I bought this book for an Artificial Intelligence for Games class at my University. I haven't read through all of the book, but I can already tell you that the pseudo-code in this book is very poor. It's obvious that the author didn't actually go through and run the code to make sure it worked. In the movement algorithms, the code would sometimes alter rotation (speed of orientation) when it should be altering the orientation itself. In the dynamic kinematics class, the code multiplies the velocity by the acceleration instead of just simply adding the acceleration to the velocity.
Even when you get the provided movement algorithms to work the way the author probably intended, there are still issues that aren't considered. I won't get into too much detail but an example is the "Arrive" behavior. It doesn't work properly because the bot never arrives at it's target. There is nothing in the algorithm that actually decelerates the bot or nullifies the velocity. So you basically get a bot that wiggles back and forth on stationary targets.
The explanations are pretty straight foward, and I admit I haven't read the full book yet. I just think it's pretty unacceptable to publish something with so many errors in the pseudo-code.
Author(s): Ian Millington
Series: The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology
Edition: Har/DVD
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 874
Contents......Page 4
List of Figures......Page 17
Acknowledgments......Page 24
Part I. AI and Games......Page 32
1. Introduction......Page 33
1.1 What Is AI?......Page 34
1.2 My Model of Game AI......Page 39
1.3 Algorithms, Data Structures, and Representations......Page 43
1.4 On the CD......Page 47
1.5 Layout of the Book......Page 49
2.1 The Complexity Fallacy......Page 50
2.2 The Kind of AI in Games......Page 53
2.3 Speed and Memory......Page 56
2.4 The AI Engine......Page 64
Part II. Techniques......Page 68
3. Movement......Page 69
3.1 The Basics of Movement Algorithms......Page 70
3.2 Kinematic Movement Algorithms......Page 79
3.3 Steering Behaviors......Page 85
3.4 Combining Steering Behaviors......Page 128
3.5 Predicting Physics......Page 154
3.6 Jumping......Page 168
3.7 Coordinated Movement......Page 179
3.8 Motor Control......Page 208
3.9 Movement in the Third Dimension......Page 215
4. Pathfinding......Page 231
4.1 The Pathfinding Graph......Page 232
4.2 Dijkstra......Page 239
4.3 A*......Page 251
4.4 World Representations......Page 274
4.5 Improving on A*......Page 292
4.6 Hierarchical Pathfinding......Page 293
4.7 Other Ideas in Pathfinding......Page 309
4.8 Continuous Time Pathfinding......Page 314
4.9 Movement Planning......Page 321
5.1 Overview of Decision Making......Page 328
5.2 Decision Trees......Page 330
5.3 State Machines......Page 345
5.4 Fuzzy Logic......Page 371
5.5 Markov Systems......Page 396
5.6 Goal-Oriented Behavior......Page 403
5.7 Rule-Based Systems......Page 430
5.8 Blackboard Architectures......Page 463
5.9 Scripting......Page 471
5.10 Action Execution......Page 486
6.1 Waypoint Tactics......Page 499
6.2 Tactical Analyses......Page 525
6.3 Tactical Pathfinding......Page 564
6.4 Coordinated Action......Page 569
7.1 Learning Basics......Page 588
7.2 Parameter Modification......Page 592
7.3 Action Prediction......Page 605
7.4 Decision Learning......Page 616
7.5 Decision Tree Learning......Page 618
7.6 Reinforcement Learning......Page 637
7.7 Artificial Neural Networks......Page 653
8. Board Games......Page 671
8.1 Game Theory......Page 672
8.2 Minimaxing......Page 676
8.3 Transposition Tables and Memory......Page 694
8.4 Memory-Enhanced Test Algorithms......Page 702
8.5 Opening Books and Other Set Plays......Page 707
8.6 Further Optimizations......Page 709
8.7 Turn-Based Strategy Games......Page 712
Part III. Supporting Technologies......Page 715
9. Execution Management......Page 716
9.1 Scheduling......Page 717
9.3 Level of Detail......Page 735
10.1 Communication......Page 749
10.2 Getting Knowledge Efficiently......Page 750
10.3 Event Managers......Page 752
10.4 Polling Stations......Page 761
10.5 Sense Management......Page 764
11. Tools and Content Creation......Page 791
11.1 Knowledge for Pathfinding and Waypoint Tactics......Page 792
11.2 Knowledge for Movement......Page 802
11.3 Knowledge for Decision Making......Page 805
11.4 The Toolchain......Page 806
Part IV. Designing Game AI......Page 810
12.1 The Design......Page 811
12.2 Shooters......Page 818
12.3 Driving......Page 825
12.4 Real-Time Strategy......Page 829
12.5 Sports......Page 832
12.6 Turn-Based Strategy Games......Page 834
13.1 Teaching Characters......Page 837
13.2 Flocking and Herding Games......Page 843
A.1 Books, Periodicals, and Papers......Page 848
A.2 Games......Page 849
Index......Page 853
