AI Game development: Synthetic creatures with learning and reactive behaviors - Softcover

Neural networks, decision trees, genetic classifiers: If these are AI concepts you'd like to employ in your own games-and you know your way around C++-this is the book for you! In these pages, leading game AI developer Alex J. Champandard shows you how to create a slew of autonomous synthetic creatures-in the process exploring the techniques and theories central to AI game development. Complex concepts are made easily graspable, even fun, as you apply them to the step-by-step development of your own complete bot. The focus here is on designing individual creatures, each with unique abilities and skills. Each chapter tackles a specific problem, using demos and examples to drive the points home. Best of all, Alex draws on his own real-life experiences to provide tips and tricks to speed the process and resolve thorny issues. On the companion Web site, you'll find code examples and the samples of some of the games covered in the book.

Alex J. Champandard has a strong academic background in AI with degrees from York and Edinburgh, often speaking about his artificial intelligence research. He also hosts a roundtable on learning AI and computer games at the Game Developers Conference. As the lead engineer of FEAR (an open-source game AI project), he consults with professional programmers to integrate state-of-the-art prototypes into commercial games. Founder of AI-Depot.com, a popular community AI site, he brings tutorials to an audience of AI enthusiasts. Alex has also contributed multiple articles to the AI Game Programming Wisdom series. He is part of the AI Interface Standards Committee, intending to define a common specification for game AI techniues.