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brian Williams Mar 02, 2015

I began programming a few years back, when the iOS sdk first came out; I haven't done any programming in a few years, so this book was a good catchup for me to refresh myself on working in Unity, as well as all the new stuff that has been added since I last used it.This may not be for the most advanced Unity programmer, but then again I wouldn't think anyone who's that advanced with the program would really need a book like this. There were times that I was reading things I already knew, and wanted to skip ahead, but I know that the book is aimed at many different levels of programmers, so I can't expect it only to be aimed solely at me.It was useful, and the examples were pretty relevant to the type of AI that I was looking to use in my own game.

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Heleen Durston Mar 04, 2015

There are many assets available for Unity that implement Artificial Intelligence (AI). Simple AIs can also be created by coding a state machine. Unity also provides Navigation Meshes which help with developing pathfinding AIs. “Unity AI Programming Essentials” by Curtis Bennett and Dan Violet Sagmiller covers 6 different AI’s that are available in Unity’s asset store. Each of the following AI solutions are presented in the form of a project that you can download from Packt Publishing’s website.Quick Path AI by Alkehine Games is available for $10 at Unity’s asset store. Its main focus is on pathfinding. The manual and a demo are available on Alkehine Games’ website. This solution is covered in Chapter one in the book and is great for beginners.React AI is by Different Methods and is available for $45 at the asset store. This asset provides a way of building behavior trees that make use of Mecanim animation and allow you to code items such as chain-of-command AIs and NPC behavior. The book discusses how to use React in chapters one, four and seven. If you enjoy coding and want to use an AI for behavior trees than this is a great choice. For more information on React visit their website. Car AI is by Bonecracker Games and is available for $10 on the asset store. All of chapter 9 is dedicated to using this AI and creating a car game demo. Smart Car allows you to set all different sorts of properties for cars. The book provides a lot of information on modifying and using this AI. You can find more information on Smart Car AI at Bonecracker Games’ website.In chapter 5 crowd control APIs are discussed. Crowd Simulation API by TechBizAccelerator is available for $45 on the asset store. ANT-Op by Gray Lake Studios is available for $75 in the asset store. Both solutions provide ways of controlling groups and defining behavior in your games. These are very specific behavior AI and the chapter provides a good overview of them. Both companies have websites that provide more information on these AI solutions.The bulk of the book covers the RAIN AI by Rival Theory which is available for free on the asset store. Their website provides excellent documentation and examples. “Unity AI Programming Essentials” provides great information on RAIN and shows you how to set-up several different AI situations that you will come across in the creation of your games. Behavior trees, attacking situations and advanced navigation meshes are all discussed and explanations are provided on how to set-up RAIN in these situations.“Unity AI Programming Essentials” is a wonderful book on implementing artificial intelligence in games created with Unity. Very little explanation is provided on AI’s in general; but for the specific situation of programming in Unity this book is great.

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Don Mar 04, 2015

As a pragmatist, I enjoy learning by jumping directly into features of an application like Unity 3D. This book was approachable and easy to understand--a big plus. When learning complex concepts, like AI and pathfinding, I consider approachability important for having fun and therefore avoiding the barriers that painful subjects can present.I was grateful that RAIN was free and replete with powerful features; however, RAIN does not include source code. The other assets compared within this book, Quick Path and React, offer limited capabilities, the comparison reveals key issues that Unity 3D developers should understand. I was particularly interested in an asset mentioned in the book called "ANT-Op, which simulates food searching Ant behaviors. I was disappointed to learn ANT-Op is not a asset that can be used to actually implement in my games, but rather just a learning simulator. I did appreciate the discussion and contrasts of managing driver/automobile pathfinding introductions and the other AI approaches discussed in the book. I was also grateful that a discussion of using Unity's Mecanim system works with the RAIN asset. The books introduces the basics: pathfinding, patrolling, crowds, behavior trees, sensors, adaptation, attacking, driving, animation, and NavMeshes--all important subjects in game development.My development needs are more simple than a massive, multi-user game set of tools. As a result, the simple, step-by-step approach presented in this book was perfect for my needs. The book set the course for more advanced AI and pathfinding approaches. Although I hoped for more theoretical background and mathematical constructs, it eased my way into the next level of studies. This book offers a first addition introduction to AI and an opportunity for two additional publications to augment AI development efforts with theoretical background and advanced topics.

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Chev Mar 17, 2015

Overall the book was ok, the writing style was a little too dry for my taste. The content covered in this book was good, all about AI and its different parts. I did like how the author used different assets to do/accomplish the same thing. That way you can get a feel for how each asset handles everything and can better make a decision on what suites your needs best. Nav mesh and pathfinding was pretty straight forward as was patrolling and behavior trees. After chapter 3 things got a little more interesting, same writing style but the topics were ones I haven’t dealt with a whole lot before, and seems more interesting then the previous ones. The chapters on crowd control and patrolling were cool because I never knew how to approach these, and always thought of them to be really complicated. The chapter on driving was my favorite, I had one of those ah-ha moments and things clicked for me. When I had approached driving AI in the past I had never look into nav meshes as I thought that was only for enemies/NPC on foot lol. If it wasn’t enough to go over waypoints this chapter also hits on drifting and break zones and explains how this is AI differs from other AI due to the physics invloved. Overall the book was a little dry, but it may be due to the large topics being covered in such a fast pace. The content does have some depth, its more then click here and do this, the author explains why things are done a certain way. The topics are good and should more then cover your basic AI, and get you started with a good fundamental understanding of AI.

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K. McNamara Feb 14, 2016

This book is a classic example of what is wrong with many coding/technical books being put out today. I dont know if it was the writers or publishers but assumptions are made that kill the content of the book. On example is in the first two chapters, in chapter one, you create a simple pathfinding route to move back and forth on. The options it shows you to stack in the behavior tree are:PARANIMATEWAYMOVEThen in chapter two after it has you create a method that picks a random location, it tells you to build the next part yourself just like you did in the first chapter only it does not work and is NOT what they show in the picture. The picture they show is stacked like this:WAYANIMATEPARMOVEBut it does not show you how to configure it this way. I have tried to redo this part over and over several times and asked several of my college friends to take a look at this and no one has been able to make it work. If a second year college student can not make it work, what good is it? I am very disappointed in this book. I dont know if the issue is with the author or due to it being 2 years old and the software changing. I have had this issue with several of the PacktPub books and will stay away from them in the future.

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Unity AI Programming Essentials: Use Unity3D, a popular game development ecosystem, to add realistic AI to your games quickly and effortlessly

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