5 ms·

AI Programmer’s Bookshelf

310 points by geospeck 10y ago

kranner 10y ago
Steve Grand's other book "Growing up with Lucy: How to Build an Android in Twenty Easy Steps" should also be included in this list. https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Lucy-Android-Twenty/dp/0753818051 https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Lucy-Android-Twenty/dp/075...
douche 10y ago
The Matt Buckland books, especially Programming Game AI by Example are very good, for simple, practical techniques.
jraedisch 10y ago
Many of the books seem older than 10 years (also in the general exams list[1]). Are the (seemingly) vast advancements in the last years still based on the same principles? (Speaking as a complete ML noob.) [1]: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin//generals/general_exams.html http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin//generals/general_exams....
- BatFastard 10y ago
  In particular, I would like to see something on OpenAI Universe
- lithander 10y ago
  This book list is about game AI programming. Game AI and ML don't overlap much.
- indy 10y ago
  ML isn't really used in game programming. These books focus on more practical techniques such as State Machines, Pathfinding, Planning, Scripting etc.
  - artofcode 10y ago
    Exactly. Game AI is not so much about making AI smart, but more about making it fun.
    - hood_syntax 10y ago
      I haven't played it, but there is a game called Smart Kobold that tries to up the AI difficulty as far as it can reasonably go. In some sense, I think it satisfies your criteria. The punishing difficulty is what makes it rewarding, and it accomplishes it through AI rather than making creatures harder to kill or do more damage. I do agree with your statement in the vast majority of cases. Ultimately, fun trumps everything else when it comes to games (though what counts as fun is subjective). Even Dark Souls, which many (most) gamers consider difficult, is not difficult because of unbeatable AI. It's full of patterns (indeed, that's how you get better at the game: you recognize and respond correctly to those patterns).
- deong 10y ago
  As others have said, game AI doesn't draw from "real" or academic AI or Machine Learning. That said, the references for AI and machine learning are quite old. Particularly the machine learning parts. The only ML texts on the list are Mitchell and Duda and Hart. The former is extremely outdated at this point. That's not Mitchell's fault -- it was a nice book for learning the basics of machine learning in 1997 when it was published, but all the developments that have made ML a hot subject have occurred since then and in areas that the book simply didn't predict coming. Duda and Hart, similarly, was the bible for certain subfields of ML for a long time, but it won't tell you what everyone's been doing in the past 15 years when ML exploded onto the wider scene. If I were to add one book, it would be Kevin Murphy's excellent text (https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Probabilistic-Perspective-Computation/dp/0262018020 https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Probabilistic-Perspe...). There's no one book that will give you a complete picture of the field, but his is I think the closest available and does a solid job of preparing you with enough fundamentals that you can extend your knowledge from there on your own.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rm999 10y ago
This is about game AIs, which are definitely interesting. But for the most part they overlap very little with what most people think of as AI. In undergrad (mid 2000s) I partially specialized in both computer graphics and machine learning, and took a video game class to try combining these skills. I have two big memories from this time that stuck with me. The first is the time a dev on Civilization 1 visited our class. He spoke about the "AI" of civilization, which he revealed to be a simple random number generator. He told us people often thought it was far more complex, but that's really all there was to it. The second memory is when we actually built a 3d engine + game from scratch. Every week we had to add a new feature, so one week I obviously took on the AI. My partner and I were doing a soccer-style game, and I had grand visions of implementing a sophisticated AI using what I'd been learning in my other classes, like SVMs and neural networks. I started doing research, and was shocked to learn that no video games at the time did any of this. I learned that computers at the time weren't really capable of running several versions of an ML algorithm simultaneously (one per agent) while dealing with everything else - and more importantly that there was little need. I ended up spending a couple days building out a basic state machine, and it worked. Even the professor thought we added incredible intelligence to the players, who in reality were just following ~10 rules like "if player in defense mode: move towards the midpoint between the ball and the goal while keeping some distance between other players". My main take-away from that class is that there was little need for actual AI in video games, and that I should pursue a different career path :/
- mysterydip 10y ago
  Once you see the "man behind the curtain," game AI loses some of its magic. I'm sure a lot of those devs wanted to make something really sophisticated, but like you said there's a balance between function and performance and for the majority of players the faked version works just as well. I made a euchre game several years ago and put in an AI as basic as you mention for Civ: all it did was pick a random card from its hand that followed suit. If they were placing the first card, it was all random. I got praise from people at how the AI surprised them with feints etc to beat them when they thought they were going to get points. Some I told, others I let believe the magic :)
  - 10y ago
martincmartin 10y ago
What's the state of the art in path planning? e.g. as used by Google Maps? Perhaps some subset of those techniques could be used in games.
adamnemecek 10y ago
This seems really out of date. I put together a list of ML books not too long ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12900448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12900448
inputcoffee 10y ago
I am half-joking here, but since they have a "related reading" section with more "philosophical" works, they really should include "Godel, Escher, Bach"
brudgers 10y ago
Missing: Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence: Case Studies in Common Lisp, Peter Norvig
lenocinor 10y ago
When this was discussed previously, I made an in-depth comment on it there, which I'll reference again here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8851408 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8851408

310 points by geospeck 10y ago

Steve Grand's other book "Growing up with Lucy: How to Build an Android in Twenty Easy Steps" should also be included in this list. https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Lucy-Android-Twenty/dp/0753818051 https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Lucy-Android-Twenty/dp/075...

douche 10y ago

The Matt Buckland books, especially Programming Game AI by Example are very good, for simple, practical techniques.

jraedisch 10y ago

Many of the books seem older than 10 years (also in the general exams list[1]). Are the (seemingly) vast advancements in the last years still based on the same principles? (Speaking as a complete ML noob.) [1]: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin//generals/general_exams.html http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin//generals/general_exams....

BatFastard 10y ago
In particular, I would like to see something on OpenAI Universe
lithander 10y ago
This book list is about game AI programming. Game AI and ML don't overlap much.
indy 10y ago
ML isn't really used in game programming. These books focus on more practical techniques such as State Machines, Pathfinding, Planning, Scripting etc.
- artofcode 10y ago
  Exactly. Game AI is not so much about making AI smart, but more about making it fun.
  - hood_syntax 10y ago
    I haven't played it, but there is a game called Smart Kobold that tries to up the AI difficulty as far as it can reasonably go. In some sense, I think it satisfies your criteria. The punishing difficulty is what makes it rewarding, and it accomplishes it through AI rather than making creatures harder to kill or do more damage. I do agree with your statement in the vast majority of cases. Ultimately, fun trumps everything else when it comes to games (though what counts as fun is subjective). Even Dark Souls, which many (most) gamers consider difficult, is not difficult because of unbeatable AI. It's full of patterns (indeed, that's how you get better at the game: you recognize and respond correctly to those patterns).
deong 10y ago
As others have said, game AI doesn't draw from "real" or academic AI or Machine Learning. That said, the references for AI and machine learning are quite old. Particularly the machine learning parts. The only ML texts on the list are Mitchell and Duda and Hart. The former is extremely outdated at this point. That's not Mitchell's fault -- it was a nice book for learning the basics of machine learning in 1997 when it was published, but all the developments that have made ML a hot subject have occurred since then and in areas that the book simply didn't predict coming. Duda and Hart, similarly, was the bible for certain subfields of ML for a long time, but it won't tell you what everyone's been doing in the past 15 years when ML exploded onto the wider scene. If I were to add one book, it would be Kevin Murphy's excellent text (https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Probabilistic-Perspective-Computation/dp/0262018020 https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Probabilistic-Perspe...). There's no one book that will give you a complete picture of the field, but his is I think the closest available and does a solid job of preparing you with enough fundamentals that you can extend your knowledge from there on your own.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

rm999 10y ago

This is about game AIs, which are definitely interesting. But for the most part they overlap very little with what most people think of as AI. In undergrad (mid 2000s) I partially specialized in both computer graphics and machine learning, and took a video game class to try combining these skills. I have two big memories from this time that stuck with me. The first is the time a dev on Civilization 1 visited our class. He spoke about the "AI" of civilization, which he revealed to be a simple random number generator. He told us people often thought it was far more complex, but that's really all there was to it. The second memory is when we actually built a 3d engine + game from scratch. Every week we had to add a new feature, so one week I obviously took on the AI. My partner and I were doing a soccer-style game, and I had grand visions of implementing a sophisticated AI using what I'd been learning in my other classes, like SVMs and neural networks. I started doing research, and was shocked to learn that no video games at the time did any of this. I learned that computers at the time weren't really capable of running several versions of an ML algorithm simultaneously (one per agent) while dealing with everything else - and more importantly that there was little need. I ended up spending a couple days building out a basic state machine, and it worked. Even the professor thought we added incredible intelligence to the players, who in reality were just following ~10 rules like "if player in defense mode: move towards the midpoint between the ball and the goal while keeping some distance between other players". My main take-away from that class is that there was little need for actual AI in video games, and that I should pursue a different career path :/

mysterydip 10y ago
Once you see the "man behind the curtain," game AI loses some of its magic. I'm sure a lot of those devs wanted to make something really sophisticated, but like you said there's a balance between function and performance and for the majority of players the faked version works just as well. I made a euchre game several years ago and put in an AI as basic as you mention for Civ: all it did was pick a random card from its hand that followed suit. If they were placing the first card, it was all random. I got praise from people at how the AI surprised them with feints etc to beat them when they thought they were going to get points. Some I told, others I let believe the magic :)
- 10y ago

martincmartin 10y ago

What's the state of the art in path planning? e.g. as used by Google Maps? Perhaps some subset of those techniques could be used in games.

adamnemecek 10y ago

This seems really out of date. I put together a list of ML books not too long ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12900448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12900448

inputcoffee 10y ago

I am half-joking here, but since they have a "related reading" section with more "philosophical" works, they really should include "Godel, Escher, Bach"

brudgers 10y ago

Missing: Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence: Case Studies in Common Lisp, Peter Norvig

lenocinor 10y ago

When this was discussed previously, I made an in-depth comment on it there, which I'll reference again here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8851408 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8851408