•Explore the brand-new Unity 2017 features that makes implementing Artificial Intelligence in your game easier than ever
•Use fuzzy logic concepts in your AI decision-making to make your characters more engaging
•Build exciting and richer games by mastering advanced Artificial Intelligence concepts such as Neural Networks
Description
Unity 2017 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.
This third edition with Unity will help you break down Artificial Intelligence into simple concepts to give you 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. Further on you will learn to distinguish the state machine pattern and implement one of your own. This is 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'll learn how to use Unity's built-in NavMesh feature and implement your own A* pathfinding system. You will then learn how to implement simple flocks and crowd's dynamics, key AI concepts. Moving on, you will learn how to implement a behavior tree through a game-focused example. Lastly, you'll combine fuzzy logic concepts with state machines and apply all the concepts in the book to build a simple tank game.
Who is this book for?
This book is intended for Unity developers with a basic understanding of C# and the Unity editor. Whether you're looking to build your first game or are looking to expand your knowledge as a game programmer, you will find plenty of exciting information and examples of game AI in terms of concepts and implementation.
What you will learn
• Understand the basic terminology and concepts in game AI
• Explore advanced AI Concepts such as Neural Networks
• Implement a basic finite state machine using state machine behaviors in Unity 2017
• Create sensory systems for your AI and couple it with a Finite State Machine
• Wok with Unity 2017 s built-in NavMesh features in your game
• Build believable and highly-efficient artificial flocks and crowds
• Create a basic behavior tree to drive a character s actions
I had no issue setting up my project and all the assets provided with the project worked just fine.This book is very easy to understand, and the concepts clearly described. I especially like how fun some of the projects were to do.This book did a great job of articulating the basics of game ai.Thanks for the help!
Amazon Verified review
JoeJun 18, 2018
4
This is definitely one of the better books I've found that provide an introduction to AI concepts in Unity. I felt that the samples were easy to understand but not so simple that I gained no practical knowledge. However, if you are new to Unity or C# then this is likely not a good book to pick up, as it gets into concepts that require more than a basic understanding of both.Pros:• Easy to read & understand, if you have a decent understanding of C# & Unity fundamentals• Nice balance of theory, simple examples & practical applications• Covers multiple AI approaches & techniquesCons:• There are several typos, spelling errors, and consistency issues with screenshots, notably switching between dark & light UI• Chapter 2, FSMs with Animation controllers fell a little flat for me & didn't really provide much value• I would have liked more detail or more robust examples in some areas, notably behavior trees• The code could be optimized a bit more without losing readabilityNOTE: The physical & Pakt supplied ePub version of this book are great, but the Kindle version has many, many formatting errors, often to the point of making it very hard to follow. Examples are missing line breaks, broken or no code indentation, bullet points being collapsed into a single, incorrectly punctuated "paragraph". I wound up returning the kindle version and picking up the ePub version directly from Pakt.
Amazon Verified review
Jim HardyJun 12, 2018
1
Yes I'm with you Jesse. Chapter 2 only tells you about how to setup the substate machine via the Animator and the code behind for it. At the end of the chapter it tells you to test it. Test what? There's nothing on the scene in Unity, where were the instructions for that?At least the accompanying Unity project works and can be used as a reference, or was this the point all along...
Amazon Verified review
Jesse ChunnMar 04, 2018
1
I have been programming for 20 years. I have been programming with C# since it first came out. I have limited experience with Unity, but have read a couple of books on it and have implemented a basic FPS "game" level with an animated "robot" NPC. I got this book with the idea of learning how to get my animated robot to walk around and do basic things like "patrol" and "attack".This book is terrible. Well, actually, I should say Chapter 2 is terrible, since that is as far as I got. In chapter 2 the wheels fall off. It references opening a "project" that the book claims is supplied with the companion downloads, but the only project is a Visual Studio C# solution... No Unity project or scene. It then references assets that it says you imported earlier, but you were never told to import those assets or which assets to import. It then (once I figured out what assets to import and how to import them) references those assets at early stages of development, even though they are provided already completed, so you can't follow along. Bottom line, you MUST have the companion downloads to follow along in the book or the book makes no sense, and the companion downloads are not in sync with what the book is saying, and the book is inconsistent with itself because it talks about things you "did" but it never told you to do.For example, it tells you to drag a "tank" asset onto the scene, although you never were told to drag the "environment" asset onto the scene, so the tank is just floating around in mid-air.There are lots of better books on this topic out there, and in fact you can find better information for free all over the Internet.Worst of all, this book is very expensive compared to other books on the subject.This book was never given a "test run" by the authors or an editor or these issues would have easily been discovered. This is a sad case of rushed publishing to make a quick buck. It is a shame too, because if it were done right it probably would have been a good book.Skip this one.
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