Artificial intelligence programing challenge
AIs compete to collect the most points in a snake-like game
python3 src/snake.py [AI locations]
- AI locations: The locations for the files containing AI challengers, default is looking for all ai*.py files in src/ais
Inside a File that is used for a challenger you have Access to the variables
mySnake, other_snakes, obstacles, bonuses, world
In the end mySnake.direction must be set to one of the values
Direction.UP, Direction.DOWN, Direction.LEFT, Direction.RIGHT
The snake will choose to go that direction next turn
The Objective of the game is to collect as many points as possible. This can be achieved by collecting "apples", "cherrys" or "bananas". These give more points, the longer the game goes. Also when collected the snake grows by a tenth of the amount of points they give. (e.g. if the collectable gives 44 points, the snake grows by 4 tiles) Bananas have the additional effect of halving the players points. An additional collectable is the "diamond". This turns all snakes around.
| Collectable | starting points | change per tick | effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 10 | + 0.6 | none |
| Cherry | 10 | * 1.005 | none |
| Banana | 10 | + 0.3 | HALF |
| Diamond | 0 | * 0 | REVERSE |
These values are such that apples give the most points for about 3/4 of the game, but cherries can help you catch up later in the game
Snakes have to avoid hitting obstacles. These can be either red blocks that are placed initially and dont move, or the tiles of other snakes. If a snake hits an obstacle, the points are divided by 3 and the snake is placed in a new position
To help with movement there are also portals that can teleport snakes.
Each AI has access to the variables mySnake, other_snakes, obstacles, bonuses, world. They are instances of the following classes:
- mySnake: Snake
- other_snakes: List[Snake]
- obstacles: List[Vector]
- bonuses: List[Collectable]
- world: World
These provide the following important functionalities:
Stores an x,y position
- x: X-coordinate
- y: Y-coordinate
- add_direction(Direction): The vector is moved one space in a given direction
Manages the position and movement of a snake
-
positions: A list of points the body of the snake is on
-
direction: Direction the snake was headed in last
-
lengthen: The amount of tiles the snake is currently lengthening by. As long as this value is greater than 0 the last tile of the snake will not be removed as the snake moves
- head(): Gives the current position of the head of the snake
Manages items, that can be collected and give a certain score and effect.
-
additive: The amount of points, that are added to the score each tick
-
multiplicative: The amount the score is multiplied each tick#
-
score: The amount of points the collectable would give if collected at that moment
-
effect: The effect that is applied once it is collected
- get_current_score(): Returns the points the collectable gives if collected at that moment
Manages everything in a game
-
width: The width of the world in tiles
-
height: The height of the world in tiles
-
portals: The positions of the portals
- obstacle(position, threshold = 0): Returns whether there is an obstacle or more than the threshold snakes at the given position
- portal(position): Returns whether there is an obstacle at the given location
- occupied(position): Returns whether there is anything at the given location (obstacle, snake, portal or collectable)
- move_and_teleport(position, direction): Returns a new position after going through portals and wrapping around edges
Enum that can have any of the values UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
Green Collectable with a additive bonus of 0.6 and no effects
Red Collectable with a multiplicative bonus of 0.005 and no effects
Yellow Collectable with a additive bonus of 0.3 and effect of halving the snake
Blue Collectable with no bonus and an effect of turning every snake in the opposite direction
This Project builds on the following packages:
pygame, func_timeout
both can be installed with pip