StarCraft AI Competition: A Step Toward Human-Level AI for Real-Time Strategy Games

This article reviews the two most recent IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG) StarCraft Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competitions organized by the authors; these were the fourth and fifth in a series of annual competitions initiated in 2011. StarCraft AI Competitions have been hosted in conjunction with three different events: the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE), CIG, and Student StarCraft AI Tournament (SSCAIT). The purpose of these competitions is to design bots that are able autonomously and successfully to play the StarCraft game by implementing real-time strategies. Recent results reveal the promising use of AI techniques in creating successful AI entries, but there is room for improvement with respect to the bots' ability to adapt and learn to defeat humans and scripted AI bots. It provides a dynamic environment in which several agents interact to build military units with which to fight against an opponent.