Ok, I know the subject doesn't say much, but let me explain.... I'm thinking about creating a big simulator-game, it will be like SimCity but in an even bigger scale..., like a SimPlanet if you will..., and I'm planning on having the organisms that inhabitate the planet evolve and develope some behavior, perhaps with the help of the user. I know I might sound like an imposible thing to do for someone that has never ever done anything this big and complex, but I'm planning on taking it one step at the time and learn as much as I can about AI... Now, even thoug I'm still in the thinking phase of the project, what areas of AI do you recommend me to dive into? Well..., thanks in advance..., and I appologies about my english....

There's a lot more to something like this than just AI.

And as for what areas of AI, it sounds like you already decided on genetic algorithms.

There are a few games that already have concepts like this. There is a SimPlanet and a SimLife game, but both of those were made quite some time ago, at least 10 years ago, so their scope is somewhat limited. SimEarth simulates the planet but is simplistic and the types of creatures are preset to be categories of things that evolved on earth. SimLife involves simulated creatures that had parameters setting how they could move, how fast they moved, some stuff with their behavior, what they ate, etc. So it sort of let creatures evolve, within the context of the pre-defined attributes that determined the behaviors and characteristics of the creatures.

It looks like they're revisiting the idea now; there's a game called Spore which is currently in production and which will allow players to evolve creatures and civilizations. To make the game actually fun, the player controls the evolution of the creatures and such. I guess the filling in the gaps part could be considered AI.

AI is really not neatly divided into different areas, it's more like a grab bag of various techniques to get the machine to calculate various things in an intelligent way.

This sounds like you'd be using a lot of techniques that broadly fall under the term "Artificial Life". It's a very big ask to try and simulate an entire world (you'll need some very clever simplifications in order to get it to work), but you could start with some flocking experiments, or trying to simulate an ant colony, and work your way up from there.

Good luck!

good luck with the graphics, im still programming my 'game' to run my mega ai in.

Anonymous Poster: Well, thanks for the answer, I will be taking a good look at those games and try to learn some techniques...
As you say, I decided on GA for the evolution of the organisms, but as for the behavior goes I still don't know, I was thinking maybe some kind of NN, or maybe even several diferent NN, and choose between them depending on the organism's "evolutionary level"..., but like I said, I'm still thinking about it, that's way I created this topic, to get ideas....

Trapper Zoid: Yes it is quite a big project, and ofcourse I'm planning on having those "very clever simplifications"..., besides, I want the user/player to have some control over the evolution of the organisms in the planet... I will definitively start with something simpler and move my way up....

johnnyBravo: I'm not really concerned about the graphics..., I will focus first on the AI and complex stuff, and then work with the graphics

Well, thanks for all the replys, if anyone has more ideas, they're wellcome!!!