GOAL: A Multi-agent Programming Language Applied to an Exploration Game

GOAL is a multi-agent programming language based on the BDI paradigm. It is a logic-based language that supports modular agent design based on established software engineering principles and interaction with environments using an environment interface standard (EIS). GOAL recently won the Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC), where two teams consisting of ten agents play against each other in order to explore and defend occupied territory on a distant planet. The MAPC game is a complex and dynamic environment that supports EIS and thus facilitates easy connection of a multi-agent system to an environment that is remotely run. We describe the design of the multi-agent solution that won the competition, the EIS interface that was used, and the MAPC scenario.