CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS PROJECT SIGNATURE PAGE PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT TITLE: Using Computer Vision Techniques to Play an Existing Video Game AUTHOR: Christopher E. Erdelyi DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: May 6, 2019 THE PROJECT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE PROJECT COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE. Xin Ye PROJECT COMMITTEE CHAIR SIGNATURE DATE Shaun-bill Wu PROJECT COMMITTEE MEMBER DATE . Using Computer Vision Techniques to Play an Existing Video Game Presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Mathematics at California State University, San Marcos Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science Christopher Erdelyi
[email protected] March 2019 Abstract Game playing algorithms are commonly implemented in video games to control non-player characters (hereafter, “NPC’s,”) in order to provide a richer or more competitive game environment. However, directly programming opponent algorithms into the game can cause the game-controlled NPC’s to become predictable to human players over time. This can negatively impact player enjoyment and interest in the game, especially when the algorithm is supposed to compete against human opponents. To extend the revenue-generating lifespan of a game, the developers may wish to continually refine the algorithms – but these updates would need to be downloaded to every players’ installed copy of the game. Thus, it would be beneficial for the game’s algorithm to run independently from the game itself, located on a server which can be easily accessed and updated by the game developers.