6.370 Home: Background

A Primer in Realtime Strategy Game

Don't play many games? New to realtime strategy (RTS)? Read our primer to pick up the basics. Prior knowledge and mad gaming skillz are not necessary to succeed in 6.370. The contest presents you with some interesting algorithmic problems independent of any gaming context. However, if you don't like playing games in general or RTS games in particular, this may not be the best way to spend your IAP.

Of course, the best way to learn about RTS games is to play one yourself, and we recommend some good starters in our primer. If you've already played one game and would like to know what else is out there, see our links below regarding the history of this genre.

Philosophy

No, this isn't a treatise on the metaphysics of RTS. The rationale behind this year's contest is rooted in several tragic shortcomings of an otherwise heroic genre of PC games, a genre where artificial intelligence has traditionally been weak, where players become trapped in a "harvest, build, destroy" model, and where victory usually goes to the player with the quickest mouse/keyboard reflexes. The task for contestants in this year's contest is to produce a sophisticated game AI, or system of AIs, to control virtual automata. The AIs will function in a software-simulated game universe which combines some of the best features of RTS and sim games with the added challenge of programmable autonomous gameplay.

Links

• GameSpot's History of Realtime Strategy Games, Part 1, a brief history of the genre, in two parts.
• GameSpot's History of Realtime Strategy Games, Part 2, the exciting conclusion.
• Tim Wallace's Colony, a 3D digital art project that inspired the visual design and creative aspects of this contest.

Organisers and Developers