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By David M. Bourg, Glenn Seemann
First Edition
July 2004
Pages: 390
ISBN 10: 0-596-00555-5 |
ISBN 13: 9780596005559
(Average of 4 Customer Reviews)
Written for the novice AI programmer, AI for Game Developers introduces you to techniques such as finite state machines, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and many others, in straightforward, easy-to-understand language, supported with code samples throughout the entire book (written in C/C++). From basic techniques such as chasing and evading, pattern movement, and flocking to genetic algorithms, the book presents a mix of deterministic (traditional) and non-deterministic (newer) AI techniques aimed squarely at beginners AI developers.
Full Description
- Potential function based movements: a technique that handles chasing, evading swarming, and collision avoidance simultaneously
- Basic pathfinding and waypoints, including an entire chapter devoted to the A* pathfinding algorithm
- AI scripting
- Rule-based AI: learn about variants other than fuzzy logic and finite state machines
- Basic probability
- Bayesian techniques
Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon
Featured customer reviews
Very helpful to me, providing essentials in a goed manner, November 18 2006
I knew nearly nothing about AI for games.
So for me there were some main reasons to buy and read the book:
overview over AI related to games,
discussion of advantages and disadvantages of special approaches,
discussion of ongoing tendencies in AI with regard to game development.
One item of critic, and this in general, not only related to this book: providing download of code examples seems ok at first sight.
But the question rises: how stable are the URL's in time? I recently bought a book from another publishing company, but with date of publishing the URL had been changed...
So, I prefer an accomanying cd.
Overall result for me:
The only minor issues for me: no accompanying cd. And, perpaps it makes sense to discuss the advantages/disadvantages of 'traditional programming language versus scripting'.
Regarding the complexity of each item each chapter would be worse a separate book.
In my opinion in each chapter the authors were very able to put the essentials to the point, providing also a discussion of advantages and disadvantages for each approach.
I am very satisfied with contents, and style to present contents. The examples supports the several approaches very well. Contents and examples provide goed starting points for own trials and experiments to me.
The URL related to discussion and errata is valuable for me.
My points of interest were fulfilled to high extend. I've got the impression that I have learned a lot.
The boek provided also goed and valuable ideas for further reading to me.
As result I give rating 5 = definitive!
So, many thanks and compliment to the authors for providing an informative and well readable book; and the publishing company for publishing.
Knowledge necessary to develop the AI in you, September 30 2006
I feel the will to say that this book this preparing me for the mestrado phase of.
When the see for the first time, I was so fascinated with the subject, and liked the wealth them details in Pathfinding, state machines, fuzzy logic, Neural Networks and genetic algorithms.
I still go to write a book on I WENT using the C#. I am certain that we are in way certain e this evolution already is happening, will be that I am a visionary?
Thanks David and Glenn, vocês is making to see me the future, fort hugs!
Where's the code? :(, August 29 2006
The book is overrall ok, but for a book that intends to help just get things done I expected more code examples. For software with graphical interface
I find it nice to be able to actually run the code, change a few things, see how things go, but that's definitely not what I got from the book.
The examples are not well organized, there's some weird mac stuff. And everything seems to be done for Visual Studio. I don't think the book should try to force you to buy some expensive propertary software for running the examples. They could just as easily been done for use with free technology. That way everyone would be able to compile it, people using mac, windows, linux, netbsd, and so on.
So I rate this book avarage, it might be ok for getting introduced to gaming AI, but I don't think it's worth having. I just got from the library and read it, it's not big. There should be better books for reference, and even intruduction to gaming AI, with better code examples.
Where's the code?, May 21 2006
Perhaps I have been spoiled but good books come with an electronic version of the code in the book. This book to a great extent does not! There are example programs but some are written for Windows and some, I presume, are for the Mac. However, many of the code snippets found in the book are either non existent in electronic form or they are buried with no easy way to find them.
This would be semi-acceptable if the code was well explain but, too often, the obvious parts are explained and the more obtuse parts are left for the reader to guess. There are two common ways to grasp code. One is to read a detailed edplanation; the other is to run the code. Since the explanations are poor and it is not an easy matter to run the code, this book fails a key test.
Media reviews "An outstanding example of technical communication. An essential resource for game developers, and well worth having in any library with holdings on AI."
--Major Keary, Book Notes, 2004:18
Read all reviews
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