Specifying the behavior of computer-generated forces without programming

The behavior of automated forces in military training simulations is frequently hard-coded by a software developer after conferring with subject matter experts. These experts do not directly participate in the development process, instead relying on the developer to correctly implement appropriate behavior. This dependency can result in increased simulation development time and cost. We present a visual behavior representation and accompanying authoring tool that is meant to accelerate the development process by enabling experts to participate in development, while not hindering software developer productivity. An author using this tool constructs behaviors by assembling flowchart-like diagrams from a set of building blocks. The resulting behaviors can be directly executed in a simulation using a simplified yet powerful computational model, also described in this paper. We also discuss the application of this visual behavior representation to the creation of automated players for the Counter-Strike computer game.