Interactive Fiction sources in Prolog.
I-I-Ice -now that's refreshing.
I just finished a course in AI and I am gung-ho about Prolog. Since Prolog
is so flexible, I am first soliciting opinions about its suitability as
a platform for the development of a comprehensive interactive fiction
system.
Such a system, in my opinion should include sections for:
i) easily creating Non-Player Characters which are dynamic and lifelike
and appear intelligent and goal-directed and emotional. (See David
Graves' "Bringing Characters to Life".)
ii) a natural language interface both between the human participant and
the game and between the human participant and the NPCs.
iii) a world which is easy to build. For example, the program should
sport an intuitive interface to build a complex domain like a university
campus with literally hundreds of rooms and areas to move through in a
natural way.
iv) A large library of ready-made objects which can be put at the
proper places in the world that has been created. For example, it
should be a part of the library to have an AT available to "splice"
into the world. Perhaps you could even have the AT running an
interactive fiction adventure. ;-).
v) A large library of "personality" templates that can be used as
NPCs. One of the first I would like to create would be Sato from
Black Rain. I might try the T-1000 from Terminator 2 if I'm feeling
agressive.
vi) Customizable "governing laws" which would allow magic or high-technology
to influence the adventure. For example, a really complex model might
allow one to travel backward in time and kill an enemy who might be about
to kill someone else, all while maintaining proper contingencies.
I am wondering if anyone has used Prolog (preferably the Clocksin and
Mellish definition) to try to develop interactive fiction. If not, are
there better languages to be using? I think Prolog which allows
logic programming in a natural way would be a very good base on which to
implement the features i-vi. If I have made a mistake, I'd appreciate
hearing about it.
I told my CS prof I think that this could be a powerful cultural medium
in the future. But only if working with such a system was easy and
natural and FUN. I'd like to see this become a legitimate and respectable
art form. Show those stodgy English teachers a thing or two.
Please advise about Prolog at the very least, but comments on any of this
would be very welcome.
Thanks.
Ice.
Leonard Myers
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
R E G I S T R A T I O N A N N O U N C E M E N T
2 N D A N N U A L C L I P S C O N F E R E N C E
sponsored by the CLIPS Users Group
with support by NASA/Johnson Space Center
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The CLIPS Users Group is a nonprofit corporation organized to
promote the interchange of information about CLIPS, the C Language
Integrated Production System developed by the Software Technology
Branch of the Information Technology Division at NASA/Johnson Space
Center.
If you are a current user of CLIPS, a potential user of CLIPS,
or you are simply interested in expert systems, you should attend
the 2nd Annual CLIPS Users Group Conference. The recent introduc-
tion of object oriented programming in CLIPS 5.0 has provided a
particularly important topic for discussion.
If you attended the First Conference last year, you know how
useful the presentations at this conference can be! You will find
some of the presenters are back again this year, but many totally
new applications will be described as well.
The CLIPS Users Group Conference is open to all parties who
pay the appropriate registration fees. Although the presentations
are associated with the use of CLIPS, all persons interested in
knowledge based systems will find topics of general usefulness in
the field. Unlike some conferences, papers concerned with practi-
cal and actual applications of expert systems are encouraged. Live
demonstrations will be included. In addition, papers concerned
with the teaching and learning of expert system methodology will be
presented.
Attendees are encouraged to bring software to demonstrate
and/or make available to others. A special room with generic com-
puter equipment will be made available for this purpose. (Bring
your own diskettes.)
The developers of CLIPS will provide a special session to re-
view the new features of CLIPS 5.0 and provide some insight into
the future of CLIPS.
If you come for the preceeding weekend, the Galveston Bay area
provides a variety of boating and shoreline pleasures. The nearby
San Jacinto Battleground marks the spot where Texas won indepen-
dence from Mexico and you can tour the Battleship Texas moored near
the San Jacinto Monument. The turn-of-the-century Martyn Farm,
Charruco Indian Village and free guided bayou boat rides are also
available at the Armand Bayou Nature Center.
The conference will also encourage attendees to take advantage
of the opportunity to explore the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
and have some fun! Trained guides conduct tours of the Mission
Contro Center where actual Mercury and Apollo spacecraft can be
viewed and self-guided tours include the Lunar Sample Facility
where viewers can see the largest Moon rocks availble to the public
in the world! Call (713) 483-4321 for visitor information.
The banquet speaker on Monday night will be an astronaut who
should be available to autograph official NASA pictures, for those
who wish a special momento. All attendees will also receive a
"goody" bag at registration that will include a serving of "as-
tronaut" ice cream.
Finally, as a very special bonus, it is probable while at the
conference attendees will be the first to receive a copy of CLIPS
5.1, which is almost ready for release.
TRAVEL:
You can fly to either Houston International or Hobby Airport.
Houston is 47 miles from NASA and Hobby is 18 miles from the main
entrance to NASA. Gilruth Center is about one and one-half miles
from the gate. Security clearance will be arranged for Conference
Attendees.
American Airlines is the official airlines for the conference.
You will receive 40% off the coach fare and 5% off any promotional
rate with at least a 14-day advance purchase. Call 1 (800) 433-
1790 and refer to Star #14917D.
At the same time you may also request a special discount for
car rental through Budget Rent-A-Car to be ready for you at either
airport. Be sure to mention the CLIPS USERS GROUP CONFERENCE when
making your reservations!
ACCOMODATIONS:
The Conference designated hotel is the Nassau Bay Hilton. The
elegant accomodations are available at a special rate of $75,
(which has been negotiated below the current government rate of
$89.) Reservations can be made at toll-free at 1 (800) 634-4320,
but you MUST REGISTER AS A MEMBER OF THE CLIPS USERS GROUP to re-
ceive the special rate. You must make your reservations early, be-
fore the reserved block of rooms is filled.
In the following list of potential hotels, the Hilton, Ramada,
Holiday Inn and American Host are closest to NASA. All are within
a few miles of the main gate.
Nassau Bay Hilton 300 NASA Road 1
$75 special Houston, TX 77058
(800) 634-4320 (713) 333-9300
Holiday Inn - NASA 1300 NASA Road 1
$66 gov. Houston, TX 77058
$67.75 corp. (713) 333-9167
Ramada Kings Inn 1301 NASA Road 1
$65 gov. Houston, TX 77058
$70 corp. (713) 488-0220
South Shore Harbour Resort 2500 S. Shore Blvd.
$80 gov. League City, TX 77573
$90 corp. (713) 334-1000
$10 per extra person
American Host 2020 NASA Road 1
single double Houston, TX 77058
$55 $60 gov. (713) 332-3551
$57 $62 corp.
NASA Motel 889 West Bay Area
single queen Webster, TX 77598
$43 gov. (713) 338-1526
$48 corp.
single king
$47 gov.
$52 corp.
double
$47
Motel 6 1001 West NASA Road 1
$28.95 single Webster, TX 77598
$34.95 double (713) 332-4581
PRELIMINARY AGENDA:
Daily Overview.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23
7:30 - 16:00 Late Registration
8:00 WELCOME ADDRESS
8:15 - 9:45 SESSION 1
9:45 - 10:00 Refreshment Break
10:00 - 11:30 SESSION 2
11:35 - 12:25 SPECIAL DEMONSTRATION - ICADS
12:30 - 13:25 Lunch
13:30 - 15:00 SESSION 3
15:00 - 16:30 CLIPS Users Group Meeting
16:30 - 17:30 Reception (Cash Bar)
17:30 - 19:00 Banquet with Speaker
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24
8:30 - 16:00 Late Registration
9:00 - 10:30 SESSION 4
10:30 - 10:45 Refreshment Break
10:45 - 12:15 SESSION 5
12:30 - 13:25 Lunch
13:30 - 14:30 CLIPS Panel
14:30 - 14:45 Refreshment Break
14:45 - 16:15 SESSION 6
16:30 - 17:30 Board Reception (Cash Bar)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25
9:00 - 10:30 SESSION 7
10:30 - 10:45 Refreshment Break
10:45 - 12:35 SESSION 8
12:40 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 14:30 Board Meeting (open to all)
SESSION 1.
This session is reserved for reviews, extensions and other comments
on work reported in the first CLIPS conference.
SESSION 2.
Group A:
An Expert System Based Technique to Identify Move-Limits in Engineering Optimization.
Selcuk Cimtalay & Georges Fadel, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
NMESys: An Expert System for Network Fault Detection.
Peter Nelson & Janet Warpinski, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
The University of Illinois at Chicago
A Mission Executor for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.
Yuh-jeng Lee & Paul Wilkinson, Computer Science Department, Naval Postgraduate School
Group B:
Automated Army ROTC Questionaire.
David Young, Artificial Intelligence Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe
Decision Blocks - A Tool for Rule-Based Decision Making.
Christoph F. Eick & Nikhil N. Mehta, Department of Computer Science, University of Houston
Automated Predictive Diagnosis (APD) : A Three Tiered Shell for Building Expert Sytems for Automated Predictions and Decision Making. Michael Steib, Vitro Corporation
SESSION 3.
Group A:
CRN5EXP - Expert System for Statistical Quality Control.
Mariana Hentea
Statiscal Process Control (SPC) Chart Interpretation.
Mark Shewhart & Rebecca Holbrook, Artificial intelligence Support Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Application of Software Technology to Automatic Test Data Analysis.
J. R. Stagner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cal Tech
Group B:
Projects In An Expert System Class.
George Whitson, Computer Science Department, The University of Texas at Tyler
Teaching CLIPS in an Expert Systems Course.
Kwok-bun Yue, University of Houston - Clear Lake
YUCSA: A CLIPS Expert Database System to Monitor Academic
Performance.
Anestis Toptsis, Frankie Ho, Milton Leindekar, Low Foon & Mike Carbonaro, Computer Science and Mathematics, YORK University
SESSION 4.
Group A:
Implementing a Frame-Based Representation with CLIPS/COOL.
Len Myers Computer Science Department, Jim Snyder & Roberto Renzetti ICADS, CAL POLY
Protocol for Mapping CLIPS Facts to C++ Objects.
Jim Snyder & Tony Rodriguez, ICADS, CAL POLY
Object Oriented Knowledge Representation for Expert Systems.
Stephen Scott, Hughes Aircraft Company
Group B:
MAZE- A Management Analysis System.
M. Miller, Lowell University
Knowledge-Based Approach for Generating Target Systems from a Domain
Model.
Vijayan Sugumaran, Hassan Gomaa & Larry Kerschberg, Department of
Information Systems and System Engineering, George Mason University
MIQA - A CLIPS-based Query and Retrieval System.
Helmut Korp, Motorola Inc.
SESSION 5.
Group A:
A CLIPS/X-Window Interface.
Kym Pohl, ICADS, CAL POLY
Adding Run History to CLIPS.
Sharon M. Tuttle & Christoph Eick, Department of Computer Science, University of Houston
CLIPS Application User Interface for the PC.
Joey Crouse & Mark Shewhart Jim Jenkins Rebecca Holbrook,
Artificial Intelligence Support Center,
Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Group B:
Extensions to the Parallel Real-time Artificial Intelligence System
(PRAIS) for Fault-tolerant, Heterogeneous, Cycle-stealing Reasoning.
David Goldstein, University of Texas, Arlington, A & R Research Institute
Integrating CLIPS Applications into Heterogeneous Distributed Systems.
Richard Adler, Symbiotics, Inc.
PCLIPS - Parallel CLIPS.
M. Miller, Lowell University
SESSION 6.
Group A:
Proposal for a CLIPS Software Library.
Ken Porter, Harris Corporation
Extending CLIPS to Support Backward Chaining.
Paul Haley, The Haley Enterprise
LV2DEBUG: Extending CLIPS for the Avionics Maintenace Process.
James White & David Toms, Honeywell, Inc.
Group B:
Testing Validation Tools on CLIPS-Based Expert Systems.
Chin-Liang Chang, Lockheed Software Technology Center
Improving NAVFAC's Total Quality Management of Construction Drawings
with CLIPS.
Albert Antelman, Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory, Computer- Aided Design and Engineering Division, Port Huenme
Validation of an Expert System Intended for Research in Distributed
Artificial Intelligence.
C. Grossner J. Lyons & T. Radhakrishnan, Department of Computer Science, Concordia University
SESSION 7.
Group A:
LinkFinder: An Expert System that Constructs Phylogenic Trees.
James Inglehart & Peter Nelson, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Illinois at Chicago
On the Generation of Graphical Objects and Images from with CLIPS Using XView.
Terry Feagin, Computer Science, University of Houston - Clear Lake
Extracting Curves from an Image using the Hough Transform and Embedded CLIPS Expert System.
Michael Finegan & William Wee, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision Laboratory, University of Cincinnati
Group B:
Passive Acquisition of CLIPS rules.
Vincent Kovarik, Software Productivity Solutions, Inc.
Separating Domain and Control knowlege using Agenda.
Paul Haley, The Haley Enterprise
A CLIPS Based Personal Computer Hardware Diagnostic System.
George Whitson, Computer Science Department, The University of Texas at Tyler
SESSION 8.
Group A:
Debugging Expert Systems using a Dynamically Created Hypertext Network.
Craig Boyle & John Schuette, Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University
PVEX - An Expert System for Producibility/Value Engineering.
Warren Moseley, Software Engineering Institute, Chun Lam Computer
Science Department, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, & Richard Amos, United States Army Missle Command, Redstone Arsenal
Expert Networks in CLIPS.
Susan Hruska, A. P. Dalke, R. Eger, J. J. Ferguson & R. C. Lacher, Department of Computer Science, The Florida State University
Automated Information Profiling with CLIPS.
Rodney Doyle Raines III, Computer Science Department, CAL POLY
Group B:
AutoDesign - An Expert Software for Structural Design.
Hasan Kamil, Structural Analysis Technologies
ADSH: An intelligently Adapting UNIX Shell.
Patrick Dohoney & Tomas Stein, Computer Science Department, CAL POLY
Application of a Rule-Based knowledge System Using CLIPS for the Taxonomy of Selected Opuntia Species.
Bart Heymans, Joel Onema & Joseph Kuti, Horticulture Research, Texas A & I University
The Nutrition Advisor Expert System.
Scott Shyne & Scott Huse, Rome Laboratory, Griffiss AFB
For further information, contact: Dr. Leonard Myers (805) 756-1252
Computer Science Department
CAL POLY
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
lmy...@polyslo.calpoly.edu
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
Payment of the appropriate registration fee entitles the payer to lunch
each conference day, a banquet dinner, a copy of the proceedings, and
admission to all sessions of the conference.
One author of each abstract can request a 40% reduction of the
appropriate registration fee, whether or not the paper is accepted.
Members of the CLIPS Users Group will receive a $20 reduction to the
applicable fee, ($10 reduction for students), if requested when the fee is
paid.
Registration fees should be made payable to "CLIPS Users Group" and
mailed with a registration form to: Marlon Buff, Treasurer
CLIPS Users Group
2018 Westfield Drive
Augusta, Georgia 30904
Requests for refund after August 1 will be subject to a $25 processing fee.
No refunds will be made for requests received after September 1, 1991.
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REGISTRATION FORM
Second Annual CLIPS Users Group Conference
September 23-25, 1991 Gilruth Center, Johnson Space Center,
Houston, TX
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Mads Haahr
>i) easily creating Non-Player Characters which are dynamic and lifelike
>and appear intelligent and goal-directed and emotional. (See David
>Graves' "Bringing Characters to Life".)
What is David Graves' "Bringing Characters to Life" and how do I get it?
-- Mads Haahr (ma...@freja.diku.dk)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mads Haahr | E-mail: ma...@freja.diku.dk
Department of Computer Science |
University of Copenhagen | "Thou shall not follow the null pointer, for
Denmark | chaos and madness await thee at its end".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Graves
> Since Prolog is so flexible, I am first soliciting opinions about its
> suitability as a platform for the development of a comprehensive interactive
> on any of this would be very welcome.
I considered Prolog many years ago. It turns out that for the work I am
doing, Prolog made a few of the tasks much easier, and most of the tasks
much harder. Planning, for example, is wonderful in Prolog. In the end,
I wrote my own object oriented language, with extensions stolen from my
favorite languages.
Mads Haahr asks:
> What is David Graves' "Bringing Characters to Life" and how do I get it?
This is a paper I wrote on my work in "Artificial Personality". Another paper
of mine is "Second Generation Adventure Games", which focuses on the physical
world model, parsing, text generation, and simple planning. My latest paper
is "The Automated Playwright", presented at the Computer Game Developer's
Conference last spring. I cheerfully send a copy of each paper to anyone who
sends a self-addressed business envelope with 55 cents postage to "David
Graves MS/46T, 19111 Pruneridge Ave, Cupertino CA 95124".
David Graves
Peter Ludemann
> I am wondering if anyone has used Prolog (preferably the Clocksin and
> Mellish definition) to try to develop interactive fiction. If not, are
> there better languages to be using? ...
You might be interested in:
"Adventures in Prolog"
by Dennis Merritt
Springer-Verlag 1990 ISBN 0-387-97315-X (New York etc.)
3-540-97315-X (Berlin etc.)
I've skimmed the book -- it provides an introduction to Prolog, using
a simple "adventure" game as an example. It seems to cover most of
the features of Prolog, including DCGs for processing a subset of
natural language.
--
Peter Ludemann +1-415-813-3800 lude...@quintus.com