Ed Boon Talks Fighting Game Artificial Intelligence

<b>Game Informer</b> is running a two part <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200705/N07.0507.1720.43109.htm">feature story</a> on <b>Artificial Intelligence</b> as a part of their <b>Beyond the Bits</b> series, dealing with the unsung facets of game development. <b>Jeff Cork</b> enlists the thoughts of noted fighting game developer and <b>Mortal Kombat</b> co-creator <b>Ed Boon</b> on what defines "good" A.I. in fighting games.

“I think with a fighting game, the whole stigma is that you’re playing against a ladder, you’re playing against something that’s not as fun to play because it’s your one fighter against the other one fighter and there are far fewer variables involved,” Boon says. “So when AI is bad, it really stands out in a fighting game, and it also becomes more boring since people can predict things more. We’re definitely going to more toward the different classes of AI and personalities and whatnot as opposed to something that’s trying to make sure that you get through the first three fighters and not get through too many in a row—and have more of a personality with them.

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Perhaps that last part was a glimpse into the A.I. of the next <b>Mortal Kombat</b>. You can read the rest of <b>Boon's</b> quote on the <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200705/N07.0507.1720.43109.htm?Page=2">second page</a> of the feature. The <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200705/N07.0507.1720.43109.htm">rest of the story</a> delves into the varying of A.I. strategies in distinct game genres.