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Can We Create Fun Games Automatically?

togelius writes "What makes games fun? Some (e.g. Raph Koster) claim that fun is learning — fun games are those which are easy to learn, but hard to master, with a long and smooth learning curve. I think we can create fun game rules automatically through measuring their learnability. In a recent experiment, we do this using evolutionary computation, and create some simple Pacman-like new games completely without human intervention! Perhaps this has a future in game design? The academic paper (PDF) is available as well."

5 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. PDF isn't a proprietary format by pjt33 · · Score: 4, Informative

    PDF has been opened. Admittedly the standards body which supports it is ISO, but I don't think anyone bribed them to approve it.

  2. Re:More to the point by hab136 · · Score: 3, Informative

    PDF is documented and can be read and written by open tools. Also it prints the same way every time.

  3. Re:PDF reads on all OS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Umm... Mac OS X? Reads PDF quite well, with no external software installed whatsoever.

    Windows? Bah!

  4. Re:Creating stories by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes, that was Stanislaw Lem; one of his Trurl and Klaupacius stories from The Cyberiad. "The First Sally (A), or Trurl's Electronic Bard"

  5. Re:More to the point by Yosho · · Score: 4, Informative

    So presumably those patents on the splash screen are now null and void ? Including the one for the implementation of the LZW algorithm, that they don't even own ?

    The patent on the LZW algorithm expired over five years ago. You're free to use it for whatever you want now.

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