Post-Play'em - Observations on Game AI

Team Fortress 2

2008-08-15T13:37:00.002-05:00

Ok... this really isn't observations on the AI of Team Fortress 2. It is one of my weekly columns that I write for AIGameDev.com entitled "Play First... Code AI Later". In it, I talk about how observing other players online (especially the bad ones) really helps make me a better AI designer and programmer. There is much to learn from watching the differences between how the good players approach

Tenchu Z: Ninjas Had It Easy

2008-06-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

I will preface this commentary with three things: A) We got a copy of Tenchu Z for free. B) My 13-year old step-daughter (a black belt in taekwondo) is enamored with ninjas and the like - which is the only reason why I even broke the seal on this game. C) I didn't get too far into the game - so if it gets better as it goes along, I missed out. I can write off the game design itself as perhaps

Portal: Sometimes No AI Is Just Fine

2008-06-28T13:53:00.003-05:00

As much as I hate to admit it, there are times when no AI is perfectly OK. I finally got around to playing Portal last week. I figured I would find out what all the fuss was about. Like many people, I thought it was very amusing and disturbingly addicting. It held my attention. It challenged me. It made me mad at times. It made me feel triumphant at others. I was captivated by the characters (

Web site troubles... new posts coming!

2008-05-09T14:20:00.001-05:00

Ok folks, I know this is getting old. I have been having horrible problems with my ISP since early April. I won't name the ISP yet, but you can look it up for yourself, I suppose. I have been with this company for 6 years and things started fairly well. However, in recent years, especially since a buyout, things have been a little more dicey. Well, this latest issue has to do with a server move

Bioshock interview and Civ 4 notes

2008-02-28T20:38:00.004-06:00

Ok... this is kind of a Post-Play'em article. Check out my taped GDC interview with John Abercrombie, AI Lead on Bioshock over at IA on AI. As I play further into the game, I will eventually post actual play observations. My interview has kinda spoiled the purity of my game experience, though. I know what to look for! Also, I have posted my notes from Soren Johnson's GDC lecture on the AI of

Civ 4 and Bioshock updates

2008-02-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

A month ago, I mentioned that I was going to be doing analyses of Civ 4 and Bioshock. Well, I have decided to wait until after the GDC next week. The reasons are clear... 1) I will be attending a lecture at GDC by none other than the man behind the AI on Civ 4, Soren Johnson entitled Playing to Lose: AI and "CIVILIZATION". From the description of the session: Artificial intelligence performs a

First Encounter with F.E.A.R.

2008-01-21T20:13:00.000-06:00

Ok... this isn't necessarily going to be a full-fledged review of all of the AI in F.E.A.R. (Monolith studios) Actually, to do that justice may take an entire book anyway. However, I have been playing it for a few days. One of the reasons that I had to get a hold of it anyway (I bought the Platinum Collection) is that I also got my hands on the SDK. It is a special treat to be able to see the

Driving Crisis in Crysis

2008-01-16T23:03:00.000-06:00

Just a brief note as I played through the downloadable demo of Crysis. I was curious about the AI. The reason stems from a GDC a few years back - one of the AI guys I was having a beer with pointed out on a nearby playable setup of Far Cry that you could lure the enemies into the laggoon, make them tread water, go get more enemies into the lagoon, and when you collected enough of them, lob a

Upcoming reviews - Bioshock and Civ 4

2007-12-28T10:46:00.000-06:00

In the post-holiday mode, I have been playing through Bioshock and Civilization 4 ("Warlords" expansion). I plan on doing a post on each of them in the near future. Civ 4 especially has me intruiged since I spent way too long playing Civ 2. Also, at the 2008 GDC, there is a presentation on the AI of the Civilization series that I plan on attending - so this is research, right? :-) Make sure you

Going to GDC?

2007-12-16T17:14:00.000-06:00

Hey all... if you are going to be at GDC, make sure to let me know! Of course, if you are an AI person, we are likely to see each other at the roundtables or other sessions, but I would hate to be standing next to you and not know who you are! You can also give me a shout on my myGDC page. See you there!

Doom 3: Pretty Wind-up Toys

2007-12-13T11:35:00.000-06:00

I dug out my Doom 3 again specifically for this blog. I hadn't ever finished it when I started playing it about a year ago. It sure was purty, but it just didn't engage me the way that I was hoping it would. Anyway, my thought as I returned to my saved progress was "pay attention to the AI so I can review it." As I played, I became a little unsettled - not by my progress in the game, but by my

Technical AI reviews at AIGameDev.com

2007-12-09T11:04:00.000-06:00

Not to distract attention from my blog, but my friend, colleague and co-author in AI Game Programming Wisdom 4, Alex Champandard of AIGameDev has a brilliant series of articles on his site. They are technical AI reviews of major games that are written in a bulleted sort of fashion such as "21 tips from [Title] to use in your game." Much of the time there are links to interviews or write-ups by

Call of Duty 2: "I saw that grenade coming!"

2007-11-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

Another quick observation from my perusal of "Call of Duty 2" for Xbox 360. I've noticed rather often that, when I toss a grenade, the intended "recipients" seem to know that it is coming as soon as it leaves my hand. They will yell some German variant of "Holy crap, there is a grenade! Run, dude!" This is all well and good if they are seeing the grenade coming and would like to amscray prior to

Call of Duty 2: Omniscience and Invulnerability

2007-11-28T09:32:00.000-06:00

I was playing Call of Duty 2 on XBox 360 last night. I've already gone through the full campaign on the normal difficulty and am now about halfway on "Veteran" ("...you will not survive"). Enemy Invulnerability: "I can't be bothered right now." I was on the level where your convoy through the town in Tunisia gets ambushed. I had to start it over and over because I was getting pelted by the

New Intrinsic Algorithm blog - "IA on AI"

2007-11-15T23:11:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note, make sure you check out our other blog, "IA on AI". That is where we will be posting links to interesting stuff on the web about AI or game development. Just thought you may want to know!

Mario Kart: Double Dash

2007-11-09T17:30:00.000-06:00

Over the past 4 years, my family has spent way too much time playing Mario Kart: Double Dash. Given that my kids are teenagers, we billed it as “driving lessons.” Only one of them has taken the wheel rather than the controller pad since that point and we have yet to see any ramifications (if you will pardon an obvious homonymic pun). However, there were times when my wife and I would feel an

Coming attractions - Games to cover

2007-11-08T23:05:00.000-06:00

Well, as I get my thoughts together (the process of which always involves the decision on whether to use a fish net or a butterfly net) on which games I should do first, it brings me to a larger concept of "what games should I do at all?" Of course, I am necessarily limited to commenting on games that I have already played. What would be the point of analyzing the AI of a game that I haven't

... but I'm going to say it anyway!

2007-11-08T21:27:00.000-06:00

Greetings, For a long time now, I have been reading other people's blogs. As we all know, that can either be a good thing or a bad thing. (Strangely, this seems to depend largely on the quality of the blogger. Something to consider.) Also, for many years, I have been active on message boards all across the Internet. I've had my say on an item or two... but even the most Homeric of posts and