Unreal Engine is a powerful game development engine that provides rich functionalities to create 2D and 3D games. If you want to use AI to extend the play-life of your games and make them more challenging and fun, this book is for you. It will help you break down AI into simple concepts to give you a fundamental understanding of each of the topics.

Create responsive and intelligent game AI using Blueprints in Unreal Engine 4 About This Book Understand and apply your Game AI better through various projects such as adding randomness and probability, and introducing movement Configure and debug Game AI logic using multiple methodologies Bridge the gap between your knowledge and Game AI in Unreal Engine 4 Who This Book Is For This book is for programmers and artists who want to expand their knowledge of Game AI in relation to Unreal Engine 4. You are recommended to have some experience of exploring Unreal Engine 4 prior to this book because we jump straight into Game AI. What You Will Learn Understand the fundamental components of Game AI within Unreal Engine 4 Skillfully introduce Game AI within Unreal Engine 4 Configure, customize, and assign Navigation and AI components to your pawn Create, debug, and analyze Game AI behavior Design responsive Game AI using the Behavior Tree methodology Create smart objects designed to interact with AI Utilize advanced AI features within your project to maximize the user experience In Detail Unreal Engine is a powerful game development engine that provides rich functionalities to create 2D and 3D games. Developers have the opportunity to build cross-platform mobile and desktop games from scratch. This book will show you how to apply artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to your Unreal project using blueprints as your scripting language. You will start with an introduction to AI, and learn how it is applied to gaming. Then you'll jump right in and create a simple AI bot and apply basic behaviors to allow it to move randomly. As you progress, you'll find out how to implement randomness and probability traits. Using NavMesh, you will impart navigation components such as character movement, MoveTo nodes, settings, and world objects, and implement Behavior Trees. At the end of the book, you will troubleshoot any issues that might crop up while building the game. Style and approach This easy-to-follow project-based guide throws you directly into the excitement of Game AI in an approachable and comprehensive manner.

Explore reinforcement learning (RL) techniques to build cutting-edge games using Python libraries such as PyTorch, OpenAI Gym, and TensorFlow Key FeaturesGet to grips with the different reinforcement and DRL algorithms for game developmentLearn how to implement components such as artificial agents, map and level generation, and audio generationGain insights into cutting-edge RL research and understand how it is similar to artificial general researchBook Description With the increased presence of AI in the gaming industry, developers are challenged to create highly responsive and adaptive games by integrating artificial intelligence into their projects. This book is your guide to learning how various reinforcement learning techniques and algorithms play an important role in game development with Python. Starting with the basics, this book will help you build a strong foundation in reinforcement learning for game development. Each chapter will assist you in implementing different reinforcement learning techniques, such as Markov decision processes (MDPs), Q-learning, actor-critic methods, SARSA, and deterministic policy gradient algorithms, to build logical self-learning agents. Learning these techniques will enhance your game development skills and add a variety of features to improve your game agent’s productivity. As you advance, you’ll understand how deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques can be used to devise strategies to help agents learn from their actions and build engaging games. By the end of this book, you’ll be ready to apply reinforcement learning techniques to build a variety of projects and contribute to open source applications. What you will learnUnderstand how deep learning can be integrated into an RL agentExplore basic to advanced algorithms commonly used in game developmentBuild agents that can learn and solve problems in all types of environmentsTrain a Deep Q-Network (DQN) agent to solve the CartPole balancing problemDevelop game AI agents by understanding the mechanism behind complex AIIntegrate all the concepts learned into new projects or gaming agentsWho this book is for If you’re a game developer looking to implement AI techniques to build next-generation games from scratch, this book is for you. Machine learning and deep learning practitioners, and RL researchers who want to understand how to use self-learning agents in the game domain will also find this book useful. Knowledge of game development and Python programming experience are required.

A step-by-step guide that paves the way for developing fantastic games with Unreal Engine 4 About This Book Learn about game development and the building blocks that go into creating a game A simple tutorial for beginners to get acquainted with the Unreal Engine architecture Learn about the features and functionalities of Unreal Engine 4 and how to use them to create your own games Who This Book Is For If you are new to game development and want to learn how games are created using Unreal Engine 4, this book is the right choice for you. You do not need prior game development experience, but it is expected that you have played games before. Knowledge of C++ would prove to be useful. What You Will Learn Learn what a game engine is, the history of Unreal Engine, and how game studios create games Explore the Unreal Engine 4 editor controls and learn how to use the editor to create a room in a game level Understand the basic structures of objects in a game, such as the differences between BSP and static meshes Make objects interactive using level blueprints Learn more about computer graphics rendering; how materials and light are rendered in your game Get acquainted with the Material Editor to create materials and use different types of lights in the game levels Utilize the various editors, tools, and features such as UI, the particle system, audio, terrain manipulation, and cinematics in Unreal Engine 4 to create game levels In Detail Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful game development engine that provides rich functionalities to create 2D and 3D games across multiple platforms. Many people know what a game is and they play games every day, but how many of them know how to create a game? Unreal Engine technology powers hundreds of games, and thousands of individuals have built careers and companies around skills developed using this engine. Learning Unreal Engine 4 Game Development starts with small, simple game ideas and playable projects that you can actually finish. The book first teaches you the basics of using Unreal Engine to create a simple game level. Then, you'll learn how to add details such as actors, animation, effects, and so on to the game. The complexity will increase over the chapters and the examples chosen will help you learn a wide variety of game development techniques. This book aims to equip you with the confidence and skills to design and build your own games using Unreal Engine 4. By the end of this book, you'll have learnt about the entire Unreal suite and know how to successfully create fun, simple games. Style and approach This book explains in detail what goes into the development of a game, provides hands-on examples that you can follow to create the different components of a game, and provides sufficient background/theory to equip you with a solid foundation for creating your own games.

Build optimized, efficient, and real-time applications that are production-ready using Unreal Engine's Material Editor Key FeaturesCreate stunning visual effects for 3D games and high-quality graphicsDesign efficient Shaders for mobile platforms without sacrificing their realismDiscover what goes into the structure of Shaders and why lighting works the way it doesBook Description Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful game engine, one which has seen a recent boost in widespread adoption thanks to its ease of use and the powerful rendering pipeline that it packs. Seeing as how it's relatively easy to create stunning presentations and visuals, Unreal has quickly become a strong contender in industries where this kind of software had been previously denied entry. With that in mind, this book aims to help you get the most out of Unreal Engine 4 - from creating awe-inspiring graphics to delivering optimized experiences to your users. This is possible thanks to a mixture of hands-on experience with real materials and the theory behind them. You will immediately know how to create that material that you want to display, and you'll also end up with the knowledge that will let you know how to control it. All of this will be done without losing sight of two key components of any real-time application - optimization, and efficiency. The materials that you create will be light and efficient, and they will vary depending on your target platform. You'll know which techniques can be used in any kind of device and which ones should be kept to high-end machines, giving you the confidence to tackle any material-related task that you can imagine. Hop onboard and discover how! What you will learnMaster Unreal Engine's rendering pipeline for developing real-time graphicsUse physically based rendering (PBR) for building materials and lighting solutionsBuild optimized materials for games targeting multiple platformsUnderstand Unreal Engine's node and functions for creating desirable effectsDesign and build production-ready shadersExplore Unreal Engine's Material Editor for building complex materials and texturesWho this book is for This book is for developers who want to create their first Shaders in Unreal Engine 4 or wish to take their game to a whole new level by adding professional post-processing effects. A solid understanding of Unreal is required to get the most from this book.

Learn the tools and techniques of game design using a project-based approach with Unreal Engine 4 and C++ Key FeaturesKickstart your career or dive into a new hobby by exploring game design with UE4 and C++Learn the techniques needed to prototype and develop your own ideasReinforce your skills with project-based learning by building a series of games from scratchBook Description Game development can be both a creatively fulfilling hobby and a full-time career path. It's also an exciting way to improve your C++ skills and apply them in engaging and challenging projects. Game Development Projects with Unreal Engine starts with the basic skills you'll need to get started as a game developer. The fundamentals of game design will be explained clearly and demonstrated practically with realistic exercises. You’ll then apply what you’ve learned with challenging activities. The book starts with an introduction to the Unreal Editor and key concepts such as actors, blueprints, animations, inheritance, and player input. You'll then move on to the first of three projects: building a dodgeball game. In this project, you'll explore line traces, collisions, projectiles, user interface, and sound effects, combining these concepts to showcase your new skills. You'll then move on to the second project; a side-scroller game, where you'll implement concepts including animation blending, enemy AI, spawning objects, and collectibles. The final project is an FPS game, where you will cover the key concepts behind creating a multiplayer environment. By the end of this Unreal Engine 4 game development book, you'll have the confidence and knowledge to get started on your own creative UE4 projects and bring your ideas to life. What you will learnCreate a fully-functional third-person character and enemiesBuild navigation with keyboard, mouse, gamepad, and touch controlsProgram logic and game mechanics with collision and particle effectsExplore AI for games with Blackboards and Behavior TreesBuild character animations with Animation Blueprints and MontagesTest your game for mobile devices using mobile previewAdd polish to your game with visual and sound effectsMaster the fundamentals of game UI design using a heads-up displayWho this book is for This book is suitable for anyone who wants to get started using UE4 for game development. It will also be useful for anyone who has used Unreal Engine before and wants to consolidate, improve and apply their skills. To grasp the concepts explained in this book better, you must have prior knowledge of the basics of C++ and understand variables, functions, classes, polymorphism, and pointers. For full compatibility with the IDE used in this book, a Windows system is recommended.

This is the first textbook dedicated to explaining how artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used in and for games. After introductory chapters that explain the background and key techniques in AI and games, the authors explain how to use AI to play games, to generate content for games and to model players. The book will be suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in games, artificial intelligence, design, human-computer interaction, and computational intelligence, and also for self-study by industrial game developers and practitioners. The authors have developed a website (http://www.gameaibook.org) that complements the material covered in the book with up-to-date exercises, lecture slides and reading.