Re: Is this the right place to ask for help about AI?

Hi,

> In my simple mind a simple thing is borning: AI knows exactly what the
> opponent is doing, so i think that build the "Perfect CPU Opponent" is
> possible.

Sure.

> Then it can be easy to add some delay on the decisions or some random wrong
> choice for the first "low" levels.

Exactly. You can specify a AI level, that would say how likely it is
to make a wrong (or very wrong) decision.

> That sounds simple, but my first problem is "how to make AI thinking?"

Your AI is a barbarian. It shouldn't think !

> Some moves (not listed here) are "abortable". So you can change your move in
> the middle of another... should the AI take care of this?

Why not ? For instance, a "perfect" AI would abort a move if a move
from the player had made its current move useless (or there is a
better move to do just now). It could also be notified when the player
aborts a move, in order to react better. In any case, you can still
specify with a simple AI level.

> Some moves produces an "Instant kill" instead of the normal damage, but are
> (in time) more long. What the AI have to do? Parry the attack, or dodge and
> hit while the opponent is still in the middle of that long move?

What's the best thing to do ? The actions possible are rather simple,
and you, as a human expert, knows which is best, so you can make your
AI choose one of these actions depending on its level (like, good AI =
50% choosing the best action, 40% choosing medium, 10% choosing wrong,
etc...).

> Some moves don't cause damage, but make the "victim" falling to the ground,
> giving a chance to begin long moves while the opponent is not still stand.
> How the AI should judge these moves, and how to choose to use it or not (so
> how to evaluate if is better doing damage, or gain some time)?

Again, judge it yourself. If you want to do some more complicated
stuff, you may try using a genetic algorithm. Each gene would describe
an action (or a probability of doing an action) in a given situation,
and you would make your candidates fight to see who performs best.

> A good AI (i think) will play different charachters in different modes, for
> example making a fast and light charachter attacking more often than a slow
> and stronger one, witch instead can wait, parry and then hit.
> How to implement all these stuffs?

If you have a speed attribute that says how often a character can hit,
that will make a fast char. attack more often, no  ?

> These questions can sounds trivial for you great AI programmer, but for me
> are a big rock in the middel of my way.

You don't need state-of-the-art AI for a barbarian clone. Some good
judgement and a bit of randomness should do the trick :)

Olivier