Statistical Forward Planning (SFP) algorithms are those methods that use a Forward Model (FM) to plan an action or a sequence of actions from a given game state. Examples of these methods are Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and Rolling Horizon Evolution (RHEA). One of the main benefits of SFP approaches is that they are able to make new plans every time a new decision needs to be made, giving them flexibility and adaptability to face unexpected and previously unseen circumstances. MCTS and RHEA have been widely used in games research, from general (video) game playing [1, 2] to state-of-the-art approaches in Computer Go [4], Shogi, Chess and Atari [5]. Despite their popularity, however, SFP methods have rarely reached the games industry, with not many commercial titles using these methods. Notable exceptions are Creative Assembly’s Total War series and AI Factory’s card and board games.
Cite this work
@inproceedings{perez19511, author= {Diego Perez-Liebana and Raluca D. Gaina and Tommy Thompson}, title= {{Abstract Forward Models}}, year= {2020}, journal= {{Artificial and Computational Intelligence in Games: Revolutions in Computational Game AI (Dagstuhl Seminar 19511)}}, volume= {9}, number= {12}, pages= {67--114}, editor= {Jialin Liu and Tom Schaul and Pieter Spronck and Julian Togelius}, abstract= {Statistical Forward Planning (SFP) algorithms are those methods that use a Forward Model (FM) to plan an action or a sequence of actions from a given game state. Examples of these methods are Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and Rolling Horizon Evolution (RHEA). One of the main benefits of SFP approaches is that they are able to make new plans every time a new decision needs to be made, giving them flexibility and adaptability to face unexpected and previously unseen circumstances. MCTS and RHEA have been widely used in games research, from general (video) game playing [1, 2] to state-of-the-art approaches in Computer Go [4], Shogi, Chess and Atari [5]. Despite their popularity, however, SFP methods have rarely reached the games industry, with not many commercial titles using these methods. Notable exceptions are Creative Assembly’s Total War series and AI Factory’s card and board games.},
}