Hi, I’m Jack Lusted a Games Tester at the Creative Assembly UK and this blog will detail my part in the Battle AI development process and how the AI testing works. This blog compliments an upcoming video development diary on the Battle AI.

First a bit of background on myself. Now I’m sure many of you from the community will know me (so you can just skip the next bit), but for those who don’t I used to be an admin of Total War Center, one of the biggest Total War fan sites. I’ve been playing the series since Medieval: Total War was released back in 2002. I’ve been working here at the Creative Assembly UK since June last year as a Tester and secondee to the Empire design team.

As a tester, I have a wide range of tools available to me with which I can see exactly what the AI is doing and thinking. This makes it easy to spot problems with the AI, and helps Richard Bull (Battle AI programmer) more quickly fix any problems that are found.

There are a variety of battles that we have set up that we use to test the AI on. Most battles will consist of me trying a variety of tactics against the AI to see how it reacts, and noting what it does and doesn’t do well. Other times we will run the game so the AI controls both sides and fights itself, to see how well it does in that situation. That is also one of the most useful ways of exposing flaws in the AI. As the project goes on, the AI will be tested under a wider variety of situations to make sure it plays well in all battles.

During each battle, we can play with all the AI debug information being shown. This lets us see exactly what each AI unit is doing and what tactics it’s engaging. This allows us to get a very clear picture of the AI’s overall strategy and so makes it easy to see where it could be improved and where it isn’t quite behaving right.

Every fortnight myself, Richard and one of the Designers will meet up and discuss the progress of the AI. We’ll talk about the issues with it, new things that have been added in and other progress that has been made since the last meeting. We’ll also make suggestions for improvements by discussing how the AI should react in certain situations and how it should play. For instance some new code has recently gone in based on an idea to try and improve the organization of the AI during the later stages of battle. After each meeting we’ll generally have a few specific areas of the AI that we’ve been asked to test before the next meeting.

The close link between myself as a tester and the battle AI programmer is new for Empire and this process of regular meetings and constant testing helps ensure that the battle AI is always moving forwards. The process will carry on right up until release, and things are looking very promising already.

Also for Empire, I’ve written a series of design documents on how the AI should deal with certain situations and general things it should do based on how myself and others play the game. These documents are constantly updated as more is added to them, new tactics are included and situations arise which have AI design implications. This ensures that there are always up to date documents detailing how the AI should play both generally in battles, and more specifically for certain situations. This helps give clear goals for how the AI should progress, and means we are aiming towards an AI that plays a lot more like a human and so should provide more of a challenge to both our experienced players and those new to the series.

If you’ve got any questions on this blog, please do send them in.

Jack.

After our recent Empire: Total War mo-cap shoot at Shepperton Studios, Mark O’Connell from TotalWar.com caught up with one of the stuntmen to learn a bit more about his art…

Totalwar.com: How did you get into being a motion-capture actor?

Chris Freedman: Getting into Motion-Capture isn’t that easy, particularly the area that we specialize in. First off you need to be a competent actor and next you need to get your stage combat qualifications. Above and beyond that being a skilled acrobat, gymnast, fencer or martial artist will be greatly to your advantage. Finally, once you have all the skills you need, it’s time to find and get the work and that means auditions…. lots of them.

Totalwar.com: Have you ever been involved in any film work?

Chris Freedman: Yes, I have had minor acting roles in Batman: Dark Knight, 28 Weeks Later and a variety of TV productions. Ronin has fought and directed fights in a number of film shorts and numerous theater productions.

Totalwar.com: Have you had any combat training or martial arts experience?

Chris Freedman: We both hold stage combat qualifications, as this is an absolute minimum for the job. Ronin teaches stage combat to actors and is currently undergoing further teacher training with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat of which he is an advanced actor combatant. He is a resident fight director at a theatre, an experienced fencer and has some training in Chin Woo Kung Fu. I am also an experienced fencer and hold belts in Akido, Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

Totalwar.com: Do you specialize in historical combat, or is a lot of it translatable to both past and modern settings?

Chris Freedman: A lot of our work revolves around sword-based combat, so that generally places us in a historical setting. Having said that, we are equally skilled in unarmed combat, and that has a very definite place in the modern setting.

The thing that we have to remember is, that with Motion Capture, the characters we play can be in any setting, time or genre. They can also be of different skill levels with characters ranging from a general trained in the field of war, to a press-ganged sailor who is just working out which part of the cutlass is the pointy bit. As a result, we are constantly adapting our style and delivery to match the characters portrayed.

Totalwar.com: Doing motion-capture for fight scenes is undoubtedly dangerous work. Has anything ever gone wrong on a shoot?

Chris Freedman: Nothing major so far, fingers crossed! Quite a few knocks and bruises though, which is pretty normal for this type of work. However, it is worth remembering that we are simulating combat, so the risks are real. We are fighting quickly and in very close proximity to each other, and although the blades we use have dull edges, the points are sharp and more than capable of piercing your rib cage or taking your eye out. The potential for injury means that we train vigorously in adapting real techniques for performance. Choreographing a fight and incorporating safety techniques enables us to fight fast and with intent and then do it all over again if required.

Totalwar.com: Did you have to simulate any actions with imaginary props (cannons etc)?

Chris Freedman: Definitely. During the various shoots that we have been in for this game, we have loaded cannons, fired rockets, been in a riot and even set on fire!

Totalwar.com: Do moves have to be consciously over-exaggerated for mo-cap animation, compared to regular acting?

Chris Freedman: In live theatre, the actor uses his voice, gesture and movement to impart meaning to the audience and therefore the exaggeration is only proportionate to the size of venue. Cinematic performance requires the actor to make the movements larger so that the camera can clearly see them. In Motion Capture sequences, all movement needs to extremely over performed as, not only is the actor deprived of using voice, facial expression and gesture, but it is filmed in 360⁰ by multiple cameras so that when it is translated to wire frame figures and eventually to the actual characters, the eventual player can rotate the action in any direction. Therefore, as the movement can be seen from any angle, it has to be both accurate and clearly defined in a short space of time.

Totalwar.com: Approximately how many moves did you capture for Empire: Total War during the days shooting?

Chris Freedman: To date, we have performed between 50 and 60 fight sequences, each consisting of between 2 and 5 takes, together with 10 - 20 acting sequences for the game and 5 - 10 cut scenes.

Totalwar.com: Finally, did you wear the mo-cap suit on the train home?

Chris Freedman: Well of course…. wouldn’t you?

I hope you have enjoyed our exclusive talk with one of the Empire: Total War stuntmen. For more information about the mo-cap shoot itself, be sure to check out our accompanying Blog and Video Diary from the day. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for all the latest information.

Best regards,

Mark O’Connell