Chris Curzon
Bio
Chris Curzon works at Brighton-based new media company as head programmer, a job he has held for 6 years now, working with a wide variety of technologies, but focussing mainly on Flash and java.
He has been interested in artificial intelligence (and in particular, artificial life) for most of his life, and at Kerb, has been given the opportunity to combine Flash's ease of production and graphic abilities with AI/ALife algorithms and techniques to create fun, engaging games (one of which, Microlife, won the Flash Forward Best Game in New York 2004).
He is currently studying at Sussex University for a degree in Music Informatics (which is essentially an innovative combination of Music and AI).
Session
Artificially Intelligent Actionscript
This session will look at how AI techniques and algorithms can be integrated into a Flash game project, using the object-oriented programming approach which both Flash and AI utilise so well.
Techniques such as swarming, collision detection/reaction/avoidance, and non-player-character interactions are all relatively simple to program, and can make for an very enjoyable and engaging experience.
Using examples such as Microlife (Best Game, Flash Forward NY04) and more recent games, I will give an introduction to how to create and implement such techniques in a game, without going into any heavy mathematics.
We will look at some simple code optimisations (again, avoiding hardcore maths), as AI techniques can be incredibly processor-intensive and can slow games down to unplayable speeds if care is not taken.