University of Alberta Campus (CSC-333)
Presenter: Nathan Sturtevant, University of Alberta & Arta Seify, Inflexion Studios
Title: Living in Procedural Worlds: Creature Movement and Spawning in ‘Nightingale’
Abstract: This session explores the unique AI challenges faced during the development of Inflexion Studios' debut title, Nightingale, a co-op survival-crafting experience in which players venture through portals where adventure and mystery await across a myriad of beautiful and increasingly-dangerous procedurally generated realms.
Arta Seify and Nathan Sturtevant will describe the range of approaches crafted during development to solve challenges in pathfinding and populating the realms with creatures. Learn about the systems devised to support efficient pathfinding across large realms with a changing path network, creature terrain-type preferences, pathfinding for creatures of vastly different sizes, and procedurally filling the realms with wildlife such that they “feel alive”.
Bio: Arta Seify has been working as an AI developer on Nightingale since 2021. Previously, he worked as an engine programmer on Minecraft: Bedrock, and before that, was a graduate student at the University of Alberta.
Nathan Sturtevant is a professor at the University of Alberta working on research in AI and games, is the director of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institut, and is a consultant with Inflexion Games. He previously wrote the pathfinding engine in Dragon Age: Origins, in addition to his own game-related research and development projects.
The University of Alberta Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seminar is a weekly meeting where researchers (including students, developers, and professors) interested in AI can share their current research. Presenters include local speakers from the University of Alberta and industry as well as other institutions. The seminars discuss a wide range of topics related in any way to Artificial Intelligence, from foundational theoretical work to innovative applications of AI techniques to new fields and problems of interest. Learn more at the AI Seminar website and by subscribing to the mailing list!
Not your average AI conference!
Not your average AI conference!
Not your average AI conference!
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