Autodesk is now shipping its Autodesk Kynapse 7 artificial intelligence (AI) middleware, introduced at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) 2010. Version 7 is designed to be easier to use with faster pathdata generation and to offer improved tuning and profiling, simplified integration and configuration, and certain off-the-shelf behaviors.
"Studios invest in Autodesk Kynapse to help make engineering efforts more efficient, which enables them to invest more resources in the areas of development that can make their games fun and unique," says Marc Stevens, Autodesk vice president, Games. "Kynapse 7 is faster, simpler and more responsive, freeing up even more valuable programming resources for areas of development with more impact."
To evaluate Kynapse 7, visit http://www.autodesk.com/kynapse-trial. An "Intro to Autodesk Kynapse" demonstration video is available on Autodesk's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/autodesk .
Redesigned data generation from customer experience: Kynapse 7 has a redesigned AI data generation system that makes it faster, simpler and easier to validate. With navigation mesh generation 15 to 60 times faster, Kynapse is now more responsive to today's production environments in which many artists and designers work in parallel. Customers can now input mesh data and Kynapse automatically generates the AI data.
Navigation mesh adoption: Kynapse 7 has navigation meshes that help to enhance spatial reasoning as well as smoothing and steering of the pathfinding. Nonplayer characters (NPCs) now have awareness of their range of motion with nearest ground distance or shortest distance to collision.
Greater control of integration and configuration: Kynapse 7 offers improvements to the game developer's tool kit. Interface Objects enable programmers to exercise greater control over communication between engine and middleware. Easier-to-use Configuration Objects also help to reduce the risk of errors during setup.
Off-the-shelf behaviors for faster implementation and prototyping: Teams can begin prototyping and development faster with packaged PathObjects: elevators, ladders, doors and some behavioral elements for motion and crowds. Kynapse 7 offers a unified approach for supporting dynamic objects in destructible and dynamic terrains.
Improved tuning and profiling: Kynapse 7 offers a tool for performance tuning. Developers can smooth CPU consumption over time to avoid peaks with programmer set boundaries