Advances in Computer Games: 17th International Conference, ACG 2021, Virtual Event, November 23–25, 2021, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13262)

260 Pages·2022·14.395 MB·English

by  Cameron Browne (editor), Akihiro Kishimoto (editor), Jonathan Schaeffer (editor)

Cameron Browne
Akihiro Kishimoto
Jonathan Schaeffer (Eds.)
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6 Advances in
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Computer Games
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17th International Conference, ACG 2021
Virtual Event, November 23–25, 2021
Revised Selected Papers
Lecture Notes in Computer Science 13262
FoundingEditors
GerhardGoos
KarlsruheInstituteofTechnology,Karlsruhe,Germany
JurisHartmanis
CornellUniversity,Ithaca,NY,USA
EditorialBoardMembers
ElisaBertino
PurdueUniversity,WestLafayette,IN,USA
WenGao
PekingUniversity,Beijing,China
BernhardSteffen
TUDortmundUniversity,Dortmund,Germany
MotiYung
ColumbiaUniversity,NewYork,NY,USA
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttps://link.springer.com/bookseries/558
· ·
Cameron Browne Akihiro Kishimoto
Jonathan Schaeffer (Eds.)
Advances in
Computer Games
17th International Conference, ACG 2021
Virtual Event, November 23–25, 2021
Revised Selected Papers
Editors
CameronBrowne AkihiroKishimoto
MaastrichtUniversity IBMResearch-Tokyo
Maastricht,TheNetherlands Tokyo,Japan
JonathanSchaeffer
UniversityofAlberta
Edmonton,AB,Canada
ISSN 0302-9743 ISSN 1611-3349 (electronic)
LectureNotesinComputerScience
ISBN 978-3-031-11487-8 ISBN 978-3-031-11488-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11488-5
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Preface
Thisbookcollectsthepaperspresentedatthe17thAdvancesinComputerGamescon-
ference(ACG2021)whichtookplaceduringNovember23–25,2021.Theconference
was held online in 2021 for the first time in its 47 year history due to the COVID-19
pandemicandsubsequenttravelrestrictions.Thiswasatrulyinternationaleffortasthe
conferencewasprimarilyhostedfromMaastrichtUniversity,theNetherlands,througha
ZoomstreamprovidedbytheUniversityofAlberta,Canada,withassistancefromIBM
Research-Tokyo,Japan.
TheAdvancesinComputerGamesconferenceseriesisamajorinternationalforum
for researchers and developers interested in all aspects of artificial intelligence and
computer game playing. Earlier conferences took place in London (1975), Edinburgh
(1978), London (1981, 1984), Noordwijkerhout (1987), London (1990), Maastricht
(1993,1996),Paderborn(1999),Graz(2003),Taipei(2005),Pamplona(2009),Tilburg
(2011),Leiden(2015,2017)andMacao(2019).Forthepast20years,theconference
hasbeenheldeverysecondyear,alternatingwiththeComputerandGamesconference.
Atotalof34papersweresubmittedtothisconference.Onewaslaterwithdrawnand
the remaining 33 papers were each reviewed by three reviewers. A total of 22 papers
wereacceptedforpresentation.
Theonlinenatureofthisyear’sconferenceofferedsomebenefitsinthatconference
registration could be made free for the first time, resulting in a record participation
forthiseventwith399registeredparticipants.Italsoprovidedlogisticalchallengesin
devisingaschedulethatworkedforasmanyattendeesaspossibleoverawiderangeof
timezones.
The themes for this year’s ACG conference were specifically widened to include
videogameresearchinadditiontotheusualtraditional/mathematicalgamesresearch.
Thegoalwastobroadentheconferencefocustoencouragenewresearcherstoparticipate
inInternationalComputerGamesAssociation(ICGA)events.Thefourpaperspresented
inSession5:PlayerModellingrepresenttheresultsofthisinitiative.
TheACG2021programconsistedofthreekeynotespeechesandsixregularpaper
sessions.Thekeynotetalkswerefromworld-classresearchersDavidSilverandMichael
Bowling,alongwithveterancomputerchessprogramcreatorsLarryKaufmanandMark
Lefler.AllpapersandpresentationvideoscanbeaccessedattheACG2021website.1
Session1:LearninginGames
Theopeningsession,chairedbyToddNeller,collectedthreepapersfocussedonmachine
learning – especially deep learning – for specific games. These included C. Yi and
T.Kanekoon“ImprovingCounterfactualRegretMinimizationAgentsTraininginthe
CardGameCheat”,B.Doux,B.Negrevergne,andT.Cazenaveon“DeepReinforcement
1https://icga.org/?page_id=3328.
vi Preface
LearningforMorpionSolitaire”,andL.G.HerediaandT.Cazenaveon“ExpertIteration
forRisk”.
Session2:SearchinGames
Thissession,chairedbyMichaelHartisch,presentednewsearchmethodsandenhance-
mentsofexistingsearchmethodsforarangeofgames.ThepaperspresentedwereN.
FabianoandT.Cazenaveon“SequentialHalvingUsingScores”,T.Cazenave,J.Sentuc,
andM.Videauon“CosineAnnealing,MixnetandSwishActivationforComputerGo”,
G. Moskowitz and V. Ponomarenko on “A Heuristic Approach to the Game of Sylver
Coinage”,andA.PálssonandY.Björnssonon“EvaluatingInterpretabilityMethodsfor
DNNsinGame-PlayingAgents”.
Keynote: Artificial Intelligence Goes All-In: Computers Playing
Poker
Thefirstkeynotespeaker,MichaelBowlingfromtheUniversityofAlberta’sComputer
PokerResearchGroupandGoogleDeepMind,wasintroducedbyJonathanSchaeffer.
Thistalkdescribedthedevelopmentoftheworld’sfirstsuperhumanPokerbots.
Session3:SolvingGames
Kazuki Yoshizoe chaired this session on solving, or at least providing more complete
complexity analyses, of some simple games. This included S. Tanaka, F. Bonnet, S.
Tixeuil, and Y. Tamura on “Quixo is Solved”, J. Uiterwijk on “Solving Bicoloring-
Graph Games on Rectangular Boards – Part 1: Partisan Col and Snort” and “Part 2:
ImpartialColandSnort”,andR.Hayward,R.A.Hearn,andM.Jamshidianon“BoxOff
isNP-Complete”.
Keynote:54YearsofProgressinComputerChess
LarryKaufmanandMarkLefler,introducedbyJaapvandenHerik,presentedapersonal
accountofkeydevelopmentsincomputerchessoverthelasthalfcentury,throughtheir
ownexperiencesinthefield.
Session4:ChessPatterns
Thissessiononchesspatterns,chairedbyTristanCazenave,exploredeffectiverepresen-
tationsofchessforAIsearch.ThepapersincludedM.BizjakandM.Guidon“Automatic
RecognitionofSimilarChessMotifs”,R.Haque,T.H.Wei,andM.Mülleron“Onthe
Road to Perfection? Evaluating Leela Chess Zero Against Endgame Tablebases”, and
D.GombocandC.Sheltonon“ChessEndgameCompressionviaLogicMinimization”.
Preface vii
Session5:PlayerModelling
MatthewStephensonchairedSession5onPlayerModellingwhichcollectedthevideo
gamespapersacceptedfortheconference.TheseincludedK.Fujihira,C.-H.Hsueh,and
K.Ikedaon“ProceduralMazeGenerationwithDifficultyfromHumanPlayers’Perspec-
tives”,H.-J.Chang,C.Yueh,G.-Y.Fan,T.-Y.Lin,andT.-S.Hsuon“OpponentModel
SelectionUsingDeepLearning”,G.Guglielmo,I.F.PeradajordiandM.Klincewiczon
“DeepLearningtoDetectFacialMarkersofComplexDecisionMaking”,andA.Gunes,
F.KavumandS.Sarielon“PlayerModelingUsingEvent-TraitMappingSupportedby
PCA”.
Keynote:AlphaZeroFundamentals
The third keynote speaker was David Silver, leader of Google DeepMind’s machine
learninggroupandleadresearcheronthesuccessfulAlphaGo,AlphaZero,andAlphaS-
tar programs. David, introduced by Martin Müller, described the inner workings of
AlphaZero,andhowexistingsearchmethodswereadaptedtoproducethespectacular
resultsobtained.
Session6:GameSystems
Thissession,chairedbySpyridonSamothrakis,featuredfourpapersongamesystems,
especiallytheLudiigeneralgamesystem.ThepapersincludedM.Stephenson,E.Piette,
D.J.N.J.Soemers,andC.Browneon“AutomaticGenerationofBoardGameManuals”,
“OptimisedPlayoutImplementationsfortheLudiiGGS”,and“GeneralBoardGeom-
etry” (in various orders of authorship) in addition to M. Goadrich and C. Shaddox on
“QuantifyingtheSpaceofHeartsVariants”.
Acknowledgements
TheorganizationofACG2021waspartlysupportedbytheEuropeanResearchCouncil
aspartoftheDigitalLudemeProject(ERCCoG#771292).Theonlinetechnologywas
providedbytheUniversityofAlberta’sAI4Society.ThankyoutoNicolásArnáezand
EleniStrouliafortheirtremendoussupport.
November2021 CameronBrowne
AkihiroKishimoto
JonathanSchaeffer
Organization
OrganizingCommittee
CameronBrowne MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
AkihiroKishimoto IBMResearch-Tokyo,Japan
JonathanSchaeffer UniversityofAlberta,Canada
ICGAExecutive
TristanCazenave LAMSADE,UniversitéParisDauphinePSL,
CNRS,France
HiroyukiIida JapanAdvancedInstituteofScienceand
Technology,Japan
DavidLevy Independent,UK
JonathanSchaeffer UniversityofAlberta,Canada
JaapvandenHerik UniversityofLeiden,TheNetherlands
MarkWinands MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
I-ChenWu NationalYangMingChiaoTungUniversity,
Taiwan
ProgramCommittee
YngviBjörnsson ReykjavikUniversity,Iceland
BrunoBouzy ParisCitéUniversity,France
CameronBrowne MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
TristanCazenave LAMSADE,UniversitéParisDauphine–PSL,
CNRS,France
Lung-PinChen TunghaiUniversity,Taiwan
SiangYewChong UniversityofNottingham,Malaysia
ChaoGao UniversityofAlberta,Canada
ReijerGrimbergen TokyoUniversityofTechnology,Japan
MichaelHartisch UniversityofSiegen,Germany
RyanHayward UniversityofAlberta,Canada
Chu-HsuanHsueh JapanAdvancedInstituteofScienceand
Technology,Japan
HiroyukiIida JapanAdvancedInstituteofScienceand
Technology,Japan
EricJacopin CRECSaint-Cyr,France
NicolasJouandeau Paris8University,France
x Organization
TomoyukiKaneko UniversityofTokyo,Japan
AkihiroKishimoto IBMResearch-Tokyo,Japan
JakubKowalski UniversityofWroclaw,Poland
SylvainLagrue UniversitédeTechnologiedeCompiègne,France
DiegoPerezLiebana QueenMaryUniversityofLondon,UK
Shun-ShiiLin NationalTaiwanNormalUniversity,Taiwan
RichardLorentz CaliforniaStateUniversity,USA
MartinMüller UniversityofAlberta,Canada
ToddNeller GettysburgCollege,USA
MarkNelson AmericanUniversity,USA
ÉricPiette MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
MikePreuss UniversiteitLeiden,TheNetherlands
AbdallahSaffidine UniversityofNewSouthWales,Australia
SpyridonSamothrakis UniversityofEssex,UK
JonathanSchaeffer UniversityofAlberta,Canada
DennisSoemers MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
MatthewStephenson MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
NathanSturtevant UniversityofAlberta,Canada
RuckThawonmas RitsumeikanUniversity,Germany
MichaelThielscher UniversityofNewSouthWales,Australia
JonathanVis UniversiteitLeiden,TheNetherlands
TingHanWei UniversityofAlberta,Canada
MarkWinands MaastrichtUniversity,TheNetherlands
I-ChenWu NationalYangMingChiaoTungUniversity,
Taiwan
Shi-JimYen NationalDongHwaUniversity,Taiwan
KazukiYoshizoe KyushuUniversity,Japan