Abstract
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are characters within a video game, which are not controlled by a human participant. While they are mainly used to fulfil a role not designated for a human player, there are occasions when an NPC needs to play in a human role, and therefore needs to imitate appropriate gameplay behaviours, in such a way they are not easily distinguished from a human player. Navigation is a fundamental gameplay behaviour; focused on how a player traverses the environment when undertaking objectives. This paper explores the possibility of modelling human navigation by modifying A* algorithm with a heatmap derived from human-based data. This is achieved by having participants complete a search and collect experiment, the data is saved for analysis and to develop a navigation model. NPCs using the model undertake the same experiment but with a heatmap weighted A* graph. The experiment explores adjusting the weight of the heatmap so its influence on the pathfinding varies and a comparison can be made to see which weight better reflects the human results.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | SIMUL 2022, The Fourteenth International Conference on Advances in System Simulation |
Publisher | International Academy, Research, and Industry Association |
Pages | 15-21 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1-68558-001-8 |
Publication status | Published - 16 Oct 2022 |
Event | The Fourteenth International Conference on Advances in System Simulation (SIMUL 2022) - Lisbon, Portugal Duration: 16 Oct 2022 → 20 Oct 2022 Conference number: 14th |
Publication series
Name | |
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ISSN (Electronic) | 2038-4537 |
Conference
Conference | The Fourteenth International Conference on Advances in System Simulation (SIMUL 2022) |
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Abbreviated title | SIMUL 2022 |
Country/Territory | Portugal |
City | Lisbon |
Period | 16/10/22 → 20/10/22 |
Keywords
- NPC
- Player Modelling
- Pathfinding
- Gameplay
- A* Algorithm