Using Cyclic Scheduling to Generate Believable Behavior in Games Richard Zhao and Duane Szafron Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E8 {rxzhao, dszafron} @ualberta.ca Abstract Video game virtual characters should interact with the player, each other, and the environment. However, the cost of scripting complex behaviors becomes a bottleneck in content creation. Our goal is to help game designers to more easily populate their open world with background characters that exhibit more believable behaviors. We use a cyclic scheduling model that generates dynamic schedules for the daily lives of virtual characters. The scheduler employs a tiered behavior architecture where behavior components are modular and reusable. This research validates the designer usability of an implementation of this model. We present the results of a user study that evaluates the scheduling system versus manual scripting based on three metrics of behavior creation: behavior completeness, behavior correctness and behavior implementation time. The results indicate that the behavior architecture produces more reliable behaviors and improves designer efficiency which will reduce the cost of generating more believable character behaviors. extensive scripting. However, these same games have secondary characters and extras that lack believability and simply exist to fill up the game world. Three key changes are necessary to address this problem. First, the behaviors must be more believable as measured by game players. Second, the behaviors must be reliable so that they work as designed. Third, designer efficiency must be increased to reduce production costs. This paper extends our work on a tiered behavior architecture model (Zhao and Szafron 2014) which attempts to alleviate the content creation bottleneck for cyclic behaviors. Our architecture employs a cyclic scheduling algorithm, which determines the general objectives of the virtual characters and specifies the roles that will satisfy these objectives dynamically at game time. We validated the believability of the generated behaviors against a recent commercial game with a user study (Zhao and Szafron 2014).
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 00:48:23 +0000