A goal processing architecture for game agents

Abstract

Computer games are becoming increasingly popular as a research platform for agents research and applications. A key problem for game agents is responding in a timely and appropriate way to multiple, often conflicting goals in a complex, dynamic environment. In this paper we propose a novel goal processing architecture for game agents. Building on the teleo-reactive programming framework originally developed in robotics, we introduce the notion of a resource, which can be used to gain exclusive access to specific game objects as well as to represent more abstract things such as properties of the agent. We then describe a goal arbitration architecture for teleo-reactive programs with resources. Our architecture allows an agent to respond flexibly to multiple competing goals, and simplifies the development of game agents by facilitating increased code re-use. 1