Unity guide

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Adding an AI thinker to Unity
• Opening the MainScene
• Configuring matches and tournaments
  • Fields of the SessionController game object
  • Adding and removing AIPlayer instances
• Running a match or tournament

A guide on how to test an AI thinker in Unity

Introduction

A Unity project implementing this board game is included in the repository, and can be used as a visually friendly way to test the AI.

Adding an AI thinker to Unity

In order for Unity to find an AI thinker (i.e., a class implementing AbstractThinker), the class (or set of classes), should be placed under the UnityApp/Assets/Scripts folder. For organization purposes, it may be preferable to place the class (or set of classes) in a sub-folder under the the UnityApp/Assets/Scripts folder. For example, if the AI thinker class is called AwesomeAIThinker, then the AwesomeAIThinker.cs file (and additional files, if any), could be placed in UnityApp/Assets/Scripts/Awesome.

Opening the MainScene

The MainScene scene contains the Unity frontend for ColorShapeLinks. The first time the project is opened in Unity, it is necessary to open the MainScene, which is available in the Assets/Scenes folder in the Project tab.

Configuring matches and tournaments

ColorShapeLinks matches and/or tournaments should be executed within the Unity editor, not as standalone builds. These can be configured by manipulating the SessionConfiguration game object. Select this object in the Hierarchy tab as follows:

After the SessionConfiguration is selected, matches and/or tournaments can be configured by:

1. Editing the fields of the SessionController script component.
2. Adding or removing instances of the AIPlayer component.

The following image shows the components of the SessionConfiguration game object, namely the SessionController script and several AIPlayer components. As can be observed, each AIPlayer serves as a proxy for an AI thinker instance.

Fields of the SessionController game object

Fields of the SessionController script are divided in three sections:

1. Match properties - Board dimensions, win conditions, initial number of pieces per player and last move animation length in seconds.
2. AI properties - AI time limit in seconds and minimum AI game move time.
3. Tournament properties - Points per win, draw, loss, and information screen blocking and duration options.

Tournaments occur automatically if there are more than two AI scripts active in the SessionConfiguration game object. Otherwise a single match is played, as discussed in the next section.

Adding and removing AIPlayer instances

An instance of the AIPlayer component represents one AI thinker. Zero or more instances of this component can be added to the SessionConfiguration game object. Instances of this component have the following configurable fields:

• Is Active: Specifies if the selected AI thinker is active.
• Selected Thinker: The AI thinker represented by this component instance, selected from a list of known AI thinkers (i.e., classes extending AbstractThinker).
• Thinker Params: optional thinker-specific parameters (e.g. maximum search depth), which are passed to the thinker's Setup() method.

The number of active AIPlayer component instances attached to the SessionConfiguration game object determines what type of session will run:

• Zero active instances: a match between human players will take place.
• One active instance: a game between the AI and a human player will take place.
• Two active instances: a game between the two AIs will take place.
• More than two active instances: a tournament session will take place, where each AI plays against all other AIs twice, one as the first player (white), another as the second player (red).

During and after the tournament session, all match results as well as current standings / classifications, are presented.

Running a match or tournament

To start a match or tournament with the active AIPlayer instances, press the "Play" button: