UBCL: A Reinforcement Learning Framework for Controllable and Diverse Player Behaviors
On the map: Deep reinforcement learning methods → RL for games and combinatorial optimization
Abstract (arXiv)
This paper introduces a reinforcement learning framework that enables controllable and diverse player behaviors without relying on human gameplay data. Existing approaches often require large-scale player trajectories, train separate models for different player types, or provide no direct mapping between interpretable behavioral parameters and the learned policy, limiting their scalability and controllability. We define player behavior in an N-dimensional continuous space and uniformly sample target behavior vectors from a region that encompasses the subset representing real human styles. During training, each agent receives both its current and target behavior vectors as input, and the reward is based on the normalized reduction in distance between them. This allows the policy to learn how actions influence behavioral statistics, enabling smooth control over attributes such as aggressiveness, mobility, and cooperativeness. A single PPO-based multi-agent policy can reproduce new or unseen play styles without retraining. Experiments conducted in a custom multi-player Unity game show that the proposed framework produces significantly greater behavioral diversity than a win-only baseline and reliably matches specified behavior vectors across diverse targets. The method offers a scalable solution for automated playtesting, game balancing, human-like behavior simulation, and replacing disconnected players in online games.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in RL for games and combinatorial optimization, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods. Builds on 24 of its 46 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 11 Dec 2025.
Builds on
24 of 46 references.
References · 24
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12 more
- 2021Augmenting Automated Game Testing with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 38
- 2018Automated Playtesting with Procedural Personas through MCTS with Evolved Heuristicscited by 28
- 2021Improving Playtesting Coverage via Curiosity Driven Reinforcement Learning Agentscited by 28
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- 2023Adversarial Imitation Learning On Aggregated Datacited by 1
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- 2024The impact of behavioral diversity in multi-agent reinforcement learning
- 2021Policy Fusion for Adaptive and Customizable Reinforcement Learning Agents
- 2026Player-1: Learning to Play from Synthetic Experience
- 2024FightLadder: A Benchmark for Competitive Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
- 2024Controlling Behavioral Diversity in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
- 2026Reinforcement Learning: From Algorithms To Foundation Models
- 2025Policy Improvement with Style-Specific Demonstrations
- 2025DiffFP: Learning Behaviors from Scratch via Diffusion-based Fictitious Play