Swarm General

The video game industry is becoming more and more a mass market industry. As this shift happens, video games need to be designed for more than just the "hardcore" gamer. The purpose of Swarm General is to adapt the real-time strategy genre to the mass market customer.

Real-time strategy games could potentially be mass market hits. They have lots of exciting action. They don't require a huge time commitment from the player. The competitive nature fosters social play. All of these aspects allow for a more mass market appeal. However, complicated controls often scare away new gamers before they have truly experienced the game.

Swarm General attempts to solve this problem by relieving the player of direct control over each of his units. Instead, the player defines rules for each unit type, and the units make their decisions based on these rules. Therefore, the player can concentrate more on the macro-management while letting the predefined rules handle the micro-management.

Swarm General uses a Rete network powered by the Java Expert System Shell (JESS). In order to allow players to create rules for the system without doing any programming, Swarm General uses concepts from the programming by example research. Using an interface that resembles gameplay, the player sets up a situation and directs the units to take an appropriate action. The program abstracts this into a JESS rule that becomes a part of the player's Rete network. The game then uses the Rete network to determine the appropriate actions for each unit during an actual game.

Swarm General (ZIP, 498 KB)
Swarm General (TAR, 686 KB)
Design Document (PDF, 379 KB)
Design Document (MS Word, 418 KB)