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The Beginner's Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Unity. (Udemy.com)

A practical guide to programming non-player characters for games.

4.7
( 362 Reviews )

Created by: Penny de Byl

Produced in 2021

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What you will learn

  • Design and program NPCs with C# in Unity
  • Explain how AI is applied in computer games
  • Implement AI-related Unity Asset plugins into existing projects
  • Work with a variety of AI techniques for developing navigation and decision making abilities in NPCs

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Quality Score

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Overall Score : 94 / 100

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Course Description

Do your non-player characters lack drive and ambition? Are they slow, stupid and constantly banging their heads against the wall? Then this course is for you. Join Penny as she explains, demonstrates and assists you in creating your very own NPCs in Unity with C#. All you need is a sound knowledge of Unity, C# and the ability to add two numbers together.
In this course, Penny reveals the most popular AI techniques used for creating believable character behaviour in games using her internationally acclaimed teaching style and knowledge from over 25 years working with games, graphics and having written two award winning books on games AI. Throughout, you will follow along with hands-on workshops designed to teach you about the fundamental AI techniques used in today's games. You'll join in as NPCs are programmed to chase, patrol, shoot, race, crowd and much more.
Learn how to program and work with:
  • vectors
  • waypoints
  • navmeshes
  • the A* algorithm
  • crowds
  • flocks
  • animated characters
  • vehicles
Contents and Overview
The course begins with a detailed examination of vector mathematics that sits at the very heart of programming the movement of NPCs. Following this, systems of waypoints will be used to move characters around in an environment before examining the Unity waypoint system for car racing with AI controlled cars. This leads into an investigation of graph theory and the A* algorithm before we apply these principles to developing navmeshes and developing NPCs who can find their way around a game environment. Before an aquarium is programmed complete with autonomous schooling fish, crowds of people will be examined from the recreation of sidewalk traffic, to groups of people fleeing from danger. Having examined the differing ways to move NPCs around in a game environment, their thinking abilities will be discussed with full explanations and more hands-on workshops using finite state machines and behaviour trees.
The follow-along workshops included in the course come with starter Unity asset files and projects complete with solutions. Throughout, there are also quizzes and challenge exercises to reinforce your learning and guide you to express your newfound knowledge.
At the completion of this course you will have gained a broad understanding of what AI is in games, how it works and how you can use it in your own projects. It will equip you with a toolset to examine any of the techniques presented in more depth to take your game environments to the next level.
What students are saying about this course:
  • This has been my favourite Udemy-Unity course so far. It took me from literally 0% knowledge of how game AI is achieved, and took me to a whole new level. Waypoints, pathfinding, state machines, etc etc etc are all covered in-depth and will reveal the magic (spoiler alert: it isn't magic) behind making your computer characters seem like they really have a mind of their own.
  • Oh My God. I love her way of teaching things. I haven't finished this course yet. But all i can say is that it is another brilliant course from her. Artificial intelligence by itself is a tricky thing to do. And before starting this course i never thought that i will understand anything in it. But i was wrong. With her style of teaching, you will learn how to move your characters in an "intelligent" way. This course is perfectly sliced and the pace is wonderful.
Who this course is for:
  • Anyone interested in learning how to program their own non-player characters (NPCs).
  • Anyone interested in seeing how artificial intelligence is applied in computer games.
Read More product length iconTime: 10.5h

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Instructor Details

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Hi, I'm Dr Penny de Byl. I'm a full stack developer of most things computer sciency and academic with a true passion for teaching. I've been teaching others about games development, programming, computer graphics, animation and web design for over 25 years in universities in Australia and Europe at the full professor level. I've also consulted for Unity, SAE, the Australian Institute of Entertainment and Wikitude. My best selling textbooks including Holistic Game Development with Unity are used in over 100 institutions world-wide. My graduates work at companies like Apple, Ubisoft, LinkedIn and Deloitte Digital.
I have an honours degree in computer graphics and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence for games characters. Over the course of my career I've won numerous awards for teaching excellence at the state, national and international levels including the Australian Learning and Teaching Council's Excellence in Teaching Award and the Unity Mobile Game Curriculum Competition. My approach to teaching computer science and related fields is project-based giving you hands-on workshops you can immediately get your teeth into.
I want you to leave my virtual classroom fully armed with a toolkit of skills for life-long learning. I'm excited to now be focussing my efforts full-time on Udemy to bring my years of knowledge and experience to those eager to learn about technology.

Hi, I'm Dr Penny de Byl. I'm a full stack developer of most things computer sciency and academic w

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Reviews

4.7

362 total reviews

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By Eden Zvi Schwartz on 11/1/2020

I really loved the explanations in this course, I learned a lot from you, but I didn't like to follow along concept of the course, I think that when you explain something new, I need to experiment the process myself in order to learned more about this, unfortunate the challenges at the end of each sections weren't enough, but overall, I really loved this course.

By Arn Mesa on 10/25/2020

I have experience in unity, and have just released my first commercial game on steam. I was looking for materials which will improve my understanding of game AI and this is just what I'm looking for. Everything is explained thoroughly and I feel guilty only paying $20.00 for this course when there are course way more expensive with less information. Thanks!

By Cezar Tipa on 10/10/2020

She is the best!

By Peter Davidson on 10/8/2020

While I'm still early in this course, I predict I will enjoy it and take more away then expected :) I like the presentation style, ease of use of the sample projects and the pace that is set early. Will update the review when I'm done but at this time I predict I will be taking the other courses offered from Penny on Udemy :)

By Mehmet Batuhan Kantarc on 9/23/2020

I exactly get what I want. 5/5

By Neil Waldron on 9/16/2020

(I have not Yet Finished) Great, informative but her teaching style leaves a lot to be desired. she opens a blank script and then instead of typing things she pastes int the entirety.

By John Knock on 9/16/2020

Brilliant course, though be careful with your expectations, will you be able to make a life like NPC for a AAA RPG absolutely not, its only a 12hr course. However will you learn about NAV meshes, Waypoints, A*, create a Tank that can follow you around and flee, play hide seek with a zombie, get lost in a sea of fish and be introduced to the world of simulation all broken down in to easy lessons, absolutely you will. I cannot recommend this course enough to anyone who just wants to learn more about Unity AI and be inspired for there future projects.

By Jianxin Liu on 9/9/2020

The teacher is great, within such a short time, already covered AI, Unity3D, C# and other important info for students to further dig in according to their interests. Her teaching is indeed amazing, above the expectations!

By Evgeniy Timofeev on 9/6/2020

Everything is presented in an accessible form. I like that

By Remigiusz Ganiec on 9/5/2020

The teacher is very good, knowledgeable and knows how to teach, everything is well explained and I really can't complain about anything in this course.

By Jeremy G Clendening on 8/21/2020

The information in this course was/is invaluable. While I could critique and make suggestions for better methods or content, the bottom line is Penny delivered what she promised and did so very well. If you apply any of the methods taught in this course your game(s) will only become more enjoyable for both you and the players.

By Hiro on 8/20/2020

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The Beginner's Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Unity.
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  • Video Duration: icon 10.5h
  • Price: 11.99 Track Price 11.99 Track Price
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Year: icon 2021
  • Language: icon English, English [Auto-generated], Portuguese [Auto-generated], 1 more
  • Certificate: icon Yes
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