Are there any good books for AI? I know what you're going to do: send me a link to the reviews on this website. I've read them, but I'd still rather hear from ACTUAL people who've ACTUALLY bought a particular book that ACTUALLY helped them. Case in point: http://www.gamedev.net/columns/books/bookdetails.asp?productid=51 I ordered this book based on the reviews alone (reviews here and elsewhere) and didn't like the book. I guess I can be considered an "intermediate" C programmer (ie: I know the general syntax, but still have to look up stuff when I want to do something) with a slight exposure to C++ (ie: I know what the "++" in "C++" means). As for my AI experience: the closest I've ever come to AI was using "switch" statements and nested "for" loops. I've heard C++ AI is easier, but I'd rather learn both. So: are there any good books on AI that YOU have found personally helpful (whether posted on this site's book list or not). Also, why did you like it? Thanks! mw

the reviews on this website are from "ACTUAL people who've ACTUALLY bought a particular book that ACTUALLY helped them."...

Do you think the people that read the AI forum are more "real" in some way?

Yes I do.

mw

The thing is that "anyone" can post reviews of AI books on GD.net

While some people might know stuff about AI, some wont, so their impressions aren't as good as if, say, Timkin recommended a book ;)

The only book that I might recommand you, from what you seem to know about programming in C++ and game AI, is Mat Buckland's "Programming Game AI by Example". It is an excellent book and covers most of the topics you might need to get some very interesting knowledge on game AI.

Check out Mat's page (www.ai-junkie.com) for more infos :)

Cheers!

Eric

PS.: feel free to PM me or mail me for more infos

I like the AI Game Programming Wisdom series (I only have Volume 1 at the moment). These books consist of a collection of well written articles. Most of them do not go into detail in code (some have no code at all). They give you a general idea of the concepts and allow you to implement them on your own. The main flaw of this series is that the articles are pretty much disconnected from each other. In addition, some of the articles can be a bit vague. Good reading, IMO.

I've also been reading the source code for the examples from Mat's book (AI By Example), and they're well written and easy to follow. I'm planning on picking up a copy.

The AI Wisdom serie is a must have, in my opinion, once you're actually writing AI code.

I wouldn't start reading an AI Wisdom book as an introduction to AI programming, just as I wouldn't read a Game Programming Gem to introduce myself to the world of games programming.

The AI Wisdom serie is particularly useful when you have a problem, and would like to know what your peers (other "professional" AI programmers) did in a similar situation.

Feel free to browse AI Wisdom.com for a detailed list of what the books cover.

Eric

It depends a little bit on what you want to do with A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a big area, and there seems to be a difference about what is considered A.I. from a game developer's perspective, and from the academic view.

The book I recommend is Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig. It's the textbook I used when I tutored A.I. at uni., and it's a really good overview of all areas of A.I.. I strongly recommend that if you are interested in the subject.

However, the book is not a collection of code snippets for how to implement things in games; it's an academic text that goes in depth into the algorithms behind the A.I. and not the code itself. Since I hate books that are all code and no theory, I love this book, but it mightn't be what you are looking for. Also it is not strictly game orientated, although the theory contained within is relevant to games.

It depends on what you are looking for. AI a modern aproach is good if you are looking for a more academic approach, and it's focus is broad(there is a chapter on natural language processing). The AI by example is much more here is the idea and here is how it aplies to games, and maybe an example. It also has a chapter on Lua and Lua bind which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how much you care about lua.

Thanks for the ACTUAL responses! :-)

I look forward to visiting here more often in the future!

mw