Premium Features

Writing Hardware-Optimized Gameplay Code on Xbox 360 & PS3
Premium Masterclass February 21st, 2012

Writing Hardware-Optimized Gameplay Code on Xbox 360 & PS3

As the end of this console generation approaches, it is becoming increasingly important to wring every last bit of performance out of available hardware. This masterclass with resident experts Philip Dunstan (formerly EA) and Matthew Jack (ex-Crytek) lifts the lid on the processing hardware of the Xbox 360 and PS3 and discusses the specific performance challenges faced when targeting these machines.

How to Avoid Common Performance Pitfalls When Programming Gameplay and AI
Premium Masterclass January 25th, 2012

How to Avoid Common Performance Pitfalls When Programming ...

Gone are the days of games with small level maps and a handful of NPCs. As games become more complex the requirements placed on the AI systems also grows significantly larger. Furthermore, AI techniques are increasingly being used in many other parts of the game engine, and the high levels of indirection that are common in AI code can be notoriously difficult to optimize.

  • Premium Interview
    January 9th, 2012

    Combat Bots in SECTION 8: PREJUDICE and Utility-Based Tactics

    SECTION 8: PREJUDICE is an exciting and fast-pace FPS, with a strategic twist given the history of TimeGate Studios. The bots in the game are some of the most adaptive and challenging shipped in a game this year! In this interview with Denis Papp (CTO), you'll find out everything about the AI in the game, from their low-level utility-based behaviors to the high-level strategy.

  • Premium Interview
    December 14th, 2011

    Indie Racing AI in THUNDERWHEELS and Physics-based Vehicle Control

    Building racing AI is generally difficult, but when the vehicles are physically simulated and the tracks go off-road things are particularly challenging. In this beginner-level interview with Luis Javier Fornero, you'll learn the basics of racing AI using the indie game THUNDERWHEELS as an example. You'll see how the track editor is used to create AI annotations, how that ties into runtime control of the vehicle, and more!
  • Premium Tutorial
    December 2nd, 2011

    Level of Difficulty in CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE's Sniper Mission

    Balancing a game is a tricky process that involves many different systems, including enemy NPCs. Getting it right for players of different skill levels even more so! The sniper mission “All Ghillied Up” is one of the most famous and memorable of in MODERN WARFARE , and does a great job of illustrating how to handle difficulty levels. The mission includes a combination of linear sections with specifically spawned enemies, as well as open sandbox areas with difficulty adjusted enemies.

  • Premium Tutorial
    October 19th, 2011

    Bots of Lightning: Designing AI for MAGICKA that Withstands Electrocution

    How would you go about designing and architecting an AI to play MAGICKA? Specifically, what do you need to build a bot capable of replacing human co-op partners if necessary, accompanying the player through single player missions. The game presents many challenges, including a wide variety of spells that result from combinations of basic elements, not forgetting the challenges of finding good positions and balancing attack with defense.

  • Premium Interview
    August 22nd, 2011

    EVE ONLINE’s PvE Bots and AI Architecture for a Single-Shard MMO

    EVE ONLINE is the largest single-shard MMO game that has ever existed, and like every other aspect of the engine building and maintaining the AI is a tremendous challenge. Both computation and bandwidth between the machines in the cluster are very scarce resources. Yet still, in the most recent expansions of the game, CPP Games found ways to produce its most AI-rich interations yet in INCURSION, in particular a feature called Sansha’s Nation — a series of vicious PvE invasions taking place throughout the EVE universe.

  • 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.

  • Premium Masterclass
    July 27th, 2011

    ChatScript from Pattern Recognition to Natural Language Generation in Suzette

    Games such as SCRIBBLENAUTS are known for pushing the boundaries of natural language processing in games, but when it comes to natural language generations many role-playing games (RPG) still primarily rely on scripts and dialog trees. How can we use better AI techniques to improve the quality of NPC dialog when interacting with the player?

  • Premium Interview
    July 16th, 2011

    Seek to Thrill: Haunted NPC AI in ALAN WAKE

    ALAN WAKE is a psychological action thriller that stimulates an incredible tension during combat scenes, rarely achieved by other games, using a combination of elements that are tied together perfectly with the AI. The game was in development for over five years, emphasizing the benefits of iteration and making sure the different components of the design fit together — in particular the character behaviors.

  • Premium Tutorial
    June 30th, 2011

    An Introduction to Blend Tree Implementation and Animation Parallelization

    Over the past decade, blend trees have incrementally established themselves as the de-facto technique for implementing character animation. Since these blend trees are becoming more complex, implementing them efficiently is becoming a priority, allowing games to offload the bulk of the computation to separate dedicated processors like the SPU.

  • Premium Tutorial
    June 11th, 2011

    How To Architect Your AI: Case Studies from Indie Games

    The best way to learn is from real examples! In this review, you'll hear about four different work-in-progress indie games, and in each case the AI hasn't been developed (much) yet. You'll learn how to approach the design, what factors to consider, as well as how to architect the system and lay out the implementation plan. By going through this process for iOS games, web-games and PC games, you'll be able to apply this to your own games too.