Official CS Bot Creator Interview

[CSN NewsBot]

Jolt Online Gaming interviewed Michael Booth, the creator of the official Counter-Strike bot. The fairly lengthy read consist of the usual background, tactics, traits, and other details of the official bot which is promised to not just have good AI, but believable AI. Furthermore, he also goes into detail on just what makes the bots special.

Will playing against the bots ever become predictable?



[Michael Booth] The bots never do exactly the same thing twice. They remember where dangerous areas are and respond to sounds, chatter from their teammates, player commands, enemy actions, and their own internal personality traits. This results in a very dynamic system that is pretty unpredictable.

It seems that the bots are definitely looking solid, judging from this article, and it is quite interesting to see just how much time and effort were put into this project, as they are after all, the official bots. There are plenty of more content to be found, so click away for the article.

[Rogue_Warrior]

Why play bots when most people can go online and play against real people? Seems like a waste of effort to me seeing as how you can't run Steam without being online anyways, and that would mean you're given the option of playing real people vs. computer AI. They should've used their time and resources to develope newer maps or fix more Steam bugs.

[gobd]

Isn't this also the AI that will be used in CS:CZ? AI is needed for singleplayer teammates. Also when the internet goes down and you're really bored it's fun to play against bots sometimes. Not everyone has a cable connection where they can play online with little ping, some people with 56K like to play bots rather then people. From the interview it looks like these bots are going to be great, hopefully they are half as good as they make it seem like they will be.

[KriM]

a credible news entry, merry x-mas dchozn

[Relica Religia]

I enjoy decent bots easily as much as real online gaming, like I did in 1.5.



Bots, at least, don't cheat, whine, hack, spam, or be a general nuisance, and they at least try to act like a team.



All Steam needs now is LAN capabilities.

[Mikemike 2.0]

gobd wrote..

Isn't this also the AI that will be used in CS:CZ? AI is needed for singleplayer teammates. Also when the internet goes down and you're really bored it's fun to play against bots sometimes. Not everyone has a cable connection where they can play online with little ping, some people with 56K like to play bots rather then people. From the interview it looks like these bots are going to be great, hopefully they are half as good as they make it seem like they will be.

yes it is.

[Noldster]

Bots will be good practice for teams of any calibur to scrim against :-)

[a_russak]

Good read, sounds like they will be worth the price of CZ alone, this will give people a chance to play CS who have bad or no connection at all. Sounds good!

[I2o[G]uE TacT-X]

bots are just fun to play around with. they're good practice and they don't require a fast internet connection.

[Buddah]

I2o[G]uE TacT-X wrote..

bots are just fun to play around with. they're good practice and they don't require a fast internet connection.

Also known as aim practice. :P

[David Johnston]

Excellent interview! Michael Booth has entered my 'names to remember' list.

[Blind-Goose]

Great interview, but the big question still remain to be answered, when is CS:CZ going to be released, Sierra is really making all of us looking like fools

[HowlinMadMurphy]

The bots from the Steam beta were an earlier version. It sounds like they're shaping up quite nicely. I actually enjoyed playing against them from time to time, to play on a classic map that you never see online (like fang, mansion, or docks), or whenever I got sick of getting owned by 12-year-olds when I was off my game. They were really lifelike, sometimes I would almost forget I was playing against bots at times, and begin to develop hatred for a particular one. They got better the earlier they were in the alphabet, [Bot]Adam coule be a real pain-in-the-ass!

[Spedmaster]

Simply the best use for bots, ever:

Angry? Frustrated? Really wanna own?

as_tundra.

Terrorist team: You. Only you and your trusty awp.

Counter-Terrorist Team: 12 ill-fated bot-buddies.

[pinkassmonkey]

or just set all the bots on knife and mow them down because they go at you in packs