No, but they read about it in reviews. I thinkthe quality of the AI required depends on the game. A pure strategy game (real time or turn-based) with an AI that sucks (too random, too tough or too weak) would probably get the game very poor reviews and be boring. On the other hand, a shooter with a moderate AI could get by if the story and graphics are top notch. I know that I played quite a few shooter with not-so-good AI that were plenty of fun.

> Balancing is the most important aspect of AI construction.
> So choose the technique that fulfills this aspect for you.

This is pretty good advice ;) thanks!

I experienced that the most valueable ratio for building a game AI is 50 % planning and 50 % balancing. You cannot plan it. You must touch it everywhere more or less so that it becomes a true, emotional success to you (the player). The most important aspect of designing AI is also: design the AI so that it fits your game! Currently I’m involved in a casual game development process and the AI for all submodules is pretty simple, some more or less advanced statemachines. I touched them so that the enemies keep the action on a high level without any big and complex formulas or neural networks *hint*hint*

Maybe you can say “yes, but its a casual game”. It doesnt matter. The user matters. And if the user has fun, it’s good. If you doubt what AI technique to use and you are most common with advanced statemachines to build a challenging and a “fun to play against” AI, whereas you know how to tweak it to get the ultimate emotional immersion to the player – then do it. If you come from university and neural networks or so is common to you like .. hm… making a sandwich (I’m not sure, I know people who even cant do that :D) you should do that of course.

So don’t plan _too_ much I say. Balancing is the most important aspect of AI construction. So choose the technique that fulfills this aspect for you.