Game AI Uncovered

Game AI Uncovered: Volume Three continues the series with another collection of chapters from 18 of the top game AI professionals and researchers, from around the world. Each chapter includes wisdom, ideas, tips, and tricks that were used in the development of video games.

The techniques discussed in these pages cover the underlying development of a wide array of published titles, including Watch Dogs: Legion, City of Gangsters, Eve: Valkyrie, Firefall, The Persistence, Advance Soccer, Alpha Beta Gunner, and Luna Abyss.

Contained within this volume are insights that cover a host of different areas within game AI, including vehicle AI, simulating social norms, AI spawning fundamentals, pathfinding, creation of characters using components, animation‑driven behaviour, tactical positioning in football, automated testing, abstract pattern matching, and machine learning for games.

Beginners in the area of game AI, along with professional developers, will find a wealth of knowledge that will not only help in the development of their own games but also spark ideas for new approaches.

This volume includes chapters written by Dr Allan Bruce, Anubha Banerjee, Bruno Rebaque, Dale Green, David Wooldridge, Eric S. Le Saux, Greg Irwin, Jason Lok Heng Chin, Johan Holthausen, John Reynolds, Mathias Siemonsmeier, Michele Condò, Dr Nic Melder, Paul Roberts, Phil Carlisle, Richard Bull, Robert Zubek, and Tobias Karlsson.

Paul Roberts is the technical director of the independent game studio Grinning Cat. Prior to this he worked in a variety of Principal / Lead AI Programmer roles for a range of studios in the UK including Sumo Digital, Team17, Traveller’s Tales, Activision, and some smaller indie studios. For several years Paul also led the Games Programming department at Staffordshire University, where he taught Game AI and programming principles. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence, which focused on pathfinding, the development of the DRS algorithm and ways to test the believability of generated paths. Paul has written a number of books, some fiction, others academic, the latest of which is ‘Artificial Intelligence in Games’ published by CRC Press in 2022 and is also the editor for this Game AI Uncovered series.