Autodesk unveiled the next-generation of its AI middleware - Gameware Navigation - at the the Vienna Game AI Conference. A successor of Kynapse AI middleware, which empowers the creation of believable video game character behaviors, Navigation has been re-engineered to offer full source code access, a more accessible API and remote visual debugging tools.
To date, Autodesk AI middleware has been implemented in at least 100 games to empower the creation of compelling behaviors for non-player characters. Using this technology, developers can help improve game play, while reducing development costs and cutting time to market.
"All of the tools in our Autodesk Gameware product line have been designed to streamline the game making process and reduce the need for costly custom solutions to common production challenges," commented Marc Petit, senior vice president of Media & Entertainment at Autodesk. "With Gameware Navigation, we have overhauled our existing AI technology to make the algorithms faster and more efficient, and the API more accessible and intuitive. The result will be a tool that is much faster and easier to use, so programmers can spend more time on high-impact areas of development such as gameplay and design."
Gameware Navigation provides automatic NavMesh generation, pathfinding and path following in complex game environments. Character and obstacle avoidance, dynamic NavMesh and swappable sectors are supported out-of-the-box. The middleware also offers developers extensible, remote visual debugging tools with record/playback capability, improving the speed and quality of AI iteration.