Broadly, this repository is a code base for an ongoing research project concerned with game agent believability, artificial intelligence for game NPCs, and leveraging heterogeneous AI systems to open new game design spaces. Within the abl folder of this repository, you will find source code for a Java proxy server that runs a game agent using ABL. Within the oops-all-bards folder, you will find source code for a game demo built with Unity that is intended to be run alongside the Java proxy server to showcase the game agent.
Central to our current work is a testbed virtual world to realize new ideas. In our case, this takes the form of Oops! All Bards. Oops! All Bards is a 3D roleplaying game in which the player can inhabit the persona of a bard living in a medieval fantasy world currently under siege by a mysterious and maleficent entity. We drew much inspiration from classic tabletop RPGs, in which it is common that the player gathers a party of NPCs to join them as they progress through the game.
We intend our system in its current state to be used to improve the believability of moments between player-driven events and NPC reaction. Thus, it made sense to showcase how an NPC can react and behave in different scenarios using our combined system. For the purposes of the demo shown here, we crafted an NPC called Quinton: a semi-retired, grizzled bard who manages entertainment at a tavern called The Thirsty Whale. Quinton is an NPC who can be recruited to the player’s party and will aid the player in one of the scenarios shown in the demo.
The scenarios we chose for this particular demo are slices of two central aspects of the game. The player is first introduced to an exploratory scenario, wherein they can engage in dialogue with NPCs like Quinton, learn about the kinds of characters they are, improve relationships with them, and generally learn more about the world of the game. After some conversation, the player will be introduced to a combat scenario alongside Quinton, during which they can experience how Quinton will react and respond to various things that the player may, or may not, do. Of particular note is what may happen when Quinton, a character with the Vengeful trait, asks for help in combat and the player does not do anything to aid him.
For anyone interested in seeing a guided tour of the demo as played by one of the collaborators on this project, please navigate here.
You can get a copy of this project up and running in the following ways, depending on how you wish to use it:
If you only wish to play the demo, please follow these steps:
- Download the appropriate .zip file from the Releases hub according to your OS. There are executables for Windows and macOS. Each .zip file contains two directories:
serverandgame. - For Windows users: Run
run_oab.batfrom within theserverdirectory. For macOS users: You may execute therun_oab.shshell script from the command line. This will ultimately open both a command line prompt and an ABL debugger; you can click the "Continue" button at the bottom of the ABL debugger and forget about it. - Run the appropriate game executable from within the
gamedirectory. For Windows users, this will beoops-all-bards.exe. For macOS users, this will beOAB.app. You should now be able to play the demo in the intended way.
If you wish to build this project from source, it is recommended you have Unity 2021.2.9f1 installed on your machine.
- Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/singlab/oops-all-bards.git- After cloning/downloading this repository, open a new project in
Unity with the
oops-all-bardsdirectory as the root project folder. - Using the Java Eclipse IDE, go to
File -> Open Projects from File System. - In the dialogue window, select the
ablfolder as the import source using the Directory option, and click Finish. - Expand the
srcfolder in the outliner on the left side of the editor. Expand theserverfolder on the left side of the editor. R-click the fileTCPServer.javaand select Run As -> Java application. This will run the Java proxy server on localhost. - You may now play the game demo within the Unity editor.