Learning Combat in Nethack
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Exploration and Combat in Nethack
EXPLORATION AND COMBAT IN NETHACK by Jonathan C. Campbell School of Computer Science McGill University, Montréal Monday, April 16, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE Copyright ⃝c 2018 Jonathan C. Campbell Abstract Roguelike games share a common set of core game mechanics, each complex and in- volving randomization which can impede automation. In particular, exploration of levels of randomized layout is a critical and yet often repetitive mechanic, while monster combat typically involves careful, detailed strategy, also a challenge for automation. This thesis presents an approach for both exploration and combat systems in the prototypical rogue- like game, NetHack. For exploration we advance a design involving the use of occupancy maps from robotics and related works, aiming to minimize exploration time of a level by balancing area discovery with resource cost, as well as accounting for the existence of se- cret access points. Our combat strategy involves the use of deep Q-learning to selectively match player items and abilities to each opponent. Through extensive experimentation with both approaches on NetHack, we show that each outperforms simpler, baseline approaches. Results are also presented for a combined combat-exploration algorithm on a full NetHack level context. These results point towards better automation of such complex roguelike game environments, facilitating automated testing and design exploration. i Résumé Les jeux du genre roguelike partagent un ensemble commun de systèmes de jeu de base. Ces systèmes sont souvent complexes et impliquent une randomisation qui peut être un obstacle à l’automatisation. -
Soil + Water = Mud It’S Soft, Sticky, Cold, and Probably the Easiest Thing on Earth to Make
The DIY MudMud LayersLayers Soil + water = Mud It’s soft, sticky, cold, and probably the easiest thing on Earth to make. You can play with it in so many creative ways: build a mud house, bake mud pies, and — best of all— squish it between your toes on a hot summer day! But what is mud really made of? This simple experiment will show the different types of soil that makes mud. Materials Instructions • Dirt or mud 1 3 • Water Scoop Mud into container Shake Fill a glass or plastic container • Glass or plastic container Shake the jar until all the about half full of mud. with lid mud and water are mixed. 2 Fill with Water 4 Let Sit Fill the remainder of the jar Leave the jar untouched for with water, nearly to the top, several hours or overnight. but leave room for shaking. The soil sediments will Close tightly with a lid. separate to reveal what your mud is made of. After your jar has settled, you’ll see four distinct layers: water, clay, silt, and sand. Age Level: 3-7 (elementary). Duration: 10 minutes (minimum). Key Definitions: Clay, silt, sand. Objective: To learn and identify different soil layers in mud. 1 Good Mud or Bad Mud? Mud is judged by its ability to grow plants. Most plants thrive in a soil mixture of 20% clay, 40% sand, and 40% silt. If your mud has too much or too little of each type of soil, you can amend the soil with WATER It can mix with soil to organic material, such make mud but the soil as compost, to help your won’t dissolve. -
In This Day of 3D Graphics, What Lets a Game Like ADOM Not Only Survive
Ross Hensley STS 145 Case Study 3-18-02 Ancient Domains of Mystery and Rougelike Games The epic quest begins in the city of Terinyo. A Quake 3 deathmatch might begin with a player materializing in a complex, graphically intense 3D environment, grabbing a few powerups and weapons, and fragging another player with a shotgun. Instantly blown up by a rocket launcher, he quickly respawns. Elapsed time: 30 seconds. By contrast, a player’s first foray into the ASCII-illustrated world of Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) would last a bit longer—but probably not by very much. After a complex process of character creation, the intrepid adventurer hesitantly ventures into a dark cave—only to walk into a fireball trap, killing her. But a perished ADOM character, represented by an “@” symbol, does not fare as well as one in Quake: Once killed, past saved games are erased. Instead, she joins what is no doubt a rapidly growing graveyard of failed characters. In a day when most games feature high-quality 3D graphics, intricate storylines, or both, how do games like ADOM not only survive but thrive, supporting a large and active community of fans? How can a game design seemingly premised on frustrating players through continual failure prove so successful—and so addictive? 2 The Development of the Roguelike Sub-Genre ADOM is a recent—and especially popular—example of a sub-genre of Role Playing Games (RPGs). Games of this sort are typically called “Roguelike,” after the founding game of the sub-genre, Rogue. Inspired by text adventure games like Adventure, two students at UC Santa Cruz, Michael Toy and Glenn Whichman, decided to create a graphical dungeon-delving adventure, using ASCII characters to illustrate the dungeon environments. -
A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Gamification Features in Exergames
Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2017 How Effective Is “Exergamification”? A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Gamification Features in Exergames Amir Matallaoui Jonna Koivisto Juho Hamari Ruediger Zarnekow Technical University of School of Information School of Information Technical University of Berlin Sciences, Sciences, Berlin amirqphj@ University of Tampere University of Tampere ruediger.zarnekow@ mailbox.tu-berlin.de [email protected] [email protected] ikm.tu-berlin.de One of the most prominent fields where Abstract gamification and other gameful approaches have been Physical activity is very important to public health implemented is the health and exercise field [7], [3]. and exergames represent one potential way to enact it. Digital games and gameful systems for exercise, The promotion of physical activity through commonly shortened as exergames, have been gamification and enhanced anticipated affect also developed extensively during the past few decades [8]. holds promise to aid in exercise adherence beyond However, due to the technological advancements more traditional educational and social cognitive allowing for more widespread and affordable use of approaches. This paper reviews empirical studies on various sensor technologies, the exergaming field has gamified systems and serious games for exercising. In been proliferating in recent years. As the ultimate goal order to gain a better understanding of these systems, of implementing the game elements to any non- this review examines the types and aims (e.g. entertainment context is most often to induce controlling body weight, enjoying indoor jogging…) of motivation towards the given behavior, similarly the the corresponding studies as well as their goal of the exergaming approaches is supporting the psychological and physical outcomes. -
Openbsd Gaming Resource
OPENBSD GAMING RESOURCE A continually updated resource for playing video games on OpenBSD. Mr. Satterly Updated August 7, 2021 P11U17A3B8 III Title: OpenBSD Gaming Resource Author: Mr. Satterly Publisher: Mr. Satterly Date: Updated August 7, 2021 Copyright: Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal Email: [email protected] Website: https://MrSatterly.com/ Contents 1 Introduction1 2 Ways to play the games2 2.1 Base system........................ 2 2.2 Ports/Editors........................ 3 2.3 Ports/Emulators...................... 3 Arcade emulation..................... 4 Computer emulation................... 4 Game console emulation................. 4 Operating system emulation .............. 7 2.4 Ports/Games........................ 8 Game engines....................... 8 Interactive fiction..................... 9 2.5 Ports/Math......................... 10 2.6 Ports/Net.......................... 10 2.7 Ports/Shells ........................ 12 2.8 Ports/WWW ........................ 12 3 Notable games 14 3.1 Free games ........................ 14 A-I.............................. 14 J-R.............................. 22 S-Z.............................. 26 3.2 Non-free games...................... 31 4 Getting the games 33 4.1 Games............................ 33 5 Former ways to play games 37 6 What next? 38 Appendices 39 A Clones, models, and variants 39 Index 51 IV 1 Introduction I use this document to help organize my thoughts, files, and links on how to play games on OpenBSD. It helps me to remember what I have gone through while finding new games. The biggest reason to read or at least skim this document is because how can you search for something you do not know exists? I will show you ways to play games, what free and non-free games are available, and give links to help you get started on downloading them. -
MUD CREATURE STUDY Overview: the Mudflats Support a Tremendous Amount of Life
MUD CREATURE STUDY Overview: The mudflats support a tremendous amount of life. In this activity, students will search for and study the creatures that live in bay mud. Content Standards Correlations: Science p. 307 Grades: K-6 TIME FRAME fOR TEACHING THIS ACTIVITY Key Concepts: Mud creatures live in high abundance in the Recommended Time: 30 minutes mudflats, providing food for Mud Creature Banner (7 minutes) migratory ducks and shorebirds • use the Mud Creature Banner to introduce students to mudflat and the endangered California habitat clapper rail. When the tide is out, Mudflat Food Pyramid (3 minutes) the mudflats are revealed and birds land on the mudflats to feed. • discuss the mudflat food pyramid, using poster Mud Creature Study (20 minutes) Objectives: • sieve mud in sieve set, using slough water Students will be able to: • distribute small samples of mud to petri dishes • name and describe two to three • look for mud creatures using hand lenses mud creatures • describe the mudflat food • use the microscopes for a closer view of mud creatures pyramid • if data sheets and pencils are provided, students can draw what • explain the importance of the they find mudflat habitat for migratory birds and endangered species Materials: How THIS ACTIVITY RELATES TO THE REFUGE'S RESOURCES Provided by the Refuge: What are the Refuge's resources? • 1 set mud creature ID cards • significant wildlife habitat • 1 mud creature flannel banner • endangered species • 1 mudflat food pyramid poster • 1 mud creature ID book • rhigratory birds • 1 four-layered sieve set What makes it necessary to manage the resources? • 1 dish of mud and trowel • Pollution, such as oil, paint, and household cleaners, when • 1 bucket of slough water dumped down storm drains enters the slough and mudflats and • 1 pitcher of slough water travels through the food chain, harming animals. -
Are You a “Mudologist”? MARVELOUS, MUSHY
MARVELOUS, MUSHY MUD It’s early spring, and as the ground thaws and the MUD IS A WINTER HOME rain falls, there’s bound to be LOTS of MUD! Some freshwater turtles burrow into mud at the bottom of the pond each fall and stay mostly A scientist might describe mud as a mixture of water inactive until spring. and any combination of different types of soil. Different types of soil? You bet! Soil can be sandy or more like clay, and depending on your soil, the mud MUD IS A PLACE TO HIDE it makes can be gooey, sticky, or smoosh-y. Dragonfly nymphs camouflage themselves on or in the mud at the bottom of the pond as they wait for Mud is cool and fun, and it’s also very useful. prey to swim or crawl by. DID YOU KNOW? MUD IS A PLACE TO EAT MUD IS A BUILDING MATERIAL “Mud-puddling” is a common behavior in which Beavers move logs and sticks into the mud to form butterflies seek out mud (and other gooey, brown a strong base for their dam. Then, they carry even things found on the ground) and suck up the liquid more mud with their front paws to build up and and salts. make the dam even stronger. American robins build their nest with twigs, dry MUD IS A SAFE WAY TO TRAVEL grass, mud, and more. The mud helps give the nest If you’re a worm, a wet, muddy surface its round shape, keeping the eggs and hatchlings gives you a chance to move above safe and warm for several weeks. -
Linux Games Page 1 of 7
Linux Games Page 1 of 7 Linux Games INTRODUCTION such as the number of players and the size of the map, then you start the game. Once the game is running clients may Hello. My name is Andrew Howlett. I've been using Linux join the game. Clients connect to the game using TCP/IP, since 1997. In 2000 I cutover to Linux for all my projects, so it is very easy to play multi-player games over the except I dual-booted Windows to play games. I like to play Internet. Like many Free games, clients are available for computer games. About a year ago I stopped dual booting. many platforms, including Windows, Amiga and Now I play computer games under Linux. The games I Macintosh. So there are lots of players out there. If you play can be divided into four groups: Free Games, native don't want to play against other humans, then Freeciv linux commercial games, Windows Emulated games, and includes some nasty AIs. Win4Lin enabled games. This presentation will demonstrate games from each of these four groups. BZFlag Platform BZFlag is a tank combat game along the same lines as the old BattleZone game. Like FreeCiv, BZFlag uses a client/ Before I get started, a little bit about my setup so you can server architecture over TCP/IP networks. Unlike FreeCiv, relate this to whatever you are running. This is a P3 900 the game contains no AIs – you must play this game MHz machine. It has a Crystal Sound 4600 sound card and against other humans (? entities ?) over the Internet. -
Effect of Gamification on Students' Motivation and Learning
The EUROCALL Review, Volume 28, No. 1, March 2020 Effect of Gamification on students’ motivation and learning achievement in Second Language Acquisition within higher education: a literature review 2011-2019 Nadia Azzouz Boudadi* and Mar Gutiérrez-Colón** *Universitat d’Andorra, Andorra | **Universitat Rovira i Virgili ____________________________________________________________________________ *[email protected] | **[email protected] Abstract This paper focuses on a fairly new motivational technique, the so-called Gamification, which consists of introducing game mechanics in non-game environments to promote motivation and engagement. By the turn of the 21rst century, Gamification took off in the business field and soon after became an attractive concept for researchers and professionals in education as it appears to be an increasingly popular method to motivate learners. Nevertheless, it is still a nascent field in terms of empirical evidence available to firmly support its educational benefits. This paper intends to shed some more light on this topic through a comprehensive review of literature published in the most prominent journals. The present study is framed within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in higher education and Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and focuses on the effects of gamified learning environments on student’s motivation and learning. A Meta-analysis method was used to explore relevant empirical research published between 2011 and 2019. After reviewing a corpus of 68 papers drawn from the leading databases Scopus and Web Of Science, and from which only 15 could be included in the study, we can point out two main findings: (i) there is still very limited literature in the field of SLA and, (ii) results seem to be predominantly positive in terms of motivation and engagement but only a few studies confirm clear interconnections with learning outcomes. -
Full Circle Magazine #160 Contents ^ Full Circle Magazine Is Neither Affiliated With,1 Nor Endorsed By, Canonical Ltd
Full Circle THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY ISSUE #160 - August 2020 RREEVVIIEEWW OOFF GGAALLLLIIUUMMOOSS 33..11 LIGHTWEIGHT DISTRO FOR CHROMEOS DEVICES full circle magazine #160 contents ^ Full Circle Magazine is neither affiliated with,1 nor endorsed by, Canonical Ltd. HowTo Full Circle THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY Python p.18 Linux News p.04 Podcast Production p.23 Command & Conquer p.16 Linux Loopback p.39 Everyday Ubuntu p.40 Rawtherapee p.25 Ubuntu Devices p.XX The Daily Waddle p.42 My Opinion p.XX Krita For Old Photos p.34 My Story p.46 Letters p.XX Review p.50 Inkscape p.29 Q&A p.54 Review p.XX Ubuntu Games p.57 Graphics The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. This means you can adapt, copy, distribute and transmit the articles but only under the following conditions: you must attribute the work to the original author in some way (at least a name, email or URL) and to this magazine by name ('Full Circle Magazine') and the URL www.fullcirclemagazine.org (but not attribute the article(s) in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you must distribute the resulting work under the same, similar or a compatible license. Full Circle magazine is entirely independent of Canonical, the sponsor of the Ubuntu projects, and the views and opinions in the magazine should in no way be assumed to have Canonical endorsement. -
Role Playing in Role Playing Games
2013-2014 Role-Playing in Role-Playing Games Master Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of ‘Master of Arts in Art Science’ on 8 August 2014 By: Michaël Oosterlinck (00802623) Supervisor: Prof. dr. K. Pewny 1 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who made this thesis possible and supported me. My supervisor Professor Pewny for the time spent on answering my mails. My family, and especially my parents and sister, who had the patience and the energy to give me advice and to keep my moral high during stressful moments. My friends who were always willing to pick up the phone when I called them, supporting me when I needed their opinion about more formal aspects of my thesis. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................3 List of Abbreviations ..............................................................................................................6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................7 1. Situating Role-Playing Games as Game and as Genre ....................................................... 10 1.1 The Medium of Videogames versus Games as Games ................................................. 10 Narratology versus Ludology: competition between media ? ......................................... 16 1.2 The Role-Playing Game Genre and Subgenres: a Conundrum ..................................... 19 Motivation, Player Types -
Crawl Survey Results
Crawl survey results Survey questions 1. What is your age? 2. What is your country? 3. Do you play locally, on a server, or both? 4. Do you play Tiles, ASCII, or both? 5. OS(es) at home? 6. Roguelikes played before? 7. Where did you learn about Crawl? 8. And when? 9. How many Crawl wins? (If none, you may specify your best game.) 10.If you take part in the tournament, where did you hear about it? 11.Ever recommend Crawl? 12.Which computer game have you played most in the last month? (July) Presentation structure ● Who are our players? ● How do they play? ● How did they arrive at Crawl? ● What is their overall win rate? ● What else are they playing? Who are our players? age distribution 90 83 80 70 64 60 50 49 40 32 30 25 20 10 8 3 4 4 0 14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50+ Minimum: 14 Maximum: 57 Median: 26 Average: 27.3 most common: 25 (23 times!) Who are our players? Gender 26% 94% N/A 4% 6% 70% Male Female Who are our players? USA 147 Canada UK Germany Finland Russia Poland France Italy Sweden Norway 19 Australia 2 New Zealand 21 22 4 Japan 12 17 2 Thailand 5 3 3 12 9 8 6 Brazil others* * other countries: Argentina, Belgium, China, Croatia, Czech republic, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, United arab emirates Who are our players? Continents players/populaton 61% 1,6 1,51 1,4 1,2 1 1% North America Europe 0,8 Australia 0,57 0,6 0,5 Asia 0,45 South America 0,4 4% 0,23 0,2 0,12 0,06 6% 0 Canada USA Germany 28% Finland Australia UK