Hello

I'm starting my MS this month and I want to work on AI for NPCs, but I don't know how and where to start or what tools do I need to learn, I'd really appreciate if anyone can give me some advice

Thanks a lot

Some topics (google them):

- moving in a game world: navigation mesh, waypoints, pathfinding (A star/A*)

- decision making: eg. behavior trees

- steering in a game world (avoiding obstancle on the path, moving in a group): steering behavior

- general AI programming: usage of scripting

- reacting to the environment: scanning the surrounding, triggering agents

Keep away from:

- neural networks (commonly not really useful for game AI)

- genetic algorthm (either not really useful for game AI)

PS: visit the GDC vault and check out all the presentations of AI to get an idea about what is needed and what to avoid ;-)

Thanks, earlier I wanted to work on learning NPCs, but I read in this forum that they're almost not used in games, so what can I work on in this field?

Also, should I learn to work with engines like Unity?

Thanks, earlier I wanted to work on learning NPCs

Hmm... are we talking about the same thing ? I mean NonPlayerCharacter...

Also, should I learn to work with engines like Unity?

It could be an easy way to represent your work (check out Unreal4 too), thought you don't need fancy art. A few moving boxes to represent a crowd AI is better than to spend days to get an animated character into your engine. Test it out, but remember that you want to show off AI and not a game.

yes, I mean NPCs that can learn by that.

thanks again

If you haven't worked with AI before, don't expect to be up and running in days, weeks, or even months. It is a very complicated area. Which does beg the question... why would you chose to start your MS on something that you readily admit you have no knowledge of? A better question would probably be, "why do you want to work on learning AI? What is it you hope to accomplish, prove, solve, improve, etc?"

Be that as it may, there are many billions of reasons why learning AI is not used in games (at least not a lot). A simple search through this forum will provide you with spirited commentary on the subject. However, you do not even want to delve into the topic of learning AI until you know how to make static, authored AI. That's somewhat like saying, "I don't know how to do arithmetic but I heard that differential calculus was cool... how do I start with differential calculus?"

That said, there is a book list stickied at the top of this forum. That will get you started with the basics.

Unless you plan on doing something very novel, I'm not really aware of any game-style AI that would be even slightly interesting as a master's thesis. Game AIs and classical AIs are different beasts. AIs that learn to play games are a different matter, but doesn't sound like what you're doing.

Have you met with your adviser yet to discuss your thesis proposal?

If you haven't worked with AI before, don't expect to be up and running in days, weeks, or even months. It is a very complicated area. Which does beg the question... why would you chose to start your MS on something that you readily admit you have no knowledge of? A better question would probably be, "why do you want to work on learning AI? What is it you hope to accomplish, prove, solve, improve, etc?"

Be that as it may, there are many billions of reasons why learning AI is not used in games (at least not a lot). A simple search through this forum will provide you with spirited commentary on the subject. However, you do not even want to delve into the topic of learning AI until you know how to make static, authored AI. That's somewhat like saying, "I don't know how to do arithmetic but I heard that differential calculus was cool... how do I start with differential calculus?"

That said, there is a book list stickied at the top of this forum. That will get you started with the basics.

Thanks,

I've worked with AI before, but I read that game AI is different from academic AI. I had searched in game AI topics and I like AI for NPC the most, but I don't know where to start or even what to work on exactly. I thinks that's because my information is outspread about these.

Also, Should I start with "Artificial Intelligence for Games" or "Programming game AI by example" or other book? I'm familiar with basics like architectures or algorithms. (except for steering behaviours).

Thanks again

Unless you plan on doing something very novel, I'm not really aware of any game-style AI that would be even slightly interesting as a master's thesis. Game AIs and classical AIs are different beasts. AIs that learn to play games are a different matter, but doesn't sound like what you're doing.

Have you met with your adviser yet to discuss your thesis proposal?

Thanks,

no, I haven't met my adviser yet (I'll visit him this week), also in our university no one has worked game AI, and that's scary!

--
sorry for my bad english

Both of those books are good, but in different ways. Mat Buckland's "... by Example" book is going to give you a better understanding of things you will use directly in game AI. (Same with Millington's.)

The techniques that are going to give you the most mileage in game AI are:

• State Machines
• Behavior Trees
• A* Pathfinding
• Steering
• Utility systems

Other things such as influence maps, etc. will augment that, but they aren't as necessary.

Both of those books are good, but in different ways. Mat Buckland's "... by Example" book is going to give you a better understanding of things you will use directly in game AI. (Same with Millington's.)

The techniques that are going to give you the most mileage in game AI are:

• State Machines
• Behavior Trees
• A* Pathfinding
• Steering
• Utility systems

Other things such as influence maps, etc. will augment that, but they aren't as necessary.

Thanks again, I'll start by this book.