The package was extended in 2007 by the addition of the Axiom plug-in, an alternate metagame engine which incorporates a complete Forth-based programming language.
See also
- AI effect
- Applications of artificial intelligence
- Game Description Language
- List of emerging technologies
- Outline of artificial intelligence
- Domain-specific entertainment language
- Automated Game Design
References
- ^ General Game Playing: Overview of the AAAI Competition by Michael Genesereth and Nathaniel Love.
- ^ GGP Server, platform for competition of general game playing systems.
- ^ Dresden GGP Server, platform for competition of general game playing systems with automatic scheduling of matches.
- ^ General Game Playing World Championships
- ^ Information about Fluxplayer, the winner of the 2nd International General Game Playing competition.
- ^ Information about CADIAPlayer, more information about the winner of the 3rd and 4th International General Game Playing competition.
- ^ Barney Pell's research on computer game playing.
- ^ Available: Universal Game Engine email to comp.ai.games by Jeff Mallett, 10-Dec-1998.
External links
- General Game Playing Project by Stanford University.
- General Game Playing Resources provided by Dresden University of Technology.
- Axiom Development kit a meta-game development system compatible with Zillions of Games, by Greg Schmidt.
- Palamedes - A General Game Playing IDE.