Preface

Learning how to apply AI is crucial and can take the fun factor to the next level when developing traditional, educational, or any other kind of game. Unreal Engine is a powerful game development engine that allows you to create 2D and 3D games. If you want to use AI to extend the life of your games and make them challenging and more interesting, this book is for you.

The book starts with breaking down artificial intelligence (AI) into simple concepts to get a fundamental understanding of it. Using a variety of examples, you will work through actual implementations designed to highlight key concepts and features related to game AI in UE4. You will learn how to work through the built-in AI framework to build believable characters for every genre (e.g. RPG, Strategic, Platform, FPS, Simulation, Arcade, and Educational games). You will learn how to configure Navigation, Environmental Querying and Sensory systems for your AI agents and couple it with Behavior Trees, all with practical examples. You will then explore how the engine handles dynamic crowd. In the concluding chapters, you will learn how to profile, visualize and debug your AI systems, to correct the AI logic, and increase performance.

By the end of the book, your AI knowledge of the built-in AI system in Unreal will be deep and comprehensive, allowing you to build powerful AI agents within your projects.