Chapter 12. Synthesizing Movement with Rule-Based Systems

Key Topics

• Case Study

• Rationale

• RBS Module Design

• Implementation

• Application

• Evaluation

Now that we have learned about rule-based systems (RBSs) in theory, this chapter focuses on a practical problem still related to movement. Because the obstacle-avoidance problem was solved comfortably, this time a wall-following behavior is attempted instead to diversify the experience.

The RBS provides the advantage of separating the behaviors from the AI system, so they are intuitive to edit. The format of production rules is very straightforward and easy to understand at a glance. This helps the development of nonplayer character (NPC) behaviors in general as well as wall following.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• The obligatory understanding phase, including a quick case study of wall-following behaviors

• The integration of the technology, including deciding on design details of the RBS

• The development of a modular RBS, describing its runtime interfaces and data storage

• The implementation of the module and the data structures used internally

• Applying the RBS module into the code skeleton to synthesize wall-following behaviors

• The solution and various aspects of the behavior, and the success of the RBS at this particular task

At the end of the chapter, the RBS should resolve some of the issues encountered with standard steering behaviors in Chapter 10, "Steering Behaviors for Obstacle Avoidance."