Abstract
This paper describes a novel approach to the derivation of model-driven engineering (MDE) models using metaheuristic search, and illustrates it using a specific engineering problem: that of deriving computer game characters with desirable properties. The character behaviour is defined using a human-readable domain-specific language (DSL) that is interpreted using MDE techniques. We apply the search to the underlying MDE metamodels, rather than the DSL directly, and as a result our approach is applicable to a wide range of MDE models. An implementation developed using the Eclipse Modeling Framework, the most widely-used toolset for MDE, is evaluated. The results demonstrate not only the derivation of characters with the desired properties, but also the identification of unexpected features of the behavioural description language and the game itself.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Brabazon, A., O’Neill, M.: Evolving technical trading rules for spot foreign-exchange markets using grammatical evolution. Computational Management Science 1, 311–327 (2004)
Czarnecki, K., Helsen, S.: Feature-based survey of model transformation approaches. IBM Systems Journal 45(3), 621–645 (2006)
Efftinge, S., Voelter, M.: oAW xText: A framework for textual DSLs. In: Proc. Workshop on Modelling, Eclipse Con. (2006)
Goldsby, H.J., Cheng, B.H.C.: Avida-MDE: a digital evolution approach to generating models of adaptive software behavior. In: Proc. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conf., GECCO 2008, pp. 1751–1758 (2008)
Heidenreich, F., Johannes, J., Karol, S., Seifert, M., Wende, C.: Derivation and Refinement of Textual Syntax for Models. In: Paige, R.F., Hartman, A., Rensink, A. (eds.) ECMDA-FA 2009. LNCS, vol. 5562, pp. 114–129. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Hugosson, J., Hemberg, E., Brabazon, A., O’Neill, M.: Genotype representations in grammatical evolution. Applied Soft. Computing 10, 36–43 (2010)
Kessentini, M., Sahraoui, H., Boukadoum, M.: Model Transformation as an Optimization Problem. In: Busch, C., Ober, I., Bruel, J.-M., Uhl, A., Völter, M. (eds.) MODELS 2008. LNCS, vol. 5301, pp. 159–173. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Kleppe, A.: A language description is more than a metamodel. In: Fourth Int’l Workshop on Software Language Eng. (October 2007)
Kolovos, D.S., Rose, L.M., Paige, R.F.: The Epsilon book (2010) (unpublished)
Kolovos, D.S., Paige, R.F., Polack, F.A.C.: The Epsilon Object Language (EOL). In: Rensink, A., Warmer, J. (eds.) ECMDA-FA 2006. LNCS, vol. 4066, pp. 128–142. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Li, R., Chaudron, M.R.V., Ladan, R.C.: Towards automated software architectures design using model transformations and evolutionary algorithms. In: Proc. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conf (GECCO 2010), pp. 1333–1340 (2010)
O’Neill, M., Brabazon, A.: Grammatical differential evolution. In: Proc. 2006 Int’l Conf. Artificial Intelligence (ICAI 2006), pp. 231–236 (2006)
O’Neill, M., Brabazon, A.: Grammatical swarm: The generation of programs by social programming. Natural Computing 5, 443–462 (2006)
O’Neill, M., Ryan, C.: Grammatical evolution. IEEE Trans. Evol. Comput. 5(4), 349–358 (2001)
Ryan, C., Collins, J.J., Neill, M.O.: Grammatical Evolution: Evolving Programs for an Arbitrary Language. In: Banzhaf, W., Poli, R., Schoenauer, M., Fogarty, T.C. (eds.) EuroGP 1998. LNCS, vol. 1391, pp. 83–96. Springer, Heidelberg (1998)
Selic, B.: The pragmatics of model-driven development. IEEE Software 20(5), 19–25 (2003)
Shao, J., McDermott, J., O’Neill, M., Brabazon, A.: Jive: A Generative, Interactive, Virtual, Evolutionary Music System. In: Di Chio, C., Brabazon, A., Di Caro, G.A., Ebner, M., Farooq, M., Fink, A., Grahl, J., Greenfield, G., Machado, P., O’Neill, M., Tarantino, E., Urquhart, N. (eds.) EvoApplications 2010. LNCS, vol. 6025, pp. 341–350. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Steinberg, D., Budinsky, F., Paternostro, M., Merks, E.: EMF Eclipse Modeling Framework. The Eclipse Series, 2nd edn., Addison-Wesley, Reading (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Williams, J.R., Poulding, S., Rose, L.M., Paige, R.F., Polack, F.A.C. (2011). Identifying Desirable Game Character Behaviours through the Application of Evolutionary Algorithms to Model-Driven Engineering Metamodels. In: Cohen, M.B., Ó Cinnéide, M. (eds) Search Based Software Engineering. SSBSE 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6956. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23716-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23716-4_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-23715-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-23716-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)