Knowledge Related to Gremlins
Gremlins is a 1984 video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 system. It is a tie-in to the 1984 film Gremlins.
Atari released another, substantially different game based on the film for the Atari 5200. .
· Other Related Knowledge of video game systems
The bike of video game systems
Davies, a Ph.
D physicist and a keen fitness enthusiast, invented the Exertris Interactive Exercise Bike to solve the motivation problem with respect to cardiovascular exercise. Observing that traditional exercise bikes simply discarded the energy input of the cyclist as waste heat and sound, he conceived of a system to put the cyclist's energy to use as well as giving direct feedback of their performance. The Exertris system combined the addictive qualities of video games with the health benefits of exercise.
Unlike previous attempts to 'virtualise' cycling, few of the games on the Exertris bike bore any resemblance to cycling. Instead, the cyclist's energy was virtualised and this virtual energy used to power elements of the games, all of which were designed specifically for the platform. The games also controlled the cycle's resistance in theme with the games.
The Exertris bike was one of the first Windows XP Embedded systems in the world. Bill Gates show-cased the Exertris bike at the Consumer Electronics Show 2003 during his keynote speech. The Exertris bike was also featured on BBC's Tomorrow's World in 2002 and televised on the show again the following year when Davies was nominated for the Tomorrow's World Innovation Awards.
FeaturesThe bike incorporated a gaming platform, an LCD screen, a gamepad and an arm-rest with a patented system that simultaneously raised the screen and arm-rest when the seat was raised ensuring correct posture in a single movement. The system was covered by two other patents: one for a motivational system to convert cycle speed into a virtual energy; a second covered the gearboxed resistance unit that dispensed with the need for a large, separate flywheel. The bike also had a 'manual' mode which allowed it to operate as a standard exercise bike, complete with a simulated LED control panel.
GamesThe Exertris Bike originally shipped with four games: Solitaire - the player had to cycle in order to move the cards. Higher value cards represented higher resistance. Gems - a Columns-style puzzle game in which the players cycling slow the descent of falling gems.
Matching gems of same colour exploded them, allowing players to clear levels in order to complete them. Different colour gems controlled resistance levels. Space Tripper - a scrolling shoot-em-up adapted and licensed from PomPom Games.
In the ported version, the firepower of the ship was linked to the cyclist pedal speed. The player could also optionally charge the weapons system for increased firepower which also increase pedalling resistance. Orbit - a multiplayer video game in which players on linked bikes competed in an arena to collect gems scattered around levels for points.
In a later release of the bike's software two more games were added: Maze - a pacman-style game in which the user guides a cartoon ladybug around a mazed trying to avoid being eaten by hungry spiders. Light Cycles - a multiplayer game inspired by the famous scene in the 1982 film Tron.
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Background of video game systems
Early UseNumbers and formulas and scores have been used for decades in games to define behavior.
Even something as simple as a defining a set percentage chance for something to happen (e.g. 12% chance to perform Action X) was an early step into utility AI.
Only in the past 15-20 years, however, has that method started to take on more of a formalized approach now referred to commonly as "utility AI". Mathematical Modeling of BehaviorIn The Sims (2000) an NPCs current "need" for something (e.g.
rest, food, social activity) was combined with a score from an object or activity that could satisfy that same need. The combinations of these values gave a score to the action that told the Sim what it should do. This was one of the first visible uses of utility AI in a game.
While the player didn't see the calculations themselves, they were made aware of the relative needs of the Sim and the varying degrees of satisfaction that objects in the game would provide. It was, in fact, the core gameplay mechanism. In The Sims 3 (2009), Richard Evans used a modified version of the Boltzmann distribution is used to choose an action for a Sim, using a temperature that is low when the Sim is happy, and high when the Sim is doing badly to make it more likely that an action with a low utility is chosen.
He also incorporated "personalities" into the Sims. This created a sort of 3-axis model extending the numeric "needs" and "satisfaction values" to include preferences so that different NPCs might react differently from others in the same circumstances based on their internal wants and drives. In his book, Behavioral Mathematics for Game AI , Dave Mark detailed how to mentally think of behavior in terms of math including such things as response curves (converting changing input variables to output variables).
He and Kevin Dill went on to give many of the early lectures on utility theory at the AI Summit of the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco including "Improving AI Decision Modeling Through Utility Theory" in 2010 and "Embracing the Dark Art of Mathematical Modeling in AI" in 2012. These lectures served to inject utility AI as a commonly referred to architecture alongside finite state machines (FSMs), behavior trees, and planners. A "Utility System"While the work of Richard Evans, and subsequent AI programmers on the Sims franchise such as David "Rez" Graham were heavily based on utility AI, Dave Mark and his co-worker from ArenaNet, Mike Lewis, went on to lecture at the AI Summit during the 2015 GDC about a full stand-alone architecture he had developed, the Infinite Axis Utility System (IAUS).
The IAUS was designed to be a data-driven, self-contained architecture that, once hooked up to the inputs and outputs of the game system, did not require much programming support. In a way, this made it similar to behavior trees and planners where the reasoner (what makes the decisions) was fully established and it was left to the development team to add behaviors into the mix as they saw fit. Utility with other ArchitecturesAdditionally, rather than a stand-alone architecture, other people have discussed and presented methods of incorporating utility calculations into existing architectures.
Bill Merrill wrote a segment in the book, Game AI Pro, entitled "Building Utility Decisions into Your Existing Behavior Tree" with examples of how to re-purpose selectors in BTs to use utility-based math. This made for a powerful hybrid that kept much of the popular formal structure of behavior trees but allowed for some of the non-brittle advantages that utility offered.
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List of issues of video game systems
The following is a list of all the Expert Gamer issues including what was on the cover: Note: The issue numbering starts with #50 as issues #1-49 were known as EGM.
Issue #50, August 1998 - The Most Memorable Hidden Secrets of All Time Issue #51, September 1998 - Mega Man Legends (PlayStation) Issue #52, October 1998 - Parasite Eve (PlayStation) Issue #53, November 1998 - Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation) Issue #54, December 1998 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) Issue #55, January 1999 - Tomb Raider III (PlayStation) Issue #56, February 1999 - Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (Nintendo 64) Issue #57, March 1999 - Silent Hill (PlayStation) Issue #58, April 1999 - Mario Party (Nintendo 64) Issue #59, May 1999 - WCW Nitro (Nintendo 64) Issue #60, June 1999 - Star Wars Episode I: Racer (Nintendo 64) Issue #61, July 1999 - Ape Escape (PlayStation) Issue #62, August 1999 - Pokmon Snap (Nintendo 64) Issue #63, September 1999 - WWF Attitude (PlayStation, Nintendo 64)/Driver (PlayStation)Note: This issue shipped with two different coversone featuring WWF Attitude and one featuring Driver. Issue #64, October 1999 - Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation) Issue #65, November 1999 - Dino Crisis (PlayStation) Issue #66, December 1999 - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PlayStation) Issue #67, January 2000 - Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo 64) Issue #68, February 2000 - Gran Turismo 2 (PlayStation) Issue #69, March 2000 - Mario Party 2 (Nintendo 64) Issue #70, April 2000 - Syphon Filter 2 (PlayStation) Issue #71, May 2000 - Pokmon Stadium (Nintendo 64) Issue #72, June 2000 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PlayStation) Issue #73, July 2000 - Metal Gear Solid (Game Boy Color) Issue #74, August 2000 - Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) Issue #75, September 2000 - Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64) Issue #76, October 2000 - Spider-Man (PlayStation), Ultimate Fighting Championship (PlayStation), Chrono Cross (PlayStation), Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PlayStation)Note: This issue did not have multiple covers. All five games were shown on the same cover.
Issue #77, November 2000 - Dino Crisis 2 (PlayStation) Issue #78, December 2000 - Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation)/The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo 64)Note: This issue shipped with two different coversone featuring Final Fantasy IX and one featuring The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Issue #79, January 2001 - Pokmon Gold, Pokmon Silver (Game Boy Color) Issue #80, February 2001 - Driver 2 (PlayStation 2) Issue #81, March 2001 - Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast) Issue #82, April 2001 - Star Wars: Starfighter (PlayStation 2) Issue #83, May 2001 - Pokmon Stadium 2 (Nintendo 64) Issue #84, June 2001 - Zone of the Enders (PlayStation 2) Issue #85, July 2001 - Red Faction (PlayStation 2) Issue #86, August 2001 - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Game Boy Color) Issue #87, September 2001 - Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast) Issue #88, October 2001 - Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance)
