Multiple Lives Ms. Pac-Man is just like the classic arcade game. Ms. Pac-Man starts with three lives and gains a fourth after earning her first 10,000 points. This game blends the tasks of dealing with threat and edible ghosts, because it is possible for both types to be present at the same time. Several types of modular neural networks are evolved, and further enhanced with Targeting Unachieved Goals (TUG). All results here are evolved with conflict sensors, which are more challenging to learn with because they provide a more general view of the state space.
Conflict: One Module: Stalling
The Multiple Lives variant of Ms. Pac-Man gives the agent nearly unlimited time to complete each level. As a result, stalling behavior is common. This One Module network goes in circles a lot, waiting for the non-determinism of the game to force a change.
Conflict: TUG Two Modules: Threat/Edible Division
The threat/edible task division is still commonly learned in the Multiple Lives variant. Ms. Pac-Man uses the green module when threatened, and the light blue module in order to eat ghosts. This behavior was evolved using TUG.
Conflict: TUG Two Modules: Luring/Surrounded Module
This Two Modules network learns luring behavior with the help of Targeting Unachieved Goals. Green marks are made in locations where the luring/surrounded module is used. This module helps Ms. Pac-Man lure ghosts close to power pills before eating them, and helps her escape tricky situations.
Conflict: TUG Two Modules: Indiscriminate 50/50 Split
This Two Modules network evolved with TUG uses it's modules in a confusing way. The different color trails correspond to different modules, but it is not clear what distinguishes situations when one is used instead of the other. However, the scores achieved are still good.
Conflict: Three Modules: Luring/Surrounded Module
This Three Modules network only uses two: one for luring and one for everything else. This evaluation demonstrates for Multiple Lives affect learned behavior. Despite losing all but her last life, Ms. Pac-Man achieved a high score of 41,320. As long as there are enough lives to finish all four levels, losing lives has no consequences.
Conflict: Three Modules: Luring/Threat/Edible Division
This Three Module network actually uses three modules. It has a luring/surrounded module (green) for choosing when to eat power pills and how to escape dangerous situations, an edible module (blue) for when it is chasing edible ghosts, and a threat module (red) that deals with threats when not luring. Because it was evolved in the multiple lives scenario, it doesn't mind using a few lives, since it still beats all four levels with a high score. It also stalls a bit, since it is used to having no time limit.
Conflict: Module Mutation Duplicate: Five Modules
This is an interesting example of how Module Mutation can make use of 5 module. The magenta module is used the majority of the time. The yellow module deals with most junctions (brief flashes), which also sometimes involves luring behavior. After power pills are eaten, the cyan module takes over. However, when an edible ghost has been trapped in a corridor with no escape, the green module takes control. If ghosts are edible, but other threatening ghosts pose a large threat, the red module is used. There is some logic to this module division, but it is not as good as the simpler two-module approach of having one module for luring and another for everything else.