Lace up your tennis shoes and tuck a sweatband into your favorite VR headset, because it’s time to step onto the court. Resolution Games, the studio behind the hugely popular Demeo, has today launched their latest title: Racket Club.
For Racket Club, Resolution Games has utilised an industry-first approach to machine learning. The studio has trained AI competitors to both physically and behaviorally react just as real players would. The aim is to deliver a consistent play experience for players across single- and multiplayer play. This approach has benefits ranging from deep reinforcement learning to deep imitation learning. The AI is trained on anonymized data collected from real players. The system is similar to that proposed by the Forza series. However, advancements in AI promise to deliver a much deeper recreation than the racing series’ often inaccurate representations of your friends.
“By training bots on data collected from human-played matches rather than pre-designed patterns of behavior, we’re able to offer rivals in Racket Club whose play is indistinguishable from real life competitors,” said Mikhail Jacob, lead machine learning engineer at Resolution Games. “This allows for challenges that are authentic yet unpredictable, helping to keep players on their toes.
“It also means that our bots aren’t limited in their options by a range of pre-canned animations. Our AI rivals have learned about movement from the physicality of real human players, allowing for a full range of actions and reactions on the court.”
Resolution Games Loves MR
As with several other Resolution Games titles, including the recently released Demeo Battles, Racket Club includes an MR mode. This is supported on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro, and on Pico 4 headsets. Blending the virtual court with a player’s real environment, users will be able to set up clear court walls in the world around them. This makes it easier to see their space as they take big swings and rally for points. By contrast, the opposing player’s side of the court remains entirely digital and seen through a portal wall.
Racket Club is now available on the Meta Quest Store, Pico, and Steam. Are you game for tennis this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!
