Hey guys, I'm pjwaffle, etc.
Aurora has inspired me to create a simulation just as detailed, but down to a smaller scale - like a city or country, where we'd be focusing on individuals and governments rather than planets and empires. Basically it'd look like this:
* Each individual is AI controlled and has an "instruction set" for communicating with other individuals. Including trade, knowledge transfer, requests/orders, etc.
* They will be in a randomly/semi-randomly generated X by X world, 3D but with a 2D map.
* They all will have various goals, to simplify initially this could be "have X of a certain resource", "develop a certain technology", or "create the sole government". Each goal would have sub-goals/steps towards accomplishing it.
* They can co-operate or fight to achieve these goals.
* The game may eventually have free-form governments/societies with set role-types, but may initially have fixed government types that are simple.
* There would be various detailed simulations of the agents and their environments. . . For example, industrializing may drastically pollute the environment (I'm no environmentalist - but hey, you have to acknowledge science!), or stabbing someone may cause them to bleed to death over time.
* The agents can participate in a free market in a capitalist society, or work for the state/community in a communist/socialist one.
* The agents can build buildings, equipment, weapons, etc.
My initial goal for the game would be to have a randomly generated environment with different types of resources. . . The agents can compete to get them and create weapons to fight.
Can anyone offer any advice or tell me where to start?
I know I could totally make this given the determination (it's within my abilities). . . It's just I don't know where to start.
Thanks in advance/thanks currently!
PJ
EDIT: Also, the AI would NOT be "learning", it would just be really flexible and have complex goal systems. (eg. goal to mine might include goal to make wood pickaxe, goal to walk to mine, etc. )