• Insider Discussion
    February 9th, 2012

    Trends and Highlights in Game AI for 2011

    What were some of the most important moments of 2011 for artificial intelligence in games? Which trends developed over the year, and how do they affect you? Join our editor-in-chief Alex Champandard for his summary of the year and predictions of what's to come!

  • Insider Discussion
    September 26th, 2011

    Bug Hunting: Understanding AI Architecture with Epic Failures

    Modern games feature very complex AI, and it's no secret that the systems break down when subject to the combination of ambitious designers and creative players. YouTube and other social media channels are full of bugs captured from even the most recent games. Looking at these bugs is not only instructive, but can provide unique insights into the implementation itself!

  • Premium Discussion
    August 8th, 2011

    Highlights and Analysis from the Paris Game/AI Conf. and Shooter Symposium 2011

    The Paris Game/AI Conference 2011 was the largest worldwide event of its kind dedicated to the topics of artificial intelligence and game development. This year, the event brought together over three hundred developers from across Europe and beyond, featuring some of the most recent and innovative games available.

  • Ultimate Discussion
    June 16th, 2011

    Building Virtual Toys that Don't Break: Recipes for Robust AI in Sandbox Games

    Building robust logic for software programs is already a challenge in itself, and we've been doing that for over half a century. When it comes to building robust character behaviors, there are additional challenges in making the results believable and life-like. However, game developers have become more and more comfortable with the process over the past few years!

  • Insider Discussion
    October 30th, 2010

    Halloween Special: Zombie AI That's Not Brain Dead

    You might think of zombies as not requiring a very big brain of their own, but you'd be wrong! As Valve quickly found out on LEFT 4 DEAD, getting a zombie to be able to reach the player anywhere in the map is quite a navigation problem... and that's just the start. What better time than Halloween to look into the challenges and future of zombie AI.

  • Open Discussion
    September 14th, 2010

    ACHRON, AI and the Complexity of Time-Travel (Interview Sept. 19th)

    Many gamers and developers alike have thought about developing a game based around time travel; not just the story, but actual gameplay! However, it turns out that's much harder to do than you'd think, and there are very few such games. ACHRON is one of them. It's a real-time strategy game featuring free-form time travel! As developer Chris Hazard puts it, ACHRON is the world's first meta-time strategy game where players and units can jump to and play at different times simultaneously and independently.

  • Ultimate Discussion
    August 25th, 2010

    Crowds and Pedestrians without Bumper-Car Syndrome

    While animation and navigation technology has matured significantly over the years, combining the two together remains quite a challenge! Games like HEAVY RAIN include scenes with few pedestrians that must avoid each other (e.g. on a sidewalk), as well as huge groups that form the illusion of a crowd (e.g. in the station). What techniques are used to implement such situations, and how can the results be improved?

  • Open Discussion
    April 13th, 2010

    Non-Determinism and Statistical Outcomes in OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2 (aka. You Shot My Pilot!)

    I've been enjoying the OPERATION FLASHPOINT: DRAGON RISING campaign recently. In brief, the game is a large-scale open-world sandbox tactical combat simulation whose feature list would make programmers around the world whimper. The AI does a pretty impressive job considering the challenges!

  • Ultimate Discussion
    December 10th, 2009

    Non-Player Characters from Animation to Behavior: A Panel Discussion

    The single biggest challenge that AI programmers face is expressing behaviors... via animations. Character animation is at the same time the best tool for portraying intentions, but it's also the most expensive and time consuming process. As we strive towards better characters, animation is the primary battleground.

  • Ultimate Discussion
    November 8th, 2009

    The Art of Multi-Threading Panel: From Implementation Strategies to Cross Platform Development

    Successfully implementing a multi-threaded system for a game requires a good understanding of the theory. But there are also many "tricks of the trade" that experienced developers use in practice. This is particularly the case for AI since it interacts with many other sub-systems...

  • 1 2 3