According to The Other Wiki, a general Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an engineered system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its odds of successfully achieving certain goals. While this definition is applicable to some game-playing AIs, such as the chess-playing Deep Blue
and go-playing AlphaGo, "artificial intelligence" in Video Game Design instead usually refers to all sub-systems that govern the behaviors of non-player characters and enemies. Whereas general AI is viewed as an end in itself by the academia, video game AI is just another design tool for game developers to craft gameplay experiences for the players, and a "mere" illusion of intelligence is, in most cases, more beneficial to their Willing Suspension of Disbelief than actual optimal decision-making.
For more details, see our MediaNotes.Video Game AI and the other wiki's Artificial intelligence in video games.
Subtropes:
- A.I. Breaker: A human player behavior that confuses the AI and makes it behave stupidly.
- A.I.-Generated Economy: When the AI manages entire sectors of an in-game national economy.
- A.I. Roulette: The simplest possible "AI" that substitutes adaptation to environment with Gameplay Randomization.
- The All-Seeing A.I.: An AI that ignores the Fog of War and can perceive the entire level at once.
- Artificial Atmospheric Actions: Inconsequential NPC behaviors that make the world feel more alive, akin to a Flavor Text.
- Artificial Brilliance: An AI that appears (or actually is) as smart as or even smarter than humans, without being unfair about it.
- Artificial Insolence: When an AI character doesn't follow orders given by the player.
- Artificial Stupidity: An AI that fails at the illusion of intelligence, badly, often resulting in Fake Difficulty.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: When an AI does things a human player either cannot or isn't allowed to do.
- Conspicuously Selective Perception: An AI only reacts to certain actions if they are performed by the player, but not to the same actions by fellow NPCs.
- Gameplay Automation: When the player can create or customize behaviors for the AI to carry out autonomously.
- Gang Up on the Human: When multiple mutually hostile AIs cooperate against the human player for no in-universe reason.
- Manual Leader, A.I. Party: A Non-Player Companion AI that follows and fights alongside the player avatar instead of acting proactively.
- Mook Chivalry: While not a video game-exclusive trope, it is often applied to game AIs to prevent them from instantly (and realistically) overwhelming the player and/or to simplify teamwork coordination.
- No Peripheral Vision: When an AI's cone of vision is unrealistically narrow, making stealth gameplay easier.
- No Sneak Attacks: When an AI is not allowed to use stealth mechanics against the player.
- NPC Scheduling: When an AI's behaviors change according to the In-Universe Game Clock.
- Perfect Play A.I.: An AI that plays in a game-theoretically optimal way.
- Rubber-Band A.I.: An AI that gets smarter (or cheats more), the better you play.
- Secret A.I. Moves: Mechanics that are theoretically usable by anyone, but only available to the AI.
- SNK Boss: A fighting game AI that breaks the rules to challenge the player.
- Spiteful A.I.: An AI that disregards its in-universe well-being to disadvantage the human player.
- Squad Controls: When AI-controlled followers can carry out a handful of predefined commands issued by the human player.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Enemy AI will attack the player, regardless of how little sense it makes in-universe.
Related tropes
Game design tropes that often apply to artificially intelligent characters in games, without directly concerning their behaviors:- Blending-In Stealth Gameplay: Requires that enemy AI reacts differently to inconspicuous and to suspicious player behaviors (as well as that there are "neutral" AIs to blend in with).
- Contractual Boss Immunity: When certain AI enemies are immune to insta-kill mechanics.
- Damager, Healer, Tank: This whole setup is predicated upon a specific implementation of enemy AI that allows players to arbitrarily Draw Aggro, making the AI act predictably and stupidly instead of being tactically effective.
- Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer: If the game requires a minimum amount of players online, missing or leaving players can be substituted with AI bots.
- Escort Mission: A level design pattern based around protecting an AI-controlled character from harm.
- Gameplay Ally Immortality: When your AI companions are immune to death during regular gameplay.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: When the AI does not follow the same game rules as the players have to.
- Not Playing Fair With Resources: When AI opponents get resources for free to give them an advantage over human players.
- Player-Exclusive Mechanic: Not so much an AI trope, as one about what the AI cannot do.
- Player Versus Environment: A game mode where human players are pitted against the AI, instead of each other.
- Promoted to Playable: When a character previously exclusively controlled by the AI becomes playable by humans in the sequel.
- Reverse Escort Mission: A level design pattern based around a protector AI.
- Tabletop Game A.I.: Reactive non-digital AIs with even more emphasis on simplicity of algorithms.
- Video Game Delegation Penalty: When the human player can delegate menial tasks to the AI, but it's not nearly as good at it as the human.
