This book describes in detail many of the AI techniques used in modern computer games, explicity shows how to implement these practical techniques within the framework of several game developers with a practical foundation to game AI.

With game players expecting greater intelligence, efficiency, and realism with non-player characters, AI plays an ever-increasing important role in game development. This is a tremendous challenge for game developers in methodology, software design, and programming. Creating autonomous synthetic creatures that can adapt in games requires a different kind of understanding of AI than the classical approach used by current game programmers. The Nouvelle Game AI approach presented in this book focuses on creating embodied "animats" that behave in an intelligent and realistic manner. In particular, learning AI is generating much interest among the game development community, as these modern techniques can be used to optimize the development process. Book jacket.

From the author of "Physics for Game Developers," comes a new, non-threatening introduction to the complex subject of game programming.

Presents articles by artificial intelligence programmers that discuss techniques, concepts, architectures, and philosophies of AI game programming.

Creating robust artificial intelligence is one of the greatest challenges for game developers, yet the commercial success of a game is often dependent upon the quality of the AI. In this book, Ian Millington brings extensive professional experience to the problem of improving the quality of AI in games. He describes numerous examples from real games and explores the underlying ideas through detailed case studies. He goes further to introduce many techniques little used by developers today. The book's associated web site contains a library of C++ source code and demonstration programs, and a complete commercial source code library of AI algorithms and techniques. "Artificial Intelligence for Games - 2nd edition" will be highly useful to academics teaching courses on game AI, in that it includes exercises with each chapter. It will also include new and expanded coverage of the following: AI-oriented gameplay; Behavior driven AI; Casual games (puzzle games). Key Features * The first comprehensive, professional tutorial and reference to implement true AI in games written by an engineer with extensive industry experience. * Walks through the entire development process from beginning to end. * Includes examples from over 100 real games, 10 in-depth case studies, and web site with sample code.

Jump into the world of Game AI development About This Book Move beyond using libraries to create smart game AI, and create your own AI projects from scratch Implement the latest algorithms for AI development and in-game interaction Customize your existing game AI and make it better and more efficient to improve your overall game performance Who This Book Is For This book is for game developers with a basic knowledge of game development techniques and some basic programming techniques in C# or C++. What You Will Learn Get to know the basics of how to create different AI for different type of games Know what to do when something interferes with the AI choices and how the AI should behave if that happens Plan the interaction between the AI character and the environment using Smart Zones or Triggering Events Use animations correctly, blending one animation into another and rather than stopping one animation and starting another Calculate the best options for the AI to move using Pruning Strategies, Wall Distances, Map Preprocess Implementation, and Forced Neighbours Create Theta algorithms to the AI to find short and realistic looking paths Add many characters into the same scene and make them behave like a realistic crowd In Detail The book starts with the basics examples of AI for different game genres and directly jumps into defining the probabilities and possibilities of the AI character to determine character movement. Next, you'll learn how AI characters should behave within the environment created. Moving on, you'll explore how to work with animations. You'll also plan and create pruning strategies, and create Theta algorithms to find short and realistic looking game paths. Next, you'll learn how the AI should behave when there is a lot of characters in the same scene. You'll explore which methods and algorithms, such as possibility maps, Forward Chaining Plan, Rete Algorithm, Pruning Strategies, Wall Distances, and Map Preprocess Implementation should be used on different occasions. You'll discover how to overcome some limitations, and how to deliver a better experience to the player. By the end of the book, you think differently about AI. Style and approach The book has a step-by-step tutorial style approach. The algorithms are explained by implementing them in #.

Game AI Pro2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals presents cutting-edge tips, tricks, and techniques for artificial intelligence (AI) in games, drawn from developers of shipped commercial games as well as some of the best-known academics in the field. It contains knowledge, advice, hard-earned wisdom, and insights gathered from across the com