From gameai_news at igda.org Thu Dec 9 01:35:47 2004 From: gameai_news at igda.org (gameai_news@igda.org) Date: Thu Dec 9 03:06:07 2004 Subject: [gameAI_news] Game AI Newsletter (12/2004) Message-ID: <200412090135.AA141295714@ai-center.com> Hi everyone, Welcome to the first issue of our Game AI newsletter! This newsletter of the IGDA's AI SIG will inform of recent developments in the game AI area, list related conferences/events and new web resources, keep you up-to-date about our standardization initiative, etc. First off, I need to make some advertisement for the AI Interface Standards Committee of our SIG! If you are interested in joining our initiative, have a solid background either in commercial game AI or in related academic research, and have a bit of time for contributing, we would be happy to receive your application: http://www.igda.org/ai/aiisc_join.htm Now that this is done, we can continue to the actual newsletter :-) Lots of promising news recently: The industry news are full of spectacular record sales, there are indications on progress on issues like excessive overtime work, and ... there seems to be a great increase in the attention that game AI is getting! Not only were prominent people touting AI as the next big thing, like John Carmack in his GDC keynote, we also finally see a substantial increase in the number of books on game AI (and more are coming out soon) as well as the birth of a conference on the topic! Let's start with some recent book entries: BOOK: AI for Game Developers by David M. Bourg and Glenn Seemann O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ai BOOK: AI Game Engine Programming by Brian Schwab Charles River Media http://www.charlesriver.com/titles/aigameengine.html BOOK: Artificial Intelligence For Computer Games: An Introduction by John David Funge AK Peters http://www.ai4games.org BOOK: Programming Believable Characters for Computer Games by Penny Baillie-De Byl Charles River Media http://www.charlesriver.com/titles/believablecharacters.html BOOK: Programming Game AI by Example by Mat Buckland Wordware Publishing http://www.ai-junkie.com/books/toc_pgaibe.html ... and some new online resources: ONLINE RESOURCE/PROCEEDINGS: AAAI-04 Workshop on Challenges in Game AI http://www.simbionic.com/gameai/schedule.html ONLINE RESOURCE/ARTICLE: Book Excerpt: AI For Game Developers / Rule-Based AI by David Bourg and Glenn Seeman http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20041122/bourg_01.shtml ONLINE RESOURCE/ARTICLE: In the Mind of the Enemy / The Artificial Intelligence of Halo 2 by Robert Valdes http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/halo2-ai.htm ONLINE RESOURCE/ARTICLE: Visual Finite State Machine AI Systems by Sunbir Gill http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20041118/gill_01.shtml There are certainly many more new online articles out there - feel free to send me links for the next newsletter! Oops, before I forget it, I also published some: * A brief overview of game AI: http://www.ai-center.com/references/nareyek-04-gameai.html * Worried about academic AI, and how a focus on game applications might be beneficial: http://www.ai-center.com/references/nareyek-04-gameairesearch.html Here is some info on the full-blown conference on game AI that will start next year! It is targeted at the research as well as commercial communities: EVENT: The First Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment June 1-3, 2005 Marina Del Ray, CA, USA Paper submission deadline: Abstracts: January 21, 2005 Full papers: January 25, 2005 http://www.aiide.org/ GDC 2005 will of course be a highlight again, and as every year, our AI Interface Standards Committee will present the latest results at a roundtable. At the next event, you will be able to have a look and discuss some actual specifications: EVENT: AI Interface Standards: First Specifications An IGDA Roundtable Discussion of the 2005 Game Developers Conference March 7-11, 2005 San Francisco, CA, USA http://www.ai-center.com/events/gdc-2005-roundtable/ Besides our roundtable above, GDC will feature the following sessions on game AI: * AI For Adaptive Opponents, Teammates and NPCs [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3912 * AI in Computer Games Roundtables and Interactive Discussion [Roundtables] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3908 * AI Learning Techniques for Computer Games [Tutorial] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3913 * An Orwellian approach to AI architecture [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=4680 * Dynamic Waypoints, Object Grouping, and Optimal Cover Positions: Making NPCs Navigate and Hide Behind Common Collidables [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3917 * Embodied Autonomous Agents [Roundtable] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3920 * Entertaining AI: Using Rules from Improvisational Acting to Create Unscripted Emotional Impact [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=4693 * Killzone?s AI: Dynamic Procedural Combat Tactics [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=4696 * Managing Complexity in the Halo 2 AI System [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=4663 * Sophisticated Real-Time Machine Learning on Today's Consoles [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3937 * Understanding the Player: Natural Language Processing for Games [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3943 * Using a Goal/Action Architecture to Support Modularity and Long-Term Memory in AI Behaviors [Lecture] http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3946 Thus, quite a few interesting sessions on AI! In addition, Steve and Neil will surely organize their Game AI Programmer's Dinners again, and we will also have some sort of social get-together for the AI SIG and the standards committee! Enjoy the holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Best, Alexander Nareyek Chair of the IGDA's AI SIG http://www.igda.org/ai/ P.S.: Did I miss anything? If you want to add anything for the next newsletter, please let me know!