Synopsis

AI Game Programming Wisdom 2, the second volume in this cutting-edge series, is packed with all new tricks, techniques, algorithms, architectures, and philosophies all written by industry experts! The wealth of knowledge and expertise in this volume is sure to surpass your expectations. As with the first volume, this book is designed to provide practical advice for building state-of-the-art game AI for commercial games; however, it also strives to help you look forward to leading-edge techniques that will be critical in future explorations. AI Game Programming Wisdom 2 provides advances, discoveries, and triumphs that will influence and drive game AI for the next decade. The breadth of experience and diverse backgrounds of the authors make this a truly global, cross-sectional resource for game AI. The book is divided into twelve comprehensive sections, including an all new speech recognition and dialogue section. There is also coverage of a wider variety of game genres and a cumulative index is included for easy cross referencing between volumes. This new volume alone is an indispensable tool, but together with volume 1, these books form a remarkable collection that no game AI programmer should be without!

Approximately 70 articles by Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmers discuss the skills and concepts needed to apply AI to game programming. They cover basic concepts, techniques and specialized systems, pathfinding with A*, pathfinding and movement, tactical issues and intelligent group movement, game AI architecture, decision- making architecture, FPS, RTS, RPG AI, racing and sports AI, scripting, and learning. Sample code is provided. A companion CD- ROM contains demos, source code, high-resolution color images, and links for game development sites. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Biography

Steve Rabin is a Principal Software Engineer at Nintendo of America, where he researches new techniques for Nintendo's next generation systems, develops tools, and supports Nintendo developers. Before Nintendo, Steve worked primarily as an AI engineer at several Seattle start-ups including Gas Powered Games,WizBang Software Productions, and Surreal Software. He managed and edited the AI Game Programming Wisdom series of books, as well as the book Introduction to Game Development, and has over a dozen articles published in the Game Programming Gems series. He's spoken at the Game Developers Conference and moderates the AI roundtables. Steve teaches artificial intelligence at both the University of Washington Extension and at the DigiPen Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Washington