AI for Objective C

Question

I'm trying to figure out if there is any existing AI tools/frameworks/Library for Objective C or Cocos [well OpenGL + Obj C] in general that's good for a person who's never done any form of AI before [other than the simple checkers or tic-tac-toe AI's]. The scenario here is I've finished the basics control of a game for the iPad and works fine for multi-player. The AI just needs to move around, similar to the classic game snakes and somehow 'trap' a human player. I now want to write an AI for this.

I found a thing called http://opensteer.sourceforge.net/ which appears to be pretty good, however it was last updated in 2004. Which was 7 years ago, and not sure if I should use it if there are other ones.

If anyone have any other suggestions of things I should look at, please guide me to the right area.

Answer 1

Ai is usually very game specific and very hard to wrap in a reusable "Plug and play" sort of system. The AI libraries that do exist contain common things such as some mathematics, prediction, flocking, and path finding. I don't know of any libraries in Objective-C that cover this, but your game sounds like it would not really benefit from these because your AI requirements are fairly simple.

The best way may be to write your own AI from scratch. Start by breaking down the thought process for your AI into some kind of state machine (Make trees on paper, list steps, etc) and write it step by step.

Ai is not a fast moving field like graphics. Something from 2004 in terms of AI should still be very relevant. I would take a look at that library you talked about as well.

Here is an example in Objective-C on A* pathfinding:

http://humblebeesoft.com/blog/?p=18

Make a post on the Gamedev AI:

http://www.gamedev.net/forum/9-artificial-intelligence/

I strongly recommend reading this AI book:

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Game-Example-Mat-Buckland/dp/1556220782

This book will teach you how to think through the AI process and will teach you how to write several systems that could become a part of an Ai framework.

Answer 2

I don't know if you'll find any AI libraries for Objective-C (I'm certainly not aware of any), however since Objective-C is a superset of C (and Objective-C++ a superset of C++), you can use any of the available AI libraries for those languages.