Autumn Line-Up & Full Program Schedule

We’ll be launching the new part of AiGameDev.com on October 1st, at exactly 18:00 European time (17:00 U.K. time, 12:00 Noon Eastern time, other timezones). That’s almost precisely 48h from the time this article was posted. Be sure to read right to the bottom to make sure you don’t miss out on the bonuses for signing up quickly!

Many of you have been waiting for the price announcement, so here it is. The charter offer for the online training in the membership site costs $20 / €14 per month — which you’ll benefit from as long as you’re subscribed. As I said, after the first week, we will shut the registration for at least a month to focus entirely on the members. When we re-open, we’ll increase the price significantly to better reflect the value of this content.

As long as you sign up the first week of October, you’ll get the first three months for $39 / €27 only, as part of the deal. The way I look at it is that you get the first month for free! The first month includes a money back guarantee, so there’s zero risk for you signing up. After that, you can of course cancel your subscription before the next quarter at any time.

With that in mind, here’s the schedule for the next three months. (For details about the Online Meetings, Special Reports, and the Prototyping environment see this article.)

October

Live Sessions & Recordings

• Interview: Chris Jurney on RTS AI and Company of Heroes

• Masterclass: William van der Sterren on Terrain Reasoning

• Roundtable: MVC Architecture

• Q&A: Open Topic with Alex J. Champandard

Special Reports

• Goal-Oriented Action Planning with STRIPS (Jeff Orkin, Bill Merrill and Borut Pfeifer)

• Terrain Analysis & Reasoning (Kevin Dill, Sergio Garces, William van der Sterren and Paul Tozour)

Code & Assets

• Sample: Model / View / Controller

• Sample: Automated Terrain Analysis

• Motion: Running, dodges, slow / sudden turns, start & stop.

• Motion: Adventure action, jumping over, rolling under, combat/action rolls.

November

Live Sessions & Recordings

• Masterclass: Responsive Motion-driven Animation with Lucas Kovar†

• Interview: Dmitriy Iassenev on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky

• Roundtable: Testing Tools & Practices

• Q&A: Open Topic

Special Reports

• Production and Methodology (Javier Arevalo, Jurie Horneman, Paul Tozour)

• Modern Path-Finding Techniques

Code & Assets

• Sample: Motion / Animation Graph

• Sample: Test Framework

• Motion: Walking forward / backward, turning left and right slowly, transitions to and from idle, idle turns.

• Motion: Sideways strafing, backwards movement, single steps, aiming motions.

December

Live Sessions & Recordings

• Masterclass: Behavior Tree Design Patterns with Max Dyckhoff†

• Interview: Paul Tozour on The Boss AI in Metroid Prime

• Roundtable: Debugging, Visualization

• Q&A: Open Topic

Special Reports

• Workflow and Data Pipelines

Code & Assets

• Sample: Behavior Tree

• Motion: Locomotion variations, e.g. sneaking.

• Motion: Object interactions.

Sessions marked with this † symbol are still pending confirmation. Note that minor changes in the schedule are expected; these things are unavoidable. However, we also have a few unannounced features too! Also, the time of the interview is setup according to the availability of the experts, which depends on their timezone.

Bonus Items

Along with the first few features of October, these recordings will be available immediately when you sign up:

• Interview: “Game AI Design Pitfalls for Action Shooters” with Mikko Mononen

• Masterclass: “Behavior Tree Implementation Techniques” with Phil Carlisle and Alex Champandard

• Interview: “Next-Gen Animation for Games & AI” with Mike Gleicher

Fast Mover Bonus

1. The first 25 people get a personal consulting or Q&A (30 min) with me.

2. The first 50 people will get an extra month free!

You’ll find out the details about how to sign up first tomorrow! (If you’re keen to help out also, to extend your membership, read this post.)