Implementation of Asymmetric Potential Fields in Real Time Strategy Game

Abstract: In eighties, the idea of using potential fields was first introduced in the field of the robotics. The purpose of using potential fields was to achieve the natural movement in robotics. Many researchers proceeded this idea to enhance their research. The idea of using potential fields was also introduced in real time strategy games for the better movement of objects. In this thesis we worked on the idea of using asymmetric potential fields in the game environment. The purpose of our study was to analyze the affect of asymmetric potential fields on unit’s formation and their movement in game environment. In this study performance of asymmetric potential fields was also compared with symmetric potential fields. By literature review the potential field and its usage in RTS games were studied. The methodology to implement the potential fields in RTS game was also identified in literature review. In experimental part the asymmetric potential fields implemented by using the methodology proposed by Hagelbäck and Johansson. By following that methodology asymmetric potential field was applied on StarCraft bot by using the BWAPI. Experiment was also designed to test the asymmetric potential field bot. Asymmetric potential field bot was tested on the two maps of StarCraft: Brood War game. On these two maps, bot implemented with asymmetric potential field and the bot implemented with symmetric potential field competed with four bots. Three bots were selected from StarCraft competition and one was built-in bot of this game. The results of these competition shows that asymmetric potential field bot has better performance than symmetric potential field bot. The results of experiments show that the performance of bot implemented with asymmetric potential fields was better than symmetric potential field on single unit type and two unit types. This study shows that with the help of asymmetric potential fields interesting unit formation can be formed in real time strategy games, which can give better result than symmetric potential fields.