For questions about evaluation functions in the context of search algorithms (and other AI subfields).
Questions tagged [evaluation-functions]
17 questions
6
votes
1 answer
Why most imperfect information games usually use non machine learning AI?
To provide a bit of context, I'm a software engineer & game enthusiast (card games, especially). The thing is I've always been interested in AI oriented to games. In college, I programmed my own Gomoku AI, so I'm a bit familiar with the basic…

Alexander Aeons Torn
- 163
- 1
- 7
5
votes
1 answer
Can games be solved without an evaluation function?
Fundamentally, a game-playing AI must solve the problem of choosing the best action from a set of possible actions.
Most existing game AI's, such as AlphaGo, do this by using an evaluation function, which maps game states to real numbers. The real…

dshin
- 161
- 5
3
votes
2 answers
Is a good evaluation function as good as any of the extensions of alpha-beta pruning?
I would like to know if having a really good evaluation function is as good as using any of the extensions of alpha-beta pruning, such as killer moves or quiescence search?

JoeyB
- 467
- 1
- 5
- 15
3
votes
1 answer
How do I write a good evaluation function for a board game?
I'm currently writing the Alpha-Beta pruning algorithm for a board game. Now I need to come up with a good evaluation function. The game is a bit like snakes and ladders (you have to finish the race first), so for a possible feature list I came up…

po0l
- 119
- 1
- 3
2
votes
1 answer
Can we achieve optimality with minimax using an evaluation function?
The following quote (from AIMA) refers to the situation in which the minimax algorithm computes its values directly from the terminal states.
(The) definition of optimal play for MAX assumes that MIN also plays optimally—it maximizes the worst-case…

Kestina
- 21
- 1
2
votes
0 answers
Minimax evaluation function for games with score instead of loss/draw/win result
I am trying to create minimax evaluation function for the Ms Pacman game. The goal of the player is to maximize score.
I have some idea about the features that I would like to use in my evaluation function (which is weighted sum of all…

Druudik
- 159
- 7
2
votes
0 answers
Which heuristic function should I use for the ColorShapeLinks game?
For learning purposes, I am trying to implement the minimax algorithm for the ColorShapeLinks game, which is similar to connect 4, except the fact that it combines both shape and color as the winning conditions, with a shape having priority over…

Errata
- 21
- 2
2
votes
0 answers
Is this a good approach to evaluate the game state with a neural network?
I've written a Monte Carlo Tree Search player for the game of Castle (AKA Shithead, Shed, Palace...). I have set this MCTS player to play against a basic rule-based AI for ~30000 games and collected ~1.5 million game states (as of now) along with…

Cyrus Dobbs
- 31
- 2
1
vote
1 answer
Game AI evaluation function and making progress towards winning
In two-player games, the exact value of the evaluation function doesn't matter, as long as it's bigger for better positions. However, for learning, it's customary when it does change when the best move gets made. This way, the learning can minimize…

maaartinus
- 533
- 3
- 7
1
vote
1 answer
How to design a good evaluation function for a go-like game?
I am trying to find a good evaluation function for a game with:
A 7x7 tile board
2 players, given an equal number(>=3 currently undetermined) of stones placed randomly on the tiles
A turn is consisted of a player moving a stone owned by that…

Nae
- 129
- 6
1
vote
0 answers
How can evaluate the success of my algoritm?
A little bit of context. I have a classification algorithm based on mathematical discriminator and I am not applying any machine learning or AI technique, just moving window and several relative comparisons. This is a signal segmentation problem,…

GGChe
- 23
- 5
1
vote
1 answer
What inherent quality of a function makes it treated as either loss or evaluation metric?
A neural network model needs a loss function for training. The neural network needs to minimize the loss function.
A neural network is evaluated after training using a metric. The neural network needs to either minimize or maximize the metric…

hanugm
- 3,571
- 3
- 18
- 50
1
vote
1 answer
Is it standard to say that an evaluation function estimates the “goodness” of a position?
Wikipedia states that:
An evaluation function, also known as a heuristic evaluation function or static evaluation function, is a function used by game-playing computer programs to estimate the value or goodness of a position (usually at a leaf or…

DukeZhou
- 6,237
- 5
- 25
- 53
1
vote
0 answers
What would happen if we set the evaluation function in the best-first search algorithm as the cost of paths taken to new nodes?
I am reading Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach.
In Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1, The best-first search algorithm is introduced. We learn that in each iteration, this algorithm chooses which node to expand based on minimizing an evaluation…

Hamed
- 21
- 2
1
vote
1 answer
What is the difference between the heuristic function and the evaluation function in A*?
I am reading college notes on state search space. The notes (which are not publicly available) say:
To do state-search space, the strategy involves two parts: defining a heuristic function, and identifying an evaluation function.
The heuristic is…

Slowat_Kela
- 287
- 2
- 9