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Unity 2017 Game AI Programming - Third Edition
Unity 2017 Game AI Programming - Third Edition

Unity 2017 Game AI Programming - Third Edition: Leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence to program smart entities for your games , Third Edition

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Unity 2017 Game AI Programming - Third Edition

The Basics of AI in Games

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rich and complex topic. At first glance, it can seem intimidating. The uses for it are diverse, ranging from robotics to statistics and to (more relevantly for us) entertainment, more specifically, video games. Our goal in this book will be to demystify the subject by breaking down the usage of AI into relatable, applicable solutions, and to provide accessible examples that illustrate the concepts in ways that cut through the noise and go straight for the core ideas. This book will lead you head first into the world of AI, and will introduce you to the most important concepts to start you on your AI journey.

This chapter will give you a little background on AI in academics, traditional domains, and game-specific applications. Here are the topics we'll cover:

  • Exploring how the application and implementation of AI in games is different from other domains
  • Looking at the special requirements for AI in games
  • Looking at the basic AI patterns used in games

This chapter will serve as a reference for later chapters, where we'll implement AI patterns in Unity.

Creating the illusion of life

Before diving in much deeper, we should stop for a moment and define intelligence. Intelligence is simply the ability to learn something then apply that knowledge. Artificial intelligence, at least for our purposes, is the illusion of intelligence. Our intelligent entities need not necessarily learn things, but must at the very least convince the player that they are learning things. I must stress that these definitions fit game AI specifically. As we'll discover later in this section, there are many applications for AI outside of games, where other definitions are more adequate.

Intelligent creatures, such as humans and other animals, learn from their environment. Whether it's through observing something visually, hearing it, feeling it, and so on, our brains convert those stimuli into information that we process and learn from. Similarly, our computer-created AI must observe and react to its environment to appear smart. While we use our eyes, ears, and other means to perceive, our game's AI entities have a different set of sensors at their disposal. Rather than using big, complex brains like ours, our code will simulate the processing of that data and the behaviors that model a logical and believable reaction to that data.

AI and its many related studies are dense and varied, but it is important to understand the basics of AI being used in different domains before digging deeper into the subject. AI is just a general term; its various implementations and applications are different for different needs and for solving different sets of problems.

Before we move onto game-specific techniques, let's take a look at the following research areas in AI applications that have advanced tremendously over the last several decades. Things that used to be considered science fiction are quickly becoming science fact, such as autonomous robots and self-driving cars. You need not look very far to find great examples of advances in AI—your smartphone most likely has a digital assistant feature that relies on some new AI-related technology. It probably knows your schedule better than you do! Here are some of the research fields driving AI:

  • Computer vision: This is the ability to take visual input from sources, such as video and photo cameras, and analyze it to perform particular operations such as facial recognition, object recognition, and optical-character recognition. Computer vision is at the forefront of advances in autonomous vehicles. Cars with even relatively simple systems, such as collision mitigation and adaptive cruise control, use an array of sensors to determine depth contextually to help prevent collisions.
  • Natural language processing (NLP): This is the ability that allows a machine to read and understand the languages as we normally write and speak. The problem is that the languages we use today are difficult for machines to understand. There are many different ways to say the same thing, and the same sentence can have different meanings according to the context. NLP is an important step for machines since they need to understand the languages and expressions we use before they can process them and respond accordingly. Fortunately, there's an enormous number of datasets available on the web that can help researchers by doing automatic analysis of a language.
  • Common sense reasoning: This is a technique that our brains can easily use to draw answers even from domains we don't fully understand. Common sense knowledge is a usual and common way for us to attempt certain questions since our brains can mix and interplay context, background knowledge, and language proficiency. But making machines apply such knowledge is very complex and still a major challenge for researchers.
  • Machine learning: This may sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie, and the reality is not too far off. Computer programs generally consist of a static set of instructions, which take input and provide output. Machine learning focuses on the science of writing algorithms and programs that can learn from the data processed by said program, and apply that for future learning.
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Key benefits

  • •Explore the brand-new Unity 2017 features that makes implementing Artificial Intelligence in your game easier than ever
  • •Use fuzzy logic concepts in your AI decision-making to make your characters more engaging
  • •Build exciting and richer games by mastering advanced Artificial Intelligence concepts such as Neural Networks

Description

Unity 2017 provides game and app developers with a variety of tools to implement Artificial Intelligence. Leveraging these tools via Unity's API or built-in features allows limitless possibilities when it comes to creating your game's worlds and characters. This third edition with Unity will help you break down Artificial Intelligence into simple concepts to give you a fundamental understanding of the topic to build upon. Using a variety of examples, the book then takes those concepts and walks you through actual implementations designed to highlight key concepts, and features related to game AI in Unity 5. Further on you will learn to distinguish the state machine pattern and implement one of your own. This is followed by learning how to implement a basic sensory system for your AI agent and coupling it with a Finite State Machine (FSM). Next you'll learn how to use Unity's built-in NavMesh feature and implement your own A* pathfinding system. You will then learn how to implement simple flocks and crowd's dynamics, key AI concepts. Moving on, you will learn how to implement a behavior tree through a game-focused example. Lastly, you'll combine fuzzy logic concepts with state machines and apply all the concepts in the book to build a simple tank game.

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for Unity developers with a basic understanding of C# and the Unity editor. Whether you're looking to build your first game or are looking to expand your knowledge as a game programmer, you will find plenty of exciting information and examples of game AI in terms of concepts and implementation.

What you will learn

  • • Understand the basic terminology and concepts in game AI
  • • Explore advanced AI Concepts such as Neural Networks
  • • Implement a basic finite state machine using state machine behaviors in Unity 2017
  • • Create sensory systems for your AI and couple it with a Finite State Machine
  • • Wok with Unity 2017 s built-in NavMesh features in your game
  • • Build believable and highly-efficient artificial flocks and crowds
  • • Create a basic behavior tree to drive a character s actions

Product Details

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Publication date : Jan 11, 2018
Length: 254 pages
Edition : 3rd
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788393294
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Unity Technologies
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Product Details

Publication date : Jan 11, 2018
Length: 254 pages
Edition : 3rd
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788393294
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Tools :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
The Basics of AI in Games Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Finite State Machines and You Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Implementing Sensors Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Finding Your Way Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Flocks and Crowds Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Behavior Trees Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Fuzzy Logic to Make Your AI Seem Alive Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
How It All Comes Together Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2.8
(4 Ratings)
5 star 25%
4 star 25%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 50%
Cara May 25, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I had no issue setting up my project and all the assets provided with the project worked just fine.This book is very easy to understand, and the concepts clearly described. I especially like how fun some of the projects were to do.This book did a great job of articulating the basics of game ai.Thanks for the help!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Joe Jun 18, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
This is definitely one of the better books I've found that provide an introduction to AI concepts in Unity. I felt that the samples were easy to understand but not so simple that I gained no practical knowledge. However, if you are new to Unity or C# then this is likely not a good book to pick up, as it gets into concepts that require more than a basic understanding of both.Pros:• Easy to read & understand, if you have a decent understanding of C# & Unity fundamentals• Nice balance of theory, simple examples & practical applications• Covers multiple AI approaches & techniquesCons:• There are several typos, spelling errors, and consistency issues with screenshots, notably switching between dark & light UI• Chapter 2, FSMs with Animation controllers fell a little flat for me & didn't really provide much value• I would have liked more detail or more robust examples in some areas, notably behavior trees• The code could be optimized a bit more without losing readabilityNOTE: The physical & Pakt supplied ePub version of this book are great, but the Kindle version has many, many formatting errors, often to the point of making it very hard to follow. Examples are missing line breaks, broken or no code indentation, bullet points being collapsed into a single, incorrectly punctuated "paragraph". I wound up returning the kindle version and picking up the ePub version directly from Pakt.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Jim Hardy Jun 12, 2018
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Yes I'm with you Jesse. Chapter 2 only tells you about how to setup the substate machine via the Animator and the code behind for it. At the end of the chapter it tells you to test it. Test what? There's nothing on the scene in Unity, where were the instructions for that?At least the accompanying Unity project works and can be used as a reference, or was this the point all along...
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Jesse Chunn Mar 04, 2018
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
I have been programming for 20 years. I have been programming with C# since it first came out. I have limited experience with Unity, but have read a couple of books on it and have implemented a basic FPS "game" level with an animated "robot" NPC. I got this book with the idea of learning how to get my animated robot to walk around and do basic things like "patrol" and "attack".This book is terrible. Well, actually, I should say Chapter 2 is terrible, since that is as far as I got. In chapter 2 the wheels fall off. It references opening a "project" that the book claims is supplied with the companion downloads, but the only project is a Visual Studio C# solution... No Unity project or scene. It then references assets that it says you imported earlier, but you were never told to import those assets or which assets to import. It then (once I figured out what assets to import and how to import them) references those assets at early stages of development, even though they are provided already completed, so you can't follow along. Bottom line, you MUST have the companion downloads to follow along in the book or the book makes no sense, and the companion downloads are not in sync with what the book is saying, and the book is inconsistent with itself because it talks about things you "did" but it never told you to do.For example, it tells you to drag a "tank" asset onto the scene, although you never were told to drag the "environment" asset onto the scene, so the tank is just floating around in mid-air.There are lots of better books on this topic out there, and in fact you can find better information for free all over the Internet.Worst of all, this book is very expensive compared to other books on the subject.This book was never given a "test run" by the authors or an editor or these issues would have easily been discovered. This is a sad case of rushed publishing to make a quick buck. It is a shame too, because if it were done right it probably would have been a good book.Skip this one.
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