The Hard Science of Making Videogames

twoblackeyes writes "PopSci delves into the 10 greatest technical challenges faced by game developers today, and the technology that will hopefully make them a thing of the past. At the top of every dev's wish list is increased realism: realisitic fire, water, enemy AI, material physics, etc. Here directly from the developers where the tech stands today, and where it will likely be tomorrow. '4. Artificial Intelligence - Problem: Once upon a time, the bad guys in videogames wandered around mindlessly, shooting at you while they waited to die. That doesn't cut it anymore. Players demand sophisticated enemies to fight and reliable in-game allies with which to fight them. Thing is, it's freaking complicated, and it eats up processor speed. "We're faking just enough smarts to make it work," says Mathieu Mazerole, lead engineer on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. Status: Imbuing characters in a game with lifelike decision-making ability involves employing the kind of high-level logic theories--learning decision trees, mobile navigation, finite-state machine models--used by top robotics engineers.'"

Good

[Anonymous Coward]

Game creation IS a science, NOT an art. I'm glad the author recognized such facts.

Hmmm

[MyLongNickName]

" '4. Artificial Intelligence - Problem: Once upon a time, the bad guys in videogames wandered around mindlessly, shooting at you while they waited to die. .."

I think this describes me on any FPS.

You've got to be kidding me.

[SynapseLapse]

Did anyone actually read this article before greenlighting it? This isn't news, science, well researched or even well written. It's crap.

Less than a year ago, there wasnt enough processing power to dynamically generate the movement of water in games, says Lee Bamber, a programmer for 20 years and founder of The Game Creators, Ltd.

Wow, fluid simulations started less than a year ago? Damn.
Simulate it on the molecular level real time, maybe no. But still.

  If a characters face is too close to human, players will reject it, a psychological phenomenon known as the uncanny valley: Objects more familiar to the human eye are inspected with greater scrutiny, leading to a drop-off in acceptance as the simulated object nears the point of being lifelike.

  A terrible description of a lousy buzzword.

  "Like cramming the sum of all automotive engineering knowledge into a joystick"

  Please.... please stop writing.

Re:Only a worthless fluff piece like this

[pthor1231]

One of those free mmos me and a friend tried out for a little bit, the water was terrible. I didn't expect miracles from a free mmo, but if you turned the water quality to the lowest setting, it was reflective. I wondered why my friend was having trouble attacking the crabs in the water, and then I looked over at his laptop screen, and saw the sky where the water should be.

Re:Only a worthless fluff piece like this

[MoxFulder]

At the top of every dev's wish list is increased realism: realisitic fire, water, enemy AI

Realistic spelling is cool too!

Re:Cat logic

[p0tat03]

When it gets to housecat, you won't be able to win the games at all anymore.

Dear human meatbag: This is clearly preposterous, computers will never be smarter than humans. Your kind has nothing to worry about. Please return to opiating yourselves with video games and hollywood movies.

Sincerely, Skynet

Re:Only a worthless fluff piece like this

[PlusFiveTroll]

People that can be put anywhere and act "smart" are still a ways off...

Re:Only a worthless fluff piece like this

[skeeto]

many AI's are already very very competent while most water looks like crap.

So, crap simulation is already very good. Check that one off the list then.