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NEDWORLD.DOC - Help Document Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD Copyright (c) 1993 David S. Smiczek Shareware Version 1.00 by David S. Smiczek PO BOX 294391 Lewisville TX, 75029-4391 CompuServe 72154,3671 DISCLAIMER THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. CONTENTS I. PREFACE - SHAREWARE II. INTRODUCTION III. THE GAME A. NED'S WORLD MAIN WINDOW 1. PLAYING FIELD 2. GAME OPTIONS 3. SCORE 4. NED'S STATE 5. NED'S VIEW 6. TRAINING OPTIONS B. MENUS 1. FILE a. LOAD BRAIN b. SAVE BRAIN c. HIGH SCORES d. EXIT 2. OPTIONS a. RESET NED'S BRAIN b. MOVE NED RANDOM c. MOVE NED ON STUCK d. RANDOM SPIN RATE e. FAST SIMULATION 3. HELP a. NEDWORLD.DOC b. ABOUT C. TIPS (1-10) IV. ORDERING I. PREFACE - SHAREWARE Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is NOT public domain or free software, but is being distributed as "shareware". Shareware is method of selling software where the user has a chance to use the program for a limited amount of time to evaluate it. If the user continues to use the program after the evaluation time, they must register it. Registering this software fulfills your obligation to the author, but also provides many benefits. As a reward for registration you will receive the following: A. A Licensed copy of Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD that DOES NOT HAVE A SHAREWARE SCREEN at the beginning. B. C-Source code for the neural network routines used in Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. C. C-Source code example program using the neural network routines. D. Documentation describing the example program and the neural network routines. E. Illustrated printed documentation for Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. The registered user will also be eligible for discounts on updates to NED'S WORLD and future 'Neural Ned' games. Operators of BBS's (bulletin board systems) are encourage to post 'Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD' in its entirety for downloading by users. Distributors of public domain or user-supported software libraries may distribute copies of 'Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD'. A copying fee, not to exceed $7.00 per disk may be charged. Advertisement and the libraries catalog must state that this program is not free, but is copyrighted software that is provided to allow the user to evaluate it before paying. Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD was written to run under Microsoft Windows 3.X. Microsoft Windows is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. II. INTRODUCTION - WHAT ARE NEURAL NETWORKS? There has been a lot of talk lately about neural networks. What are neural networks? A neural network is a collection of artificial 'neurons' connected in a network to solve unorthodox computer operations. While the biological 'neurons' are only used as inspiration to create computer 'neurons', it may be useful to learn a little about them. Biological neurons are the fundamental unit cells of the brain and nervous tissue. They are connected together with fibers called dendrites and axons. The dendrites are the inputs to the cells and the axon is the single output. Each neuron is either 'on' or 'off'. If a neuron is 'on' it transmits an 'on' signal over its axon. The neuron's axon is connected to the dendrites of other cells. The state of the neuron is determined by the chemical charges on its inputs. If enough charge is on the input dendrites of a neuron then it will turn 'on' and transmit to other neurons. In this way the neurons are like a group of parallel processing elements. The state of one affects the state of others which in turn affects the state of others... All of the input dendrites of a neuron are weighted so that an 'on' coming in on one dendrite may not hold as much value as another 'on'. These weights can be adjusted to produce a desired effect. For instance they could be adjusted such that a certain neuron will turn 'on' or 'fire' only when six other specific neurons are also firing. The act of adjusting the weights is called training. The computer 'neurons' are simpler then their biological counterparts. They can be represented as a group of weight values between each connection in a network. To see if a neuron is firing, all of the weights of the firing inputs are added up. Outside input is also added into the firing consideration. If the total is above a certain threshold then the neuron is turned on. Note that the weight can encourage (be positive) or discourage (be negative) a neuron from firing. Training is done by tweaking the weights in the network until the desired state is achieved. Since the computer is a serial problem solver and the neural networks are a set of parallel processing elements, the 'parallel' effect is simulated. It was mentioned earlier that neural networks are used to solve unorthodox computer problems. Neural networks have been used in such varied projects as stock marked forecasting to speech recognition. These problems are well suited to neural networks because all the nuances of the situation are not known. A network is trained by providing input and training it to give a desired output. The person doing the training need not understand the reason or set of rules behind the input and output relationship. For example, a business analyst may not completely understand the factors involved in stock pricing fluctuations but if a neural net is provided with the correct factors it will be able to predict the changes with proper training. The network in effect creates the rules between input and output during training. These rules created are flexible. This gives a neural net the ability to take incomplete input and still provide good results with proper training. This characteristic makes it well suited for these types of unorthodox applications. In contrast, neural networks are not well suited for traditional computing tasks, such as adding up numbers. While a network could be trained to add up some numbers they might not be accurate enough. We usual want numbers to be very accurate. Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is a good application for neural networks because NED is wandering through a random world. He needs to have flexible rules because every situation can not be planned on ahead of time. His flexible rules will enable him to behave correctly or at least adequately in situations he has never been in. III. THE GAME Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is a game but it also is a hands-on exercise in neural networks. NED is a small bug-like creature that inhabits a simple world. The object of the game is to train NED to be able to survive in his little world. NED'S movements are controlled by a neural net. We can call this net his 'brain'. By training NED'S brain you will be changing the weights in his neural net and hopefully making him smarter. The better network you create, the longer he will live. The longer he lives, the higher the score. To help facilitate a high score there are two general goals to try to achieve. The first is that NED should not get stuck running into a wall. The second goal is that NED should eat as much food as he can find. The more food he eats, the longer he will live. The score in Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is counted as the number of moves that NED does in his little world. There are ten levels to the game. NED starts out in Level 1. After NED has achieved a score of 1000 moves in a LEVEL, he will move on to the next level. Each level is progressively harder for NED to survive. The object of the game is not necessarily to go through all of the levels as much as it is to train a good neural net (NED brain) that consistently lives a very long life. You can watch as NED successfully navigates crowded walls and hunts down food. The game can be paused at any time if further training is needed. A game can also be reset without changing the training that has already been done. The training states of the neural net (brain) can be saved and loaded back using menus provided. When you have a really good 'brain' file, trade with your friends or go head to head running two instances of Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD on 1 computer. A. NED'S WORLD MAIN WINDOW is divided up into framed sections. Each of these sections will be explained starting with the 'PLAYING FIELD' (the large white and red area) and moving clockwise. 1. PLAYING FIELD - The playing field is the large white block with a red border that takes up most of the room in NED'S WORLD main window. This is the area where NED will run around and live. NED is a small green critter moving through the playing field. Within the playing field there are WALLS and FOOD. The WALLS are red rectangles and the FOOD are small green and black squares. NED can not pass through the WALLS. If he runs into a WALL and is not trained enough to turn, then he will get stuck. The FOOD is consumed by NED when he gets close to it. NED can see and smell the world around him. This will be discussed in NED'S VIEW. Each level of the game contains different numbers of FOOD blocks and WALLS. The number of FOOD blocks on any given level is constant. If NED eats a block then a new one will appear somewhere else on the playing field. 2. GAME OPTIONS - The 'Game Options' section is in the upper left corner of the main window. It contains 2 buttons. The button on the left is actually a toggle. It's face toggles from 'Game ON' to 'Game OFF'. The button is toggled by pointing the mouse cursor on it and pressing the left mouse button. When the button is on 'Game ON' then the game is running and the score it being tabulated. When the button is on 'Game OFF' scoring is suspended. This option can be used when practice or training is desired. The second button is labeled 'Reset Game'. This button resets the current score and returns to level 1. Note that 'Reset Game' does not reset NED'S neural net (his brain). 3. SCORE - The 'Score' frame contains the state of the game when scoring is enable (i.e. when the game toggle is on 'Game ON'). The title of the frame also contains the level that is currently being played. For example if the game is on level 3, the frame title would read 'Score - Level 3'. The scoring of the game is expressed in Moves. The moves represent the number of spaces NED has moved to. Turning in a stationary position does not constitute a move. The number of moves is displayed in the top of the Score frame. 'Life Force' is the amount of energy NED has left. Life Force is displayed in the bottom of the Score frame in the form of a percent filled bar. A game starts out with 100% Life Force. Life Force is take away every time NED moves or turns. To replenish his Life Force, NED needs to eat the 'FOOD' found in his world. NED eats 'FOOD' by running into the green squares. Note that NED can have more then 100% Life Force but only 100% will be displayed. When the Life Force goes to zero the games is over and NED IS DEAD! Don't worry though, NED is in a sense immortal because his brain remains intact even after death. 4. NED'S STATE - The 'NED'S State' frame contains the state of the neural network. The on/off state of the neurons in the network are displayed in the upside-down pyramid of small pictures entitled 'Brain State'. The small pictures represent the state of the individual neurons. A bright light bulb picture means the neuron is on and a dark light bulb picture means the neuron is off. Watch the state of the neurons change as NED moves through his world. Objects in NED'S field of view can and will effect the on/off state of the neurons. This can be observed during play. The picture entitled 'Spin Direction (output)' indicates NED'S output. NED can either spin straight, indicated with a straight arrow picture or he can spin clockwise or counter-clockwise indicated with appropriate arrows. Note that all of the neurons in NED'S brain are not represented in the graphic 'Brain State', only the ones corresponding to the visual inputs. 5. NED'S VIEW - The section called 'NED'S View' is used to let you know exactly what NED sees and smells. This section is also involved in training NED but that will be discussed in the next section 'Training Options'. The left side of 'NED'S View' contains a square with NED centered in it. This model of NED is always pointed in the direction that NED is currently going. If the direction that NED is facing is a set of colored blocks that represent what NED sees in his field of vision. For example, NED will see red blocks to indicate obstructions (WALLS), green blocks to indicate food (FOOD) and white blocks to indicate empty space. The box in the lower right corner of 'NED'S VIEW' entitled 'SCENT' indicated what NED smells. 'SCENT' and the colored blocks representing NED'S view form the input to NED'S brain (neural net). The 'NEXT' button and the buttons around the edge of viewing square are used in training. Note that like your own vision, objects close to NED appear larger then they are. For example a 'FOOD' block right in front of NED will appear to take up most of his vision. 6. TRAINING OPTIONS - The section called 'Training Options' contains the heart of learning to play NED'S WORLD. Training is done on NED whenever you instruct him to do something other then what he is doing. Say for instance he decides to run away from food instead of going towards it. NED would then need to be 'Trained' to go towards the food. Training can be set in four possible modes. 'Training Off' obviously means there is no training at this time. 'Train if stuck' means that if NED runs into a wall and does not turn or is spinning in a circle, the game will pause and wait for input from you, the user. The input is done by using the mouse to press one of the direction arrows in the 'NED'S View' window. For each train, there are three possible directions, straight, left or right. The appropriate buttons will be highlighted. There are two more training options. 'Train on object' and 'Train always'. 'Train on object' pauses the game for training whenever anything gets into NED'S field of view, such as food or walls. 'Train always' pauses for training after every move. The white box in the lower right corner of 'Training Options' contains the number of training sessions the current neural net (brain) has undergone. The upper right corner of 'Training Options' will contain a blinking 'TRAIN NOW' yellow sign when the game is paused for training. If the game pauses for training and training is not desirable (i.e. NED is doing good and is not in need of training) then the 'NEXT' button in 'NED'S VIEW' can be pressed to go to the next training situation or the training options can be changed. B. NED'S MAIN WINDOW MENUS can be selected from the top of the main window or by using the short-cut keys. The following is a description of the menus. The short-cut keys are given in (). 1. File (Alt-F) - The file menu contains file- oriented operations such as loading and saving the 'brain' files, viewing the high scores and exiting the game. a. Load Brain (Alt-F, L) OR (Ctrl-L) - Show a listing of all the files with the extension '.BRN' in the current directory and allow any file to be selected. The file can be selected by double-clicking with the mouse on the file name or by typing out the filename and then clicking on 'OK'. If there are any problems loading a brain file then a error message will be given. After the file is loaded, note that the number of training sessions done which is displayed in the 'Training Options' frame will change to match the loaded file. b. Save Brain (Alt-F, S) OR (Ctrl-S) - Show a listing of the current files with the extension '.BRN' in the current directory and allow one of the existing files to be selected or a new file to be typed in. If an existing file is selected then and 'Ok to overwrite?' message is displayed. If there are any problems with saving a error message will be given. Saving the brain to a file will save the state of the neural net and all its trained weights. The game itself such as the current level will not be saved. c. High Scores (Alt-F, H) - Display a window with the top five high scores. The scores are saved in the file 'NEDWORLD.SCR' in the same directory that 'NEDWORLD.EXE' is in. If the program can not find the file then a new one is created. d. Exit (Alt-F, X) OR (Ctrl-X) - Quit Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. A 'Are you sure?' message is provided to verify that the intent was to exit the game. If the game was quit before the brain was saved then all of the training will be lost. 2. Options (Alt-O) - Contain options for the play of the game. The options range from resetting the brain (neural net) to simulating NED quickly to see the performance of brain. a. Reset NED'S Brain (Alt-O, R) - Used to erase all the training done on the current brain. The neural net is set to a random state. Warning, save the brain if you want it before you choose this option. b. Move NED [Random] (Alt-O, M) OR (Ctrl-M) - Changes NED'S location to a random part of the playing field. This option is commonly used when NED gets stuck but he is in a situation that you don't want to train. Be careful using this option during game play, it uses a lot of 'Life Force'. c. Move NED on Stuck (Alt-O, S) - This option is used if no further training is desired. When this option is selected, training is disabled and if NED gets stuck (i.e. runs in to a wall and does not turn) then he automatically moves to a random spot. When NED is moved however, it is just like selecting the 'Move NED [Random]' menu option, there is a heavy price in 'Life Force'. This option is handy if you just want to let NED simulate unattended. d. Random Spin Rate (Alt-O, A) - This option sets the number of moves between random spins. A random spin is a direction which NED did not choose. This option is to inject a little chance or real life into the game. This could also break NED out of infinite loops in the game. This option can dramatically increase the game score. The number of moves can be selected from 0 to 300. '0' signifies random spin disabled. e. Fast Simulation (Alt-O, F) - This options sets NED'S WORLD into a fast simulation mode. The 'Game ON/ Game OFF' toggle must be set to 'Game ON' and the 'Move NED on Stuck' must be selected for Fast Simulation to work. This mode replaces the main window with a small window that just displays the number of 'Moves' and the 'Life Force'. This small window can be minimized using the down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the window. Even minimized, the title of the ICON will be updated with the current number of 'Moves' and 'Life Force'. This allows you to work on something else in Windows, like write a letter of play another game while your brain file is being simulated. 'Fast Simulation' runs over twice as fast as the main window mode. There is a button on the Fast Simulation window to return to the main window. 3. Help (Alt-H) - The help menu provides a means to conveniently view this file and look at the about window. a. NEDWORLD.DOC (Alt-H, H) OR (Ctrl-H) - Display this file in a sizable window independent of the game (i.e. the file can be read while the game is running). b. About (Alt-H, A) - Display the About window. The About window provides the version number and ordering information. C. PLAYING TIPS. The following tips are designed to be general methods for getting started and having success with Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. They are by no means hard and fast rules. After you get the hang of it, go ahead experiment. 1. Only train NED on things that are in his view. Use 'NED'S View' to know what NED sees and smells. If its not in 'NED'S View' then NED does not know about it even if it looks close on the playing field. 2. During training, three buttons around the box in NED'S View provide the directions to train. Enabled buttons are darker then disabled buttons. No matter what NED'S orientation is there are always three choices; straight ahead, spin left or spin right. For example if NED'S orientation is to the left (West) then left-most three buttons will be enabled. The center left button will train NED to go straight (West). The upper left button will train NED to spin right (North-West) and the lower left button will train NED to spin left (South-West). 3. When NED pauses to train, the 'Spin Direction' in 'NED'S State' frame indicates the direction that NED wants to go. Training NED to go in a direction he was already going to go does nothing. It is equivalent to hitting the 'NEXT' button. 4. Be consistent with your training. For example, if during training NED runs head on with a wall and you train him to go clockwise half the time and counter clockwise the other half of the time then he will probably average the two and go straight into the wall. 5. If NED has paused for training and you don't want to train then press 'NEXT' in 'NED'S View' or change the training options in 'Training Options'. 6. Concentrate on keeping NED from running into walls first then when he has that mastered, train him how to eat. 7. Freely switch between the training modes. For example you may want to train NED to do something when he gets close to 'FOOD'. So first set the training to 'Train on Object'. If the object NED encounters is a 'WALL' then press the 'NEXT' button. If the object is 'FOOD' then you might want to switch to 'Train Always' to train NED during the whole food encounter. After the food encounter is done you might want to switch to 'Train on Stuck' to see how your training went. etc. 8. Don't over-train. Training on every move will not only be tedious but will likely create situations where you give conflicting training's. One training session in the wrong direction can undo many training sessions in the right direction. 9. Save the brain in training often. You can then recover previous training milestones. 10. Don't get discouraged, the training of NED will have its ups and downs. He may be making good progress avoiding walls but when you attempt to train him to eat 'FOOD' he starts running into walls again. Just keep reinforcing his earlier training. IV. ORDERING To order a licensed copy of Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD and the following: A. A Licensed copy of Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD that DOES NOT HAVE A SHAREWARE SCREEN at the beginning. B. C-Source code for the neural network routines used in Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. C. C-Source code example program using the neural network routines. D. Documentation describing the example program and the neural network routines. E. Illustrated printed documentation for Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. Send a check or money order for $13.95 made out to David S. Smiczek to PO BOX 294391, Lewisville TX, 75029-4391. When ordering outside of the US, provide payment in checks drawn on US banks in US dollars. All checks must have US bank routing symbols. Please include an additional $5 to cover postage orders to be sent outside of the US. Sorry C.O.D. orders will not be accepted. Orders may also be mailed to my CompuServe mail location at 72154,3671. Please allow 30 days for delivery. Use the following form to order: Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD - Version 1.00 David S. Smiczek PO BOX 294391 Lewisville TX, 75029-4391 Registration, C example, ($13.95 each) $ _______ and Documentation International Shipping charge ($5.00 each) $ _______ (for non US orders) Total $ _______ (in you have a preference, specify 5.25 (1.2M) or 3.5 (720K) disk size) Registration Information: Name: ___________________________________________________ Company: ________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________ : ________________________________________________ : ________________________________________________ (optional) Day Phone: ___________________ Evening: _____________________ I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have about Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD. _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________