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training a neural network to play a bullet hell game (programming.dev)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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neural network is trained with deep Q-learning in its own training environment
controls the game with twinject

demonstration video of the neural network playing Touhou (Imperishable Night):

it actually makes progress up to the stage boss which is fairly impressive. it performs okay in its training environment but performs poorly in an existing bullet hell game and makes a lot of mistakes.

let me know your thoughts and any questions you have!

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I always find it interesting to see how optimization algorithms play games and to see how their habits can change how we would approach the game.

me too! there aren't many attempts at machine learning in this type of game so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Humans would usually try to find the safest area on the screen and leave generous amounts of space in their dodges, whereas the AI here seems happy to make minimal motions and cut dodges as closely as possible.

yeah, the NN did this as well in the training environment. most likely it just doesn't understand these tactics as well as it could so it's less aware of (and therefore more comfortable) to make smaller, more riskier dodges.

I also wonder if the AI has any concept of time or ability to predict the future.

this was one of its main weaknesses. the timespan of the input and output data are both 0.1 seconds - meaning it sees 0.1 seconds into the past to perform moves for 0.1 seconds into the future - and that amount of time is only really suitable for quick, last-minute dodges, not complex sequences of moves to dodge several bullets at a time.

If not, I imagine it could get cornered easily if it dodges into an area where all of its escape routes are about to get closed off.

the method used to input data meant it couldn't see the bounds of the game window so it does frequently corner itself. I am working on a different method that prevents this issue, luckily.