Course in 2016
Course has own page for 2016 edition: http://tkt-hon.github.io/midwars/
Registration
The registration for the course has begun: AI for Games III. Join us today!
Introduction
In this workshop style course, students will form groups of 2-3 people. Each group will develop an individual AI and a group AI for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Heroes of Newerth (HoN).
The course starts on the 6th of May and ends on the 17th of May. The estimated work amount for this course is about 5 hours per day (weekends not included).
At the end of the course there will be a tournament, where teams will battle for the “course championship”. Final games will be casted (streamed) by the Finnish eSport group.
Prerequisites
- Basic skills in programming.
- Basic understanding of XML (can read some stuff from example file).
Team
Under supervision of university lecturer Matti Luukkainen
Course Setup
IRC
- Course and CS student general HoN channel: #tkt-hon @ IRCnet
- Official HoN channel: #hon @ irc.s2games.com
- Official HoN bot coding channel: #honbots @ irc.s2games.com
First Tournament
First week goal is to create three bots (Moon Queen, Plague Rider and Rampage) and mirror match them (both sides use same hero). Teams will be ranked after winning percentage. A bot wins if it kills opponent or destroys tower.
Map of the tournament is Forests of Caldavar restricted to middle lane only.
Final Tournament
Second week concentrates more on team AI and how multiple heroes play together against other team. The duplicated heroes game mode is enabled in this tournament too, so picking won't be included as team AI strategy. Tournament mode is double elimination and at least finals are casted.
Hero pool is following: Aluna, Amun-Ra, Andromeda, Chronos, Dampeer, Defiler, Demented Shaman, Flint Beastwood, Forsaken Archer, Glacius, Hammerstorm, Legionnaire, Magmus, Moon Queen, Pharaoh, Plague Rider, Pollywog Priest, Predator, Pyromancer, Rampage, Rhapsody, Sand Wraith, Soul Reaper, Tempest, Tundra, Voodoo Jester, Wildsoul, Witch Slayer.
Map of the tournament is Forests of Caldavar without restrictions. Different kind of strategies can be used (we are hoping to see all kind of strategies groups have in mind).
Final Report
Ginal report is a form, which is here. Send it to Sami (saada@cs.helsinki.fi).
Grading
This is pass/fail course with 1-3 credits. To pass course, group has to participate tournaments and write final report, also attendance is required.
Goals
- Get familiar with game AI in practice.
- A basic knowledge what kind of challenges game AI involves.
Monday 6.5.2013
- 10:15-11:45 Course starts: Basic information from the game and its AI. Formation of the groups. Classroom BK107
- 12:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Tuesday 7.5.2013
- 10:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Wednesday 8.5.2013
- 10:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Thursday 9.5.2013
- Ascension Day
Friday 10.5.2013
- 10:15-11:45 Bot submiting: Send bots of first tournament to organizers.
- 12:15-XX First tournament: Classroom BK107
Monday 13.5.2013
- 10:15-11:45 Introduction for Team AI: Basic information about team AI and how to utilize it. Classroom BK107
- 12:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Tuesday 14.5.2013
- 10:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Wednesday 15.5.2013
- 10:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Thursday 16.5.2013
- 10:15-19:30 Bot coding: Classroom BK107
Friday 17.5.2013
- 10:15-11:45 Bot submiting: Send bots of final tournament to organizers.
- 12:15-XX Final tournament: Classroom BK107. This tournament will be casted.
- XX Results: Classroom BK107. Awarding. Describing final report.
Resources
Our wiki page contains some material.
HoN has community forums, where are lots of useful tips. Bots and Technical Discussion
API stuff aren't so well documented yet, but some low level API stuff can be found from this GitHub page and Lua API stuff from our GitHub page (there are only files, but not documentation yet).