Awesome StarCraft AI

A curated list of resources dedicated to StarCraft AI.

We are looking for more contributors and maintainers!

Table of Contents

• API/Codes
• Replays
• Research Papers
  • Surveys
  • Benchmark
  • Thesis
  • Dataset
  • Bayesian Approach
  • Satisfaction and Optimization
  • Planning
  • Prediction
  • Control
  • Full Game Play
  • Learning from Demonstration
  • Miscellaneous
• Reports
• Competitions
• Others

Photo Credit: Google DeepMind [Link]

Photo Credit: Gabriel Synnaeve [Link]

API/Codes

• The Brood War API (BWAPI). [GitHub]
• StarCraft II API - Technical Design, Blizzard. [Link]
• SparCraft, a combat simulator for StarCraft. [GitHub]
• BWTA, A terrain analyzer for BWAPI. [Link]
• BroodWar Replay Scrapper in Python, Gavriel Synnaeve. [GitHub]
• A JRuby API to control Starcraft using BWAPI. [GitHub]

Replays

• StarCraft Brood War Data Mining (replays, analyzer, datasets), Alberto Uriarte. [Link]
• GosuGamers, 8K replays as of April 2013. [Link]
• TeamLiquid, professional community with tournament match replays. [Link]
• ICCUP, International Cyber Cup, professional community with tournament match replays. [Link]
• BWReplays, a compilation of replays including previous resources. [Link]
• StarData, a collection of 65646 StarCraft: Brood War replay dataset [GitHub] [UnitType Data] [WeaponType Data] [TechType Data]

Research Papers

Surveys

• S. Ontañón, G. Synnaeve, A. Uriarte, F. Richoux, D. Churchill, M. Preuss, A survey of real-time strategy game ai research and competition in starcraft, IEEE TCIAIG, 2013. [Survey]
• S. Ontañón, G. Synnaeve, A. Uriarte, F. Richoux, D. Churchill, M. Preuss, RTA AI Problems and Techniques, Springer Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, 2015. [Survey]
• D. Churchill, M. Preuss, F. Richoux, G. Synnaeve, A. Uriarte, S. Ontañón, M. Certický, StarCraft Bots and Competitions, Springer Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, 2016. [Survey]
• R. Lara-Cabrera, C. Cotta, A. Fernandez-Leiva, A review of computational intelligence in RTS games, IEEE FOCI, 2013. [Survery]

Benchmark

• A. Uriarte, S. Ontãñón, A Benchmark for StarCraft Intelligent Agents, AAAI AIIDE, 2015. [Paper]

Thesis

• G. Synnaeve, Bayesian programming and learning for multi-player video games: application to RTS AI, Ph.D. Thesis, INPG, 2012. [Thesis]
• J. Hagelback, Multi-Agent Potential Field Based Architectures for Real-Time Strategy Game Bots, Ph.D. Thesis, BIT, 2012. [Thesis]
• D. Churchill, Heuristic Search Techniques for Real-Time Strategy Games, Ph.D. Thesis, U. Alberta, 2016. [Thesis]

Dataset

• G. Synnaeve, P. Bessiere, A Dataset for StarCraft AI & an Example of Armies Clustering, arXiv, 2012. [Paper]
• G. Robertson, I. Watson, An Improved Dataset and Extraction Process for Starcraft AI, FLAIRS, 2014. [Paper]
• Z. Lin, J. Gehring, V. Khalidov, G. Synnaeve, STARDATA: A StarCraft AI Research Dataset, arXiv, 2017. [Paper]

Bayesian Approach

• G. Synnaeve, P. Bessiere, A bayesian model for opening prediction in rts games with application to starcraft, IEEE CIG, 2011. [Paper]
• G. Synnaeve, P. Bessiere, A Bayesian model for RTS units control applied to StarCraft, IEEE CIG, 2011. [Paper]
• G. Synnaeve, P. Bessiere, Special tactics: A bayesian approach to tactical decision-making, IEEE CIG, 2012. [Paper]

Satisfaction and Optimization

• M. Certický, Implementing a Wall-In Building Placement in StarCraft with Declarative Programming, arXiv, 2013. [Paper]
• J. Fradin, F. Richoux, Robustness and Flexibility of GHOST, AIIDE Third Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Adversarial Real-Time Games, 2015. [Paper]
• F. Richoux, A. Uriarte, J.-F. Baffier, GHOST: A Combinatorial Optimization Framework for Real-Time Problems, IEEE TCIAIG, 2016. [Paper]
• F. Richoux, A. Uriarte, S. Ontañón, Walling in Strategy Games via Constraint Optimization, AAAI AIIDE, 2014. [Paper]

Planning

• B. Weber. M. Mateas, Case-Based Reasoning for Build Order in Real-Time Strategy Games, AAAI AIIDE, 2009. [Paper]
• B. Weber, M. Mateas, A. Jhala, Applying Goal-Driven Autonomy to StarCraft, AAAI AIIDE, 2010. [Paper]
• D. Churchill, M. Buro, Build Order Optimization in StarCraft, AAAI AIIDE, 2011. [Paper]
• D. Churchill, M. Buro, Incorporating Search Algorithms into RTS Game Agents, AAAI AIIDE Workshop, 2012. [Paper]
• M. Stanescu, N. Barriga, M. Buro, Hierarchical Adversarial Search Applied to Real-Time Strategy Games, AAAI AIIDE, 2014. [Paper]
• N. Justesen, S. Risi, Continual Online Evolutionary Planning for In-Game Build Order Adaptation in StarCraft, ACM GECCO, 2017. [Paper]

Prediction

• B. Weber, M. Mateas, A Data mining approach to strategy prediction, IEEE CIG, 2009. [Paper]
• H. Park, H. Cho, K. Lee, K. Kim, Prediction of Early Stage Opponents Strategy for StarCraft AI using Scouting and Machine Learning, Workshop at SIGGRAPH Asia, 2012. [Paper]
• H. Cho, K. Kim, S. Cho, Replay-based Strategy Prediction and Build Order Adaptation for StarCraft AI Bots, IEEE CIG, 2013. [Paper]
• M. Stanescu, S. Hernandez, G. Erickson, R. Greiner, M. Buro, Predicting Army Combat Outcomes in StarCraft, AAAI AIIDE, 2013. [Paper]
• Y. N. Ravari, S. Bakkes, P. Spronck, StarCraft Winner Prediction, AAAI AIIDE, 2016. [Paper]

Control

• B. Weber, M. Mateas, A. Jhala, A Particle Model for State Estimation in Real-Time Strategy Games, AAAI AIIDE, 2011. [Paper]
• A. Shantia, E. Begue, M. Wiering, Connectionist Reinforcement Learning for Intelligent Unit Micro Management in StarCraft, IJCNN, 2011. [Paper]
• D. Churchill, A. Saffidine, M. Buro, Fast Heuristic Search for RTS Game Combat Scenarios, AAAI AIIDE, 2012. [Paper]
• D. Churchill, M. Buro, Incorporating Search Algorithms into RTS Game Agents, AAAI AIIDE Workshop, 2012. [Paper]
• S. Wender, I. Watson, Applying Reinforcement Learning to Small Scale Combat in the Real-Time Strategy Game StarCraft: Broodwar, IEEE CIG, 2012. [Paper]
• D. Churchill, M. Buro, Portfolio Greedy Search and Simulation for Large-Scale Combat in StarCraft, IEEE CIG, 2013. [Paper]
• K. Nguyen, Z. Wang, R. Thawonmas, Potential Flows for Controlling Scout Units in StarCraft, IEEE CIG, 2013. [Paper]
• N. Justesen, S. Risi, Script-and Cluster-Based UCT for StarCraft, IEEE CIG, 2014. [Paper]
• N. Usunier, G. Synnaeve, Z. Lin, S. Chintala, Episodic Exploration for Deep Deterministic Policies: an Application to StarCraft Micromanagement Tasks, arXiv, 2016. [arXiv] [ICLR 2017 Submission]

Full Game Play

• B. Weber, M. Mateas, A. Jhala, Building Human-Level AI for Real-Time Strategy Games, AAAI ACS 2011. [Paper]
• J. Young, F. Smith, C. Atkinson, K. Poyner, T. Chothia, SCAIL: An integrated Starcrat AI system, IEEE CIG, 2012. [Paper]

Learning from Demonstration

• B. Weber, S. Ontañón, Using Automated Replay Annotation for Case-Based Planning in Games, ICCBR-Games Workshop, 2010. [Paper]
• B. Weber, M. Mateas, A. Jhala, Learning from Demonstration for Goal-Driven Autonomy, AAAI, 2012. [Paper]
• J. Young, N. Hawes, Learning Micro-Management Skills in RTS Games by Imitating Experts, AAAI AIIDE, 2014. [Paper]
• N. Justesen, S. Risi, Learning Macromanagement in StarCraft from Replays using Deep Learning, IEEE CIG, 2017. [[Paper]](Learning Macromanagement in StarCraft from Replays using Deep Learning)

Miscellaneous

• W. Gong, E. Lim, P. Achananuparp, F. Zhu, D. Lo, F. Chua, In-Game Action List Segmentation and Labeling in Real-Time Strategy Games, IEEE CIG, 2012. [Paper]
• H. Alburg, F. Brynfors, F. Minges, B. Mattson, J. Svensson, Making and Acting on Predictions in StarCraft: Brood War, Bachelors Thesis, University of Gothenburg, 2014. [Theis]
• M. Leece, A. Jhala, Sequential Pattern Mining in StarCraft: Brood War for Short and Long-Term Goals, AAAI AIIDE Workshop, 2014. [Paper]
• G. Erickson, M. Buro, Global State Evaluation in StarCraft, AAAI AIIDE, 2014. [Paper]

Reports

• J. Lewis, P. Trinh, D. Kirsh, A Corpus Analysis of Strategy Video Game Play in Starcraft: Brood War, COGSCI, 2011. [Paper]
• M. Buro, D. Churchill, Real-Time Strategy Game Competitions, AI Magazine, 2012. [Report]
• G. Robertson, I. Watson, A Review of Real-time Strategy Game AI, AI Magazine, 2014. [Report]
• M. Kim, S. Kim, K. Kim, A. Dey, Evaluation of StarCraft Artificial Intelligence Competition Bots by Experienced Human Players, CHI, 2016. [Report]

Competitions

• AAAI AIIDE StarCraft AI Competition, 2016. [Link]
• IEEE CIG StarCraft AI Competition, 2016. [Link]
  • Highlights Video. [Link]
• SSCAIT, Student StarCraft AI Tournament [Link]

Others

• The Berkeley Overmind Project [Project]
• StarCraft AI, Resource for Custom AIs. [Link]
• StarCraft AI Blog, by Jay Scott. [Blog]
• StarCraft II AI Blog, by Matt Fisher. [Blog]
• Game AI 101, SK T-Brain. [Link]
• Ongoing survey on StarCraft research, by Vitaly Kurin [Blog]

Maintainer: Hyunsoo Kim