Book Image

Unity AI Game Programming - Second Edition

By : Raymundo Barrera, Aung Sithu Kyaw, Clifford Peters, Thet Naing Swe
Book Image

Unity AI Game Programming - Second Edition

By: Raymundo Barrera, Aung Sithu Kyaw, Clifford Peters, Thet Naing Swe

Overview of this book

<p>Unity 5 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. Whether you are developing traditional, serious, educational, or any other kind of game, understanding how to apply artificial intelligence can take the fun-factor to the next level!</p> <p>This book helps you break down artificial intelligence into simple concepts to give the reader 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. Along the way, several tips and tricks are included to make the development of your own AI easier and more efficient.</p> <p>Starting from covering the basic essential concepts to form a base for the later chapters in the book, you will learn to distinguish the state machine pattern along with implementing your own. This will be 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 will be taught how to use Unity’s built-in NavMesh feature and implement your own A* pathfinding system. Then you will learn how to implement simple flocks and crowd’s dynamics, the key AI concepts. Then moving on you will learn how a behavior tree works and its implementation. Next you will learn adding layer of realism by combining fuzzy logic concepts with state machines. Lastly, you learn applying all the concepts in the book by combining them in a simple tank game.</p>

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Unity AI Game Programming - Second Edition
Raymundo Barrera | Aung Sithu Kyaw | Clifford Peters | Thet Naing Swe
Sep, 2015 | 232 pages
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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Unity AI Game Programming Second Edition
Unity AI Game Programming Second Edition
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
The Basics of AI in Games
The Basics of AI in Games
Creating the illusion of life
Leveling up your game with AI
Using AI in Unity
Defining the agent
Finite State Machines
Seeing the world through our agent's eyes
Path following and steering
Flocking and crowd dynamics
Behavior trees
Thinking with fuzzy logic
Summary
2
Finite State Machines and You
Finite State Machines and You
Finding uses for FSMs
Creating state machine behaviors
Setting up our player tank
Creating the enemy tank
Summary
3
Implementing Sensors
Implementing Sensors
Basic sensory systems
Setting up the scene
Setting up the player tank and aspect
Creating an AI character
Using the Sense class
Giving a little perspective
Touching is believing
Testing the results
Summary
4
Finding Your Way
Finding Your Way
Following a path
A* Pathfinding
Navigation mesh
Summary
5
Flocks and Crowds
Flocks and Crowds
Learning the origins of flocks
Understanding the concepts behind flocks and crowds
Flocking using Unity's samples
Using an alternative implementation
Using crowds
Summary
6
Behavior Trees
Behavior Trees
Learning the basics of behavior trees
Evaluating the existing solutions
Implementing a basic behavior tree framework
Testing our framework
Summary
7
Using Fuzzy Logic to Make Your AI Seem Alive
Using Fuzzy Logic to Make Your AI Seem Alive
Defining fuzzy logic
Using fuzzy logic
Using the resulting crisp data
Finding other uses for fuzzy logic
Summary
8
How It All Comes Together
How It All Comes Together
Setting up the rules
Creating the towers
Setting up the tank
Setting up the environment
Testing the example
Summary
Index
Index

About the Authors

Ray Barrera was a tinker in his childhood. From making mods and custom maps in games such as StarCraft and Unreal Tournament to developing open source role-playing games using RPG Maker, he always had a passion for game development. The passion stayed with him, and after many years as a hobbyist, he decided to take the plunge into professional development.

In the initial stages of his career, he was fortunate enough to work on educational and research projects for major contractors in the defense industry, allowing him to blend his love for games with his innate desire to teach and create interactive experiences. Since then, he has straddled the line between entertainment and education. Unity was the logical weapon of choice for him as it gave him the flexibility to create games and applications and iterate quickly. From being an original member of the Los Angeles Unity meetup to helping coordinate Unity workshops at local colleges and high schools, he has been very active in the Unity community. You can follow him on Twitter at @ray_barrera.

There are too many people to name, but I'd like to thank the team at Packt Publishing for this exciting opportunity, and of course, my wonderful friends and family, especially my parents, who always encouraged me to follow my passion and supported me along every step of the way. I'd also like to thank the Twistory team for being such an amazing group of people—Danny, JP, DW, Richard, the lovely "Purple", and everyone else—whom I was so fortunate to work with. Thanks to Peter Trennum for the mentorship and leadership he has provided at this stage in my career. Lastly, I'd like to thank Gianni, my brother, for all the love and support over the years.

Aung Sithu Kyaw has been in the technical industry for over a decade. He is passionate about graphics programming, creating video games, writing, and sharing knowledge with others. He holds an MSc in digital media technology from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Over the last few years, he has worked in various positions, including research programmer and senior game programmer. Lastly, he worked as a research associate, which involved implementing a sensor-based real-time movie system using Unreal Development Kit. In 2011, he founded a tech start-up, which focuses on interactive media productions and backend server-side technologies. He is currently based in Myanmar and working on his latest company's product, a gamified social opinion network for Myanmar.

He can be followed on Twitter at @aungsithu and LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/aungsithu.

Thanks to my coauthors who worked really hard with me on this book despite their busy schedules and helped get this book published. Thanks also goes to the team at Packt Publishing for having us produce this book. And finally, thanks to the awesome guys at Unity3D for building this amazing toolset and making it affordable to indie game developers. Dedicated to L!

Clifford Peters is a programmer and a computer scientist. He was the technical reviewer for Unity Game Development Essentials, Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, Unity 3 Game Development HOTSHOT, Unity 3.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, Unity iOS Game Development Beginner's Guide, and Unity iOS Essentials, all by Packt Publishing.

Thet Naing Swe is the founder and CTO of Joy Dash Pte Ltd, based in Singapore. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a major in game design and development and started his career as a game programmer at one of the UK-based Nintendo DS game development studios. In 2010, he relocated to Singapore and worked as a graphics programmer at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on a cinematic research project.

At Joy Dash, he's responsible for interactive digital media consulting projects, especially in education, casual games, and augmented reality projects using Unity 3D as the main development tool. He can be reached via .

I would like to thank the whole team at Packt Publishing for keeping track of all the logistics and making sure the book was published no matter what; I really appreciate this. I'd also like to thank my parents for supporting me all these years and letting me pursue my dream of becoming a game developer. Without all your support, I wouldn't be here today.

And finally, a huge thanks to my wife, May Thandar Aung, for allowing me to work on this book after office hours, late at night, and even on weekends. Without your understanding and support, this book would have been delayed for another year. I'm grateful to have your support in whatever I do. I love you.

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