AI Development/Improvement

Personal Information/Introduction

My name is William Abbott. I am 22 years old and will be graduating with a 4 year degree soon. I have played the game a bit and thought it was really great. Then a friend suggested I should apply for GSoC. I checked the website and saw the project on the list of projects, so I thought I would try to get in on this. Specifically, my interest resides in aiding in writing and implementing an AI for the game. On IRC, my nick is Geoclasm. I have yet to register for GNA and the Wesnoth forums, but once I have my nick will be Terratoch on those. My Email is Terratoch@Gmail.com My primary interest in the GSoC is that it will be an excellent chance for me to develop my programming skills, and network with other programmers who share like interests, and ultimately, something that would look great on a resume. As far as my experience goes, I have had limited experience working in a group environment. In my third year, I took a class that the main project involved the construction of a Simon game, from scratch. We had to write the software, and create the hardware. The software was created in SPIN programming language, for the Propeller programming language. This would be my first time participating in a large scale project, open source or otherwise. As for the development model I would use, my preferred style would probably be the testing model, where I would compose a part of the program, make certain it functions as I would expect it to, then move on from there.

I am definitely a gamer. My game genres of choice are Real time Strategy Role Playing Games,, Simulations, and First Person Shooters. I am actually open to most types of video games, but about the only games I won't play would be sports games.

I probably don't need to write this, but my primary language is English. I have no problems interacting with others in a professional or social environment, and I am able to give as well as receive constructive criticism.

From the project list that I saw, I thought what I would like to participate in most would be the AI development project, mainly because recently I took a class that piqued my interest in Artificial Intelligence, but I would just be happy to be accepted to the project. I chose this project from the GSoC list because I played the game for a little bit, and enjoyed it a lot. It reminded me a lot of

I have extensive experience with Python and C++, and I know a little about Subversion. My preferred programming language is definitely Python, although I am not opposed to writing in other languages. My tools for programming are GUIs and the internet. GUIs are great for compiling and debugging code, and the internet is a vast wealth of information that can help solve problems.

I am usually awake between 12:00 Noon to 2:00 AM, and would have no problem talking over the phone, internet or otherwise.

I wish to participate in the Google Summer of Code because, as of right now, I am about to graduate, and have no employment opportunities lined up after I do. I am concerned that I will not be able to start a career without some sort of boost, and I thought that this could be the boost I would need to get started. I define open-source as free software developed by individuals or a community. That community can be an organized group of experienced programmers looking to make improvements to something that already exists, or starting on a brand-new project that they feel they and others could put to good use. I think that Open Source is a great concept. I believe that knowledge and information would be free, and I have a growing student loan debt to back that up. My first encounter with Open Source would probably be Bit Torrent file sharing, namely Azureus. This was my program of choice for downloading music and movies, as well as programs.

I hope to gain a good deal of programming experience as well as professional experience that I can use to start my career as a program writer. I love writing programs because many of the programs I have written were posed as problems that needed to be solved, and writing the program to solve the problem proved to be a very fun and truly challenging experience. I have even been on an ACM Programming Competition team, and while we did not do very well, the experience was nonetheless excellent. When something doesn't work right, I can write a program to do what I want. THe same if I cant find a program. to do what I want to do. Otherwise, writing programs, bending them to do what I want to do is an experience that could only be comparable to creating the perfect city in Sim City.

AI Idea

While I have no code to back the idea up, what I was considering as an AI is instead of writing an all-encompassing artificially intelligent player, each unit could be assigned an artificially intelligent agent that colludes and cooperates with all the other agents in order to accomplish the goal. Of course, if this idea is out of the scope of the project, I am willing to work on whatever idea is accepted.