The A* algorithm is vexing me rather well. I''ve heard so much about it. I''ve seen at least ten completely different tutorials that (in theory) explain it. I have been told that is is the perfect pathfinding solution for anyone who can figure out how to implement it. And yet, I still have no clue what it is, how it works, or how it is used. I don''t know the theory behind it''s workings, and I don''t know what it is, other than an algorithm! A few words from the wise, please?

Hi! So, A* is a path-finding algorithm used commonly in realtime strategy games as well as in many other game genres and also in other applications.. I don''t know it very well, but I can point you to a place with lots of info on it. So, check this out:

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html

and

http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/GameProgramming/


I hope you find these URL''s helpful..

Jarkko

A* is a general purpose search heuristic that has been used in games. It is guaranteed to find the optimal solution (if one exists), and can usually find the optimal solution without looking at every node.

It may be better to understand the heuristic abstractly before you specialize in the pathfinding. At each stage, A* uses a priority queue to determine the next node in the search. The priority of each node is the absolute cost to reach that node plus the estimated cost from that node to the goal. When the estimated cost is guaranteed to be less than or equal to the actual cost, A* is guarenteed to find the optimal solution.


Mike