Game AI - Influence Maps!
Influence Maps! An influence map is a method/tool used to modify (influence) the behaviors of AI in games (usually). There is no one way to use or create an influence map so the goal of this blog post is to not necessarily give you the "ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INFLUENCE MAPS!!!" but a good summary/jumping-off point that you could potentially use in whatever game you are making. I am going to break this post into a few parts so feel free to jump around if you want Part 1 - What is an influence map? Part 2 - What's it good for/Where might you use it? Part 3 - My implementation Part 4 - FIN (the end) Part 1 - What is an Influence Map? As the name implies an influence map is the mapping of various influences that will affect some sort of actor in a game. An example that I was given was a heatmap that showed enemy locations in a game. (Feel free to skip this next part if you know what a heat map is) For those that don't know a heatmap is the visual representation of v