Technical Reviews of AI in Games

Every Monday on AiGameDev.com is dedicated to technical reviews, investigating the design and implementation of classic titles.

If you have any suggestions for games to be reviewed, feel free to submit them.

Next-gen animation is proving to be quite a challenge to integrate with AI! This article takes a detailed look at the kind of technology that’s used in CryEngine 2 for AI and animation. It also analyze exactly why it’s so difficult to get it working in game generally — not just for Crytek.

Façade is not only a successful attempt at moving beyond traditional branching narrative, but it also makes significant progress towards emotionally interactive characters. It offers critical insights into the development of behavior trees that operate concurrently to generate rich behaviors, as well as the application of natural language technology to games.

Halo is not only one of the best-selling game franchise of all time, but it has become a landmark in the first-person shooter genre. Thanks to Bungie’s openness, developers on the projects have been able to share their insights in the creation of the game and technology, which has influenced the whole industry significantly over the years.

F.E.A.R. advances the state-of-the-art of first-person shooters (FPS); not only is it highly entertaining, but it has been praised for its innovations in artificial intelligence. This article looks at the planning technology in detail, the design behind it, and how the behaviors are pieced together at runtime.

As the archetypal sim-game, The Sims revolutionized the industry by creating an interactive doll house, becoming the best selling PC game of all time in the process. This article looks into the smart-object technology (among other features) behind this prolific franchise, and how they are used to create an emergent simulation and emotionally rewarding gameplay.

SimGolf is a simulation game where you play the role of a golf course designer and part-time professional golfer. The experience is not only fun, but it also answers some interesting questions about the role artificial intelligence plays in the process of designing levels…

The Creatures game has played a very unique role in the history of games, selling over half a million units by incorporating many ideas from academic AI. It is touted as a breakthrough in artificial life, and incorporates both neural network algorithms and a form of artificial evolution to implement the Norns. This article reveals how this was done in practice.

The Total War series revolutionized strategy games by letting the player control thousands of foot soldiers, archers, and cavalry. The engine uses innovative ideas to build an AI scalable enough to support this kind of gameplay, and offer such depth and replayability. This article looks into the technology behind the game.

Thief pioneered the first-person sneaker genre, and is a cornerstone of single player action games in general. The game is an interesting blend of suspense and strategy, which requires some interesting artificial intelligence technology. In particular, this article looks into the sensory system and the design of the behaviors to support that kind of gameplay.

This is AiGameDev.com’s list of the most influential AI games of all time! You’ll find video and computer games that have used artificial intelligence in innovative ways to critical acclaim or respect from industry insiders, and some of them that have managed to integrate cutting-edge AI technology too.