[CLOSED] - AI Specialist - BOOGA BOOGA

Collaboration Recruitment
#1

UPDATE: Congratulations to @ImFarley for having been selected for this position!

There were many qualified candidates, but in the end, the decision to pick @ImFarley came from an objective evaluation of his Ant Challenge submission. His solutions to the proposed challenges were scalable, peformant, and 100% functional. Not only that, but his description was thorough, and the speed at which he developed these solutions was lightning fast. He performed not one, but two iterations on just the prototype.

Here a few demos of his system in action:

As Booga Booga continues to grow, keep an eye out here for future job openings, as many more positions will need to be filled. If you were a candidate who applied for this position, but have strengths in other areas, feel free to send me your portfolio. Good programmers are very valuable.

This recruitment thread is now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied! The old thread will remain below…

Hello, I’m Soybeen, creator of BOOGA BOOGA, the top survival game on Roblox :moyai:

You may have seen my last recruitment advertisement in the Accelerator application thread here: [CLOSED] 2020 Summer Accelerator Mingling Thread - #13 by Soybeen Thank you to everyone who sent their qualifications, but no candidates were chosen since we are no longer planning on attending the Accelerator program with BOOGA BOOGA. If you applied there for the AI job on that thread, I encourage you to apply for this other opportunity.

Why I am hiring:
BOOGA BOOGA is undergoing major revision, and the team is expanding to redouble the development effort. The highest priority position that has yet to be filled is that of an A.I. Specialist.

Most of the NPCs that you will be working on have already been designed, rigged, and animated for you, but knowledge of NPC rigging and animating is required, as many more NPCs will be developed in the future.

The primary duty of the A.I. Specialist is to create AI that conquer the world. Yes, quite literally.
This poses unique challenges, but comes with a set of clearly defined goals.

Required knowledge

  • Familiarity with at least one style of automation (finite-state machines, behavioral trees, or a strategy of similar efficacy)
  • Intimate understanding of Pathfinding on Roblox
  • Knowledge of the NPC rigging process
  • Holistic & intimate understanding of Lua and Roblox Studio.

First month goals will include

  • Survival behavior protocols (wandering, cowering, scavenging, hunting)
  • Organic, exciting, and slightly unpredictable AI - AI and AI - Player interactions
  • Supporting more than 200-300 AI of varying intelligence simultaneously, and performantly
  • Pathfinding functions capable of navigating a complex archipelago, underground caves, water, and UGC structures

To be considered as an applicant, you must

  • be at least 18 years of age to apply
  • demonstrate sufficient skill in manipulating AI-driven NPCs (e.g. a showcase)
  • put forth your best effort towards meeting pre-defined weekly and monthly production goals
  • have a Discord account
  • accept payment in either USD (PayPal / Venmo), or in Robux

The job term starts at 1 month but can be renegotiated after that period.
The pay rate is $3,000 USD, (~R$ 857,000) per month

If you’re interested and qualified for the job, send me a message here on the DevForum or post below expressing interest and include a showcase of your most attractive qualifications. This offer will remain open until a candidate is chosen. The accepted candidate can get to work immediately.

If you have any questions about the opportunity, post below.

EDIT: in order for you to see what this job will be like, I’ve created a miniature version of BOOGA BOOGA, complete with a terrain obstacle course and fully rigged Ant people to traverse it. The challenge is detailed within. If you can tackle it without too much difficulty, you are likely qualified.

DOWNLOAD HERE: [LINK REDACTED]

Have fun brainstorming

19 Likes
[CLOSED] [$25/hr] Cloud Entertainment is hiring a Programmer
#2

Hello Soybeen!

For the Ant Challenge Template, do you have any requirements on how we should code it?

For example I have a custom framework that I typically use for my coding. Would something like that be permissible?

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#3

Have fun, @daftcube , you’ve got this!

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#4

I tried to take a go at it since this seemed like a fun job/offer to me. However, I almost immediately noticed upon opening the place that this was way above my skill level.

Good luck to anyone else that applies!

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#5

Hi Farley,
No requirements. The demo place is to be used at your complete discretion. It is a measurement of fitness for the task, for us both to get an idea.

That being said, I would encourage you to attempt to integrate with some of the conventions (EntityData, GameUtil), as these are core parts of the framework of Booga Booga which you will encounter during on the job. If integration cannot be easily achieved, a functional next-best solution would still indicate fitness.

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#6

Do I post the finished product of the demo here or in DMs?

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#7

You can send it to me along a DM.
Unless of course you want to inspire others with your designs.

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#8

Do you prefer a special type of formatting? I know some dislike OOP, and some that HAVE to have it OOP.

How do you want the game logic to look like? Do you prefer the NPCs to be rendered in a specific way or do you want to see our logical creativity displayed in our work?

Custom humanoids or not (humanoids are expensive but if it is going to do these complex things, I’d recommend using normal humanoids)

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#9

Hello I am interested and I will try to complete the challenge.

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#10

Ahh, now I’m beginning to see some of the hidden challenges behind this :slight_smile:

A very fun challenge. Might take me a few days though since I’ve never worked with voxel caches before. Up for the challenge though!

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#11

Hi, Is there any chance you need a 3D Modeler?

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#12

These decisions are mostly left up to you. The best solution in my opinion would be one that makes use of the tools already at hand, however, if you find that a custom solution is more effective, or ergonomic, then by all means.

As far as priorities go, you should consider the following in rank order:

  • A functional solution
  • An efficient / performant solution
  • Integration with the current organizational structure of the place
1 Like
#13

Currently we are staffed with good 3D modelers who are also knowledgeable programmers, but feel free to send me your portfolio as there may be openings in the future for a dedicated position.

#14

Quick update for those attempting the challenge-

The cave area in the challenge place is slightly too steep, and the copper node on top is inaccessible by the Scav according to the Roblox pathfinder. This is meant to be an example of an inaccessible resource, and AI should not hang on an impossible task.

It’s also worth mentioning that everyone who’s attempted the challenge so far (including me) has had the biggest issue with getting across the water. It’s become quite apparent that the Roblox Pathfinding service alone will not be enough to complete the tasks required for the job, especially when scaling the system to airborne or water-based AI (birds, and sharks are a big part of the game)

In light of the Pathfinding Service’s shortcomings, it is my recommendation to everyone that you should evaluate your ability to create custom nav-meshes, matrices of relevant points/voxels, or some combination of these systems when planning your approach.

One more piece of relevant information:
When planning for performance, Booga Booga has a playable area of roughly 7000x7000 studs, and upwards of 200 active AI agents. If you can conceptualize a functional pathfinder that is also performant at this scale, you become a very valuable candidate for this position!

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#15

Is there a way to add your own navigation mesh to the current pathfinder without setting and invisible part with CanCollide = true.

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#16

By “a functional pathfinder that is also performant at this scale”, I assume you mean a pathfinder that is also independent of the map and does not require anyone to hand place nodes or anything like that?
A lot easier to hand place but nowhere near as fun or practical.

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#17

Took a crack at this challenge last night. Very fun!

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#18

Thanks, I’ll contact you soon.

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#19

I do not believe there’s a dedicated navmesh class or anything like that available for devs to use with the pathfinding service, though that would be pretty helpful.

#20

Hand-placed nodes would probably be the least scalable solution to the pathfinding problem, but not impossible to pull off.

1 Like