IT’S THINKING: GALACTIC ARMS RACE, ‘SPACE DIABLO’ WITH AI-DESIGNED, EVOLVING WEAPONS

I haven’t had near enough time in the past few days to give this a proper go, so let’s explore it together. The gist? University of Central Florida’s Evolutionary Complexity Research Group describes their free PC game Galactic Arms Race as “‘Space Diablo‘, with real-time combat, cool particle system weapons, and RPG-style leveling and skill trees.”

Which is all well and good, but what we’re really interested in here is that second bit, about the cool particle system weapons, because what’s actually happening here, as seen in the video above, is that every projectile pattern is being automatically, systematically and generatively evolved by AI based on player behavior — hence its genesis in an “evolutionary complexity” lab.

The evolutionary algorithm, very cutely called ‘NEAT’ (and it is), has come up with some gorgeous and novel solutions to problems — I’m looking specifically at the ‘tunnel maker’ and ‘wall making’ abilities here — which, as the video will repeatedly hammer home, were entirely AI designed, by aggregating player behavior over the whole system.

The game’s currently available as a free download via UCF’s site, and, being as it’s apparently developed in XNA, could potentially mean an Xbox 360 port at some date, we should hope.

As you dig into it further, let us know what you think via the comments, this could end up being something that bears revisiting over the course of the year as it evolves further. [via slashdot]