The book provides insightful coverage of a variety of subjects important to AI engine development, and ties
them together masterfully to form an indispensable reference. Part I provides an overall look at game AI, covers the basic terminology used in the book, reviews underlying concepts
of game AI, and dissects the parts of a game AI engine.
Part II covers specific game genres (RPG, TRS, FTPS, Shooter, Sports, Racing, Strategy, Adventure, Fighting, Platform,
and miscellaneous) and explains how they use different AU paradigms. It also covers the move common solutions to the problems posed by each genre. Some of the problems include, dealing with direct AI and human interactions, using scripting languages appropriately, and general telligence/entertainment balancing. Part III provides the actual code implementations for the basic AI techniques such as finite state machines, fuzzy state machines, message board systems, scripted systems, and location-based information systems. And, Part IV covers the move advanced techniques, including genetic algorithms, neural networks, artificial life, planning algorithms, and decision trees. The book concludes with Part V, which looks at “real game AI development.” The areas covered here focus on how distributed AI works as an overall paradigm that can help with the organization of any AI engine. There is also coverage of common AI development, debugging and tuning, and the future of AI.
Part I Introduction
Part II Game Genres
Part III Basic AL Engine Techniques
Part IV Advanced AL Engine Techniques
Part V Real Game Al Design
Appendix: About the CD-ROM