Game AI Pro: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals

Successful games merge art and technology in truly unique ways. Fused under tight production deadlines and strict performance requirements, shaped by demanding player expectations, games are among the most complex software projects created today. Game AI Pro: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals covers both the art and the technology of game AI. Nothing covered is theory or guesswork. The book brings together the accumulated wisdom, cutting-edge ideas, and clever tricks and techniques of 54 of today’s top game AI professionals. Some chapters present techniques that have been developed and passed down within the community for years while others discuss the most exciting new research and ideas from today’s most innovative games.

The book includes core algorithms that you’ll need to succeed, such as behavior trees, utility theory, spatial representation, path planning, motion control, and tactical reasoning. It also describes tricks and techniques that will truly bring your game to life, including perception systems, social modeling, smart camera systems, player prediction, and even an AI sound designer. Throughout, the book discusses the optimizations and performance enhancements that enable your game to run while maintaining 60 frames per second.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What Is Game AI?
Chapter 2: Informing Game AI through the Study of Neurology
Chapter 3: Advanced Randomness Techniques for Game AI : Gaussian Randomness, Filtered Randomness, and Perlin Noise
Chapter 4: Behavior Selection Algorithms : An Overview
Chapter 5: Structural Architecture—Common Tricks of the Trade
Chapter 6: The Behavior Tree Starter Kit
Chapter 7: Real-World Behavior Trees in Script
Chapter 8: Simulating Behavior Trees : A Behavior Tree/Planner Hybrid Approach
Chapter 9: An Introduction to Utility Theory
Chapter 10: Building Utility Decisions into Your Existing Behavior Tree
Chapter 11: Reactivity and Deliberation in Decision-Making Systems
Chapter 12: Exploring HTN Planners through Example
Chapter 13: Hierarchical Plan-Space Planning for Multi-unit Combat Maneuvers
Chapter 14: Phenomenal AI Level-of-Detail Control with the LOD Trader
Chapter 15: Runtime Compiled C++ for Rapid AI Development
Chapter 16: Plumbing the Forbidden Depths : Scripting and AI
Chapter 17: Pathfinding Architecture Optimizations
Chapter 18: Choosing a Search Space Representation
Chapter 19: Creating High-Order Navigation Meshes through Iterative Wavefront Edge Expansions
Chapter 20: Precomputed Pathfinding for Large and Detailed Worlds on MMO Servers
Chapter 21: Techniques for Formation Movement Using Steering Circles
Chapter 22: Collision Avoidance for Preplanned Locomotion
Chapter 23: Crowd Pathfinding and Steering Using Flow Field Tiles
Chapter 24: Efficient Crowd Simulation for Mobile Games
Chapter 25: Animation-Driven Locomotion with Locomotion Planning
Chapter 26: Tactical Position Selection : An Architecture and Query Language
Chapter 27: Tactical Pathfinding on a NavMesh
Chapter 28: Beyond the Kung-Fu Circle : A Flexible System for Managing NPC Attacks
Chapter 29: Hierarchical AI for Multiplayer Bots in Killzone 3
Chapter 30: Using Neural Networks to Control Agent Threat Response
Chapter 31: Crytek’s Target Tracks Perception System
Chapter 32: How to Catch a Ninja : NPC Awareness in a 2D Stealth Platformer
Chapter 33: Asking the Environment Smart Questions
Chapter 34: A Simple and Robust Knowledge Representation System
Chapter 35: A Simple and Practical Social Dynamics System
Chapter 36: Breathing Life into Your Background Characters
Chapter 37: Alibi Generation : Fooling All the Players All the Time
Chapter 38: An Architecture Overview for AI in Racing Games
Chapter 39: Representing and Driving a Race Track for AI Controlled Vehicles
Chapter 40: Racing Vehicle Control Systems using PID Controllers
Chapter 41: The Heat Vision System for Racing AI : A Novel Way to Determine Optimal Track Positioning
Chapter 42: A Rubber-Banding System for Gameplay and Race Management
Chapter 43: An Architecture for Character-Rich Social Simulation
Chapter 44: A Control-Based Architecture for Animal Behavior
Chapter 45: Introduction to GPGPU for AI
Chapter 46: Creating Dynamic Soundscapes Using an Artificial Sound Designer
Chapter 47: Tips and Tricks for a Robust Third-Person Camera System
Chapter 48: Implementing N-Grams for Player Prediction, Procedural Generation, and Stylized AI