Phase1_Shootout

Capture the Flag Phase #1: The Results

Alex J. Champandard on December 14, 2012

The CTF AI Competition was created as a programming challenge that reflects the development of AI for AAA video games. Competitors were required to write commanders to control between 4 and 15 bots in a team-based game of Capture The Flag, with gameplay mechanics inspired by a combination of FROZEN SYNAPSE and KILLZONE 3.

36 students and enthusiasts from around the world submitted AI Commanders in a number of different programming languages — ranging from Python to C++ — to compete in the Phase #1 Tournament. The tournament included some modified maps from the official SDK release, and new unseen maps as well.

NOTE: Special thanks to Guerrilla Games for supporting the competition and don't forget they're recruiting AI programmers! Also, if you'd like to help with future AI competitions, AiGameDev.com is hiring too :-)

Tournament Results

The winner is ... CurlyMo, thanks to a combination of solid defensive positioning and clever attacking. CurlyMo was in the lead in the online ladder, though the top five (last minute) submissions were ranked very closely, with different commanders doing better on different styles of maps. Special credit goes to Nick Caplinger's commander in second place, who was often ahead and impressed us with its decisions.

RankCommanderWinsDrawsLossesGames
1CurlyMo #367.6%11.1%21.3%469
2Nick Caplinger #767.3%6.3%26.4%474
3RedTougu #862.8%10.9%26.3%358

The full results of the competition can be found on the Tournament Results page.

Match Recordings

Here are just a couple of the tournament match recordings. More recordings are available from the commander pages linked to in the results.

Roger Valldeperas versus CurlyMo

Red Tougu versus Chris St John

Moduspwned versus CurlyMo

Benjamin Han versus Chris St John

Phase #2

Commander submissions are now being accepted again, and the automated ranking ladder is now fully operational. Anyone is eligible for competing in the competition; you don't have to have participated in Phase #1 compete in Phase #2.

We will be announcing some small tweaks to gameplay mechanics next week. There are unlikely to be major changes to the API so the existing commanders should continue to work for Phase #2. Now's a great time to enter as the rules will be changing, and you can use the best ideas from the current commanders by watching the replays!

Go to the Participate page for more info on how to enter.

Posted in Announcement