Flocking animation and modelling environment : FAME

• Main Author: Ho, Choon Sing
• Other Authors: Ong Yew Soon
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies::Artificial intelligence
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/51120
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This thesis presents FAME, a comprehensive Flocking Animation and Modelling Environment tool providing soft formation control for large flocks of agents. While many existing available libraries provide means to create flocks of agents equipped with simple steering behaviour, none so far provides an easy and hassle free approach to control the formation of the flock. Here, besides the basic flocking mechanisms, FAME provides an extensive range of advanced features that gives enhanced soft formation control over multiple flocks. These soft formation features include defining flocks in any user-defined formation, automated self-organizing agent within formation, manipulating formation shape at real-time and bending the formation shape naturally along the curvature of the path. FAME thus not only supports the research studies of collective intelligence and behaviours, it is useful for rapid development of digital games. Particularly, the development cost and time pertaining to the creation of multi-agent group formation can be significantly reduced. Using FAME technology, Dark Dot, an iPad game developed in collaboration with Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab was released in the iTunes app store in Oct 2011. Shortly after launched, it became the top downloaded action game in the iTunes app store for several months and received several positive reviews from the media various game review website, with one notable comment citing Dark Dot as “not only fun and creative and lovely to look at, but it's got some stunningly original gameplay mechanics.”