Lesson 278 of 1234
AI Agents in Video Games: They Have Been Here a Long Time
Every video game character that does stuff on its own is sort of an agent. The bad guy that chases you. The teammate that helps. They are all agents.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The big idea
- 2game AI
- 3NPC
- 4behavior
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The big idea
Video games have had AI agents for decades. Every character that is not controlled by a human — the bad guy, the helper, the shopkeeper — is an agent making decisions.
Some examples
- A goomba in Mario walks back and forth. Simple agent.
- A creeper in Minecraft chases you and blows up. Trickier agent.
- Your AI teammate in a shooter game decides where to run, who to shoot, and when to heal. Smart agent.
- The villagers in The Sims live their whole pretend lives as agents.
Try it!
Pick your favorite video game. Try to spot 3 characters that are agents (controlled by the game, not by a player). Watch what they do — can you figure out their rules?
End-of-lesson quiz
Check what stuck
15 questions · Score saves to your progress.
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