Will modders ever be able to write their own bots?

[deek0146]

This is something I have been hoping for for a while, and I'm sure there are probably other people who feel the same. I feel dota2 could be an amazing platform for competitive AI programming because of its massive complexity. Any thoughts anyone?

[JamesDrake]

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. It'd be really cool if you could get create/get bot mods (A steam workshop section would be the holy grail), although I'd probably never see the sun again.

The level of work to get a bots API that meant they couldn't cheat, as well as the work needed to sandbox the AI so it can't bring down anything with dodgy logic, would probably be really high but the benefits could be huge. Individuals could sink hundreds of hours into building a bot that plays only one hero, but plays that hero really well in a way Valve never could. There have been a few posts on this forum for bots that mimic famous playstyles (Dendi's Pudge for example), this would be the most powerful way that Valve could support that. Plus the idea of having a side tournament at TI for bots would be great for getting more people interested in programming (and also bringing competitive programming into the eSports world).

[FoxCharge]

Good God, +1 all the way!!

[Arxos]

I'm for anything that supports open source bots really, just look at all the UT2004 and SC:BW bots being made, they're damn impressive.

[Kraju]

+1

[Berjiz]

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. It'd be really cool if you could get create/get bot mods (A steam workshop section would be the holy grail), although I'd probably never see the sun again.

The level of work to get a bots API that meant they couldn't cheat, as well as the work needed to sandbox the AI so it can't bring down anything with dodgy logic, would probably be really high but the benefits could be huge. Individuals could sink hundreds of hours into building a bot that plays only one hero, but plays that hero really well in a way Valve never could. There have been a few posts on this forum for bots that mimic famous playstyles (Dendi's Pudge for example), this would be the most powerful way that Valve could support that. Plus the idea of having a side tournament at TI for bots would be great for getting more people interested in programming (and also bringing competitive programming into the eSports world).

Would be really aweseome to see a tournament were bots play and pick

[deek0146]

The level of work to get a bots API that meant they couldn't cheat, as well as the work needed to sandbox the AI so it can't bring down anything with dodgy logic, would probably be really high but the benefits could be huge.

I don't think cheating would be an issue, it wouldn't add much more ability to cheat than there already is in the source engine (take counterstrike for example, people write bots, but VAC is pretty good at shutting them out of servers). I didn't think of the sandboxing issue you speak of, I honestly didn't think that the bots would be running on valve's servers however, some people (me for one), would want to write RIDICULOUSLY intensive bots.

[assteepee]

Major +1! awesome idea

[Obilisk]

I'd like to take a shot at programming one, their current behavior makes me wince, but I'm sure after spending time on one myself I'd feel a lot better about the current bots behavior =P

Course, I'd worry less about cheating (fairly easy to prevent, don't give the bot data they shouldn't have) and worry more about limiting how much processing power a bot can require. Bots run on the server, so you don't want someone to program an infinite loop for the lulz and bring down games.

[JamesDrake]

I don't think cheating would be an issue, it wouldn't add much more ability to cheat than there already is in the source engine (take counterstrike for example, people write bots, but VAC is pretty good at shutting them out of servers). I didn't think of the sandboxing issue you speak of, I honestly didn't think that the bots would be running on valve's servers however, some people (me for one), would want to write RIDICULOUSLY intensive bots.

I guess the bots could actually run client side, there should be a lot more free processor cycles for complex AI that way (The source engine doesn't exactly use all the cores on a modern cpu). It's already possible for one client to control several heroes through hero sharing so I guess this could work under the current framework. Although if the bot client disconnected all the bots would discon too!

Would be really aweseome to see a tournament were bots play and pick

Bit I'd most like to see is the AI 'Champion' getting it's shiny metal ass handed to it by a pro team. Just to show them we're still boss.