Make It Fast - Simultaneous AI Actions in Gears Tactics - Unreal Fest Online 2020

Explore the AI system behind Gears Tactics in this 28-minute Unreal Fest Online 2020 talk by Splash Damage's Matthias Siemonsmeier. Dive into the development of fast enemy turns that maintain player clarity, enable high kill counts, and present challenging yet solvable scenarios. Discover how the team combined behavior trees and goal planners with a "Combo Move" system and extensive preplanning to achieve simultaneous unit actions without compromising player understanding. Gain insights into high-level decision making and the underlying systems that power the game's AI. Ideal for gameplay/AI programmers and AI system designers, this session covers topics such as early development stages, goal statements, plan execution, world state management, level scripting, unit planning, player perception, and debugging techniques.

Intro
SPLASH DAMAGE
ABOUT THIS TALK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE EARLY DAYS
GEARS TACTICS AI - GOAL STATEMENT
THE AI SYSTEM
PLANELEMENTS
PLAN EXECUTION
THE PLAN - EXAMPLE
THE WORLDSTATE
LEVEL SCRIPTING
GOAL PLANNER
UNIT PLANNING
COMBO MOVE ANALYSER
MOTIVATION
EXAMPLE: CONCENTRATE FIRE
PLAYER PERCEPTION
EXECUTE EARLY
COMBINE COMBO MOVES
EXAMPLE: COMMAND
OVERWATCH
PROBLEM!
BLACKBOARD MODIFICATIONS
INTERRUPTIONS
DEBUGGING
VISUAL LOGGER
DISCUSSION