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Modify the language about the distance-reward to match the implementa…
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…tion. Specifically, the distance component is based on distance at start of the game not start of the time-step.
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anordin95 committed Dec 4, 2024
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7 changes: 3 additions & 4 deletions pettingzoo/butterfly/pistonball/pistonball.py
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**Actions**: Every piston can be acted on at each time step. In discrete mode, the action space is 0 to move down by 4 pixels, 1 to stay still, and 2 to move up by 4 pixels. In continuous mode, the value in the range [-1, 1] is proportional to the amount that the pistons
are lowered or raised by. Continuous actions are scaled by a factor of 4, so that in both the discrete and continuous action space, the action 1 will move pistons 4 pixels up, and -1 will move pistons 4 pixels down.
**Rewards**: The same reward is provided to each agent based on how much the ball moved left in the last time-step plus a constant time-penalty. Specifically, there are three components to the distance reward. First, the x-distance in pixels travelled by the ball towards
the left-wall in the last time-step (moving right would provide a negative reward). Second, a scaling factor of 100. Third, a division by the distance in pixels between the ball at the start of the time-step and the left-wall. That final division component means moving
one unit left when close to the wall is far more valuable than moving one unit left when far from the wall. There is also a configurable time-penalty (default: -0.1) added to the distance-based reward at each time-step. For example, if the ball does not move in a
time-step, the reward will be -0.1 not 0. This is to incentivize solving the game faster.
**Rewards**: The same reward is provided to each agent based on how much the ball moved left in the last time-step plus a constant time-penalty. The distance component is the percentage of the initial total distance (i.e. at game-start) to the left-wall travelled in the past timestep.
For example, if the ball began the game 300 pixels away from the wall, began the time-step 180 pixels away and finished the time-step 175 pixels away, the distance reward would be 100 * 5/300 = 1.7. There is also a configurable time-penalty (default: -0.1) added to the
distance-based reward at each time-step. For example, if the ball does not move in a time-step, the reward will be -0.1 not 0. This is to incentivize solving the game faster.
Pistonball uses the chipmunk physics engine, and are thus the physics are about as realistic as in the game Angry Birds.
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