Benvenuti in questa affascinante conferenza attraverso la storia dell'intelligenza artificiale nei videogiochi, tenuta da Carlo Santagostino.
During the decades, the integration of the AI in video games has become a key element to offer increasingly engaging and complex game experiences. In this conference, recorded on the occasion of the Varese Retrocomputing 2023, we explore with Carlo Santagostino the path that brought video games, from the era of simple predetermined schemes, to the creation of virtual worlds in which the characters act autonomously and react to the actions of the players.
Internet ancestor: Plato and the University Revolution
Our journey began in the 1950s, when the first video games without artificial intelligence were performed on huge university computers, powerful for the time. Even then, famous algorithms for Tris, Dama and Chess made their appearance. Bertie the Brain and Oxo were video games of the time and Nimrod a super computer built by Ferranti.
However, the real development of the games occurred in university environments thanks to supercomputer and the Plato network, an ancestor of the Internet. This network supported incredible resolutions of 1024x1024 points, a real miracle considering that we are in the 60s and 70s of the last century.
Plato (ProgramMed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation) started in 1960, on the Iliac computer of the University of Illinois. In the 70s, practically all the universities of the world was used, which were connected to this network.
The rise of 'pong' and arcade games
In the 70s, we played like 'Pong', 'Gran Trak 10', and 'Gran Trak 20' dominated the games rooms. They did not use a microprocessor, but were made with integrated TTL. 1976 brought a fundamental turning point in the field of video games, with the advent of the Mos 6510 microprocessor. 'Sprint 2', a video game of car races, introduced for the first time algorithms that made it seemed that the opposing cars were driven by real players.
Atari 2600 and the Home Video Game Revolution
In 1977, Atari presented the Atari Video Computer System, also known as Atari 2600, unleashing the mania of domestic video games. Games like 'Space Invaders', 'Video Olympics' and 'Pacman' became mass phenomena, even if the first implementations were lacking in a sophisticated artificial intelligence.
The 80s: Little Computer People brings artificial intelligence to home video games
The 80s marked an important step for artificial intelligence in video games. David Crane, founder of Activision, created games like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Little Computer People' for the Commodore 64. The latter was revolutionary for introducing the idea of an artificial person who lived within the player's computer. This innovation opened the way to use artificial intelligence algorithms in video games.
L'affinamento dell'intelligenza artificiale nei videogiochi
Negli anni '90 e successivi, l'intelligenza artificiale nei videogiochi continuò a evolversi. Giochi come 'Herzog Zwei', 'Dune II', e 'Halo: Combat Evolved' introdussero algoritmi di intelligenza artificiale più avanzati, tra cui automi a stati finiti e alberi di comportamento. Nonostante ciò, l'IA nei videogiochi era soggetta a problemi come il "barare": il computer aveva accesso a informazioni che i giocatori umani non avevano. Era un po' come nei videogiochi di carte, in cui il computer conosceva le carte degli avversari.
Doom and the birth of an honesty
Solo con 'Doom', i videogiocatori iniziarono a sperimentare l'IA che non "barava". I personaggi controllati dall'IA rispondevano alle azioni del giocatore senza accesso privilegiato a informazioni sul terreno di gioco.
Artificial intelligence in video games - interesting?
This conference, recorded on video, also explores many other crucial stages in the history of the AI in video games and as they have contributed to creating increasingly engaging and realistic game experiences.
Speaker: Carlo Santagostino
Filming: Fabio Massa (BioMassa) and Mariangela Sapia
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