Unified Symbolic AI Tool (Master Thesis)
This is my master thesis about combining multiple symbolic AI methods for controlling NPCs and creating an integrated tool in the Unity Game Engine.
university
Development time: 6 months
January 23, 2024
My Part
As this is my thesis, the whole project was done by myself. This includes a in-depth analysis of Behavior Trees, State Machines and Decision Trees with a proposal on combining the different methods. Development of an integrated tool for the proposed method directly in the game engine with a visual node editor, custom serialization and live debugging.
Learnings
Planning and time management is crucial! Developing a larger and complex project requires a structured approach. It is easy to loose focus when working too long on a specific feature. Taking breaks and focus back on the whole project is always a good idea. Another big part is testing especially when developing a new concept. Not only automated tests for the code but also practical use-cases with a demo.