Fuzzy tactics: a scripting game that leverages fuzzy logic as an engaging game mechanic

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a major role in modern video games by making them feel both more realistic and more fun to play. Game intelligence usually works alongside the game logic, in the background, invisible to the players who enjoy the resulting character behaviors, the adaptive gameplay, and the procedurally generated content. However, artificial intelligence can also have a central role and become a major component of the overall gameplay (as for instance in the video game Black & White). In this paper, we define the genre of scripting video games and introduce Fuzzy Tactics, a video game we developed that has an innovative gameplay based on fuzzy logic and uses fuzzy rules as its core game mechanic and user interaction mechanism. In Fuzzy Tactics, players lead their troops into battle by specifying a set of fuzzy rules that determines the battle behavior of the units. Fuzzy logic is the only mean that players have to interact with the game and to command to their troops. Thus, it becomes the main game mechanic that allows us to (i) extend the depth of the game, (ii) keep the interaction intuitive, while also (iii) increasing the replayability and the educational value of the game.