Programming Game AI by Example: .

Programming Game AI By Example by Mat Buckland is one of those books that comes highly recommended and was one I had been meaning to read for a long time. In fact, I originally purchased the paperback in 2006 and never got around to reading it. The interesting part is that the book is still very much relevant today and is not dated in the least. Well now maybe some of the engines and middleware have this stuff built in, but the fundamentals I think I still important to understand. The book starts with a quick primer on math and physics. The basics are explained, like Cartesian coordinates, trigonometry, vectors, coordinate spaces, and some physics. Like most people reading a book of this level, the beginning was a light refresher. However, I’m a big stickler for reading books from cover to cover with no skipping around, so I did not mind a short recap. Next Buckland gets into state-driven design and demonstrates a simple command-line app using the concepts. I found this approach successful, and it was able to show the concepts without complex 2D or 3D math getting in the way. He followed up with autonomous moving agents, mostly based on steering behaviors. I was already somewhat familiar with steering behaviors, but I found the author’s description and code to be clear and concise and explained the concept better than I’ve seen before. He then applies the previous topics to a simple soccer game. This was a great next step, and really compiled the knowledge being taught into something concrete. In the next chapter, the author went into graphs; what they are, how to use them, and some popular algorithms link Dijkstra and A*. I always wanted to know what A* was, and this book explains it fairly well. Buckland then devotes a section to cover scripting languages and why they are useful. In this case, he chose Lua (not a bad choice) and explains some basics about the language, how to interface it with C++, and creates a simple finite state machine. This chapter is helpful even if you’re not coding AI and just need a scripting language for your game or engine (provided you like Lua). In fact, a lot of the concepts in this book are generic enough that they can be applied to multiple fields of interest for game developers. Next, the author creates a simple overhead game framework used in the subsequent examples. Using this framework he then shows practical path planning, goal driven agent behavior, and finishes up with fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is another one of those buzzwords that always intrigued me but I never really understood. Buckland concludes with a quite excellent explanation of the concept. Overall I found this book to be stellar on all accounts. I feel that any game developer could gain insight from this text, even if they aren’t primarily working with AI programming. The scripting coverage could be used in many games, and the algorithms covered are generic enough to apply to different disciplines. While this is the first book I’ve read on AI, I really can’t imagine a better introduction. Highly recommended.

One Line Synopsis - This book is a must for anyone interested in the topic of AI in games, and it is full of examples that really drive home the lessons being taught. With all the college courses and graduate studies devoted to the field of artificial intelligence, this book could have easily drowned itself it excessive theory. Thankfully, this did not happen. The author is truly able to give concrete examples and demonstrate the applicable methodologies. Not only do the examples given in the text convey the lessons in AI so clearly, they could easily be employed in your own projects. I have given myself plenty of time not only to read the book, but generate my own AI code inspired from the book. It really is the perfect blend of theory, practice, and examples. If you are looking for an entry level AI book that will also deliver you into the intermediate stages of AI programming, this is the book you have been looking for. I would highly recommend anyone who purchases the book to check out the source code that can be found on the companion website. It not only offers the source code from the book, but also the standalone executables that run the programs discussed. As AI behavior is such a dynamic phenomenon, it really lends itself to view the examples in motion alongside the text. That's why these programs are so helpful. Additionally, one can tell a lot of care was put into constructing these programs to really demonstrate the main point of each topic. As an aside, chapter 2 of this book is an exceptional chapter for those interested in game engine design. It primarily deals with state-driven design and finite state machines, but also discusses game entities and their management along with message handling. While the topics in this chapter deal with AI behavior, their applications go far beyond AI and could easily be applied to many other features of games and software.

If you are intererested in coding intelligente agent that can move around, flock, swarm, hunt and flee or follow a basic sort of strategic behaviour this text is an excellent choice. It offers practical examples examples of all of the above in the context of a simple soccer game and a search & destroy game called raven. Don 't expect 3D and fancy graphics. All games and concepts are 2D and the graphics is rudimentary at best, but that serves the puropose of keeping teh complexity of the book to manageable levels and the focus on AI programming. There is ton of example code to study and play with, and the little theory in the book basically is just an explanation of the code that the author has written. I would have liked to see more space dedicated to theory, and clearer and more genral explanations instead of "here is the code that.." but oh well better too much practice than too much theory.. and after all the book title makes it clear that this is a hands-on kind of text. Definitely a must have book for the aspiring AI programmer or hobbist. Code is C++ but you don' t need to be a C++ guru, knowing the basics will serve you fine. Only one warning: you won 't get much out of this book is you don't spent a lot of time tinkering with the code presented and trying to extend it.

First, to give context: I am about 5 months along learning C++ for the creation of games. I am ok with the basics of the language and starting to learn the more advanced things. This book was perfect for me. It has a math primer in the first chapter, which is very nice. It then gets right into the meat for a number of AI topics. It is more advanced than the learning books I have been using, but the source code provided completes the picture. In short, it is a fantastic jumping off point to get into exactly the topics described. There's plenty more to learn after this book, but there's months of study right here if you want to dive deep into each of the chapters here as well. And if you just want to grab the technique and go, you should be able to do just that as well. In short, if you made it to the point you are reading reviews for this book, I recommend to go ahead and take the plunge. It's not only excellent but at this price I would say it is a great value for the what you are getting.

I received this book the other day and have been reading it non-stop. I must say that there is much more information in here then what I bargained for. The only bad thing that I would have to say about this book is that all examples are in C++ and assumes you have no engine. Thankfully I have a limited background in C++ and am currently developing in C# so I was easily able to understand it. Probably my favorite feature of this book is the "Math and Physics Primer" in the beginning. It's been a while since I've taken any high level math classes so that was a nice refresher. This book also fails to dive into the more detailed mathematics behind AI behavior but it does explore the programming concepts. Over all I would definitely recommend this book to anyone thinking of venturing into AI Programming, it delivers as promised and so much more!

The book has great examples for incorporating good artificial intelligence in games. The author knows how to organize code effectively, and if you're a beginner programmer with C++, you'll learn a few things there as well. I also like that the extra material for the book that is usually included as a CD in other books can be found online for download instead, so you don't have to worry if you're missing something when buying the book. Some of things I've learned in the book include agent movement behavior, using finite state machines, and message handling for state changes. A good understanding of C++ or some object oriented language is a must. Otherwise, the author uses easy to understand language and relates the subject very well.

I've only read the first 4 chapters, but this is a great book on artificial intelligence! I am a Graduate Student, and my thesis deals with using AI to control simulated fish in a simulated fish tank. The movement or steering behaviors covered in chapter 3 for "flocking" behavior will be incredibly useful to me. I am incredibly glad I bought this book! It is well written and easy to follow along. The code that goes along with this book is excellent. I was lucky to come across this book!

I am in the process of reading this jewel and have just finished the math portion of the book. There are some "mathematical" term errors that only a mathematician would catch (usage of the terms function vs. formula, and right triangle vs. right angle triangle comes to mind), and certainly do not deter from his presentation of the necessary subjects. He envokes the great memory mneumonic SohCahToa for trigonometry functions, but fails to spell out what that mneumonic represents (Sin is Opposite over Hypotenuse, Cos is Adjacent over Hypotenuse, and Tan is Opposite over Adjacent in a right triangle). The required vector analysis mathematics portion could have been a cleaner and more precise presentation, but covers all the key points. His examples along with graphs throughout this chapter do a good job of illustratating the mathematical concepts he feels are important to programming game AI. Because I taught university level mathematics for years, the math portion was rather straight forward for me (other than the misuse of a few mathematical terms/definitions). I would have preferred to give the book 4.5 stars, but that was not an option. If the author covers the material beyond this first chapter as well as he has in the math chapter, then this should be a 'must buy' for anyone interested in the subject, and am very pleased with the purchased of this book.

I thought this was a great book. Starts with simple concepts like state machines and works its way up. This examples in this book also helped me with structuring code in general. A great introduction to game AI that should get any indie developer up to speed with implementing most the common AI patterns. This is one of the books I use as reference as I work on my latest indie city building game, Pocket City.

The book save arrive and faster.This is why I need.thank you,you’re the best👍everything are awesome.very very recommended store.

Just for its chapter of fuzzy logic this volume deserves 5 stars. Besides that, the lessons learned on Finite-State-Machines and graphs are great and find applications outside the realm of video games. Definitely a must-have volunteer for every software developer.

Als Programmierer im Allgemeinen, der sich auch für Spieleprogrammierung interessiert. Habe ich mich auch immer für AI in Spielen interessiert.