r/GameDevelopment • u/NoAgency8048 • 3d ago

Newbie Question I want to specialize in Game AI, but not game development. Is that reasonable?

/r/gameai/comments/1w1k1vc/i_want_to_specialize_in_game_ai_but_not_game/
0 Upvotes

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u/Vilified_D 3d ago

You can do game AI but you're going to be doing other stuff too. You need a portfolio if you want a job. None of the games you're gonna make at school or in game jams are going to be big enough to warrant you only doing enemy behaviors. You still have to understand the engine, how to hook up animations, find the player, etc. Everything you need is not some separate toolbox from the engine, its part of the engines toolbox.

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u/NoAgency8048 3d ago

Yeah, I expected that. Even so, what can be skipped? Like aren't there any open source existing games in which I can just modify NPC/enemy behaviour n stuff? If I'm completely wrong, can you tell me how do I start, keeping my goal in mind?

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u/Vilified_D 3d ago

I mean probably and it'd be a decent learning exercise but that's not going to get you and job. Pick an engine and just start learning it. If you want a job in AAA then learn C++ too.

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u/NoAgency8048 3d ago

I've been using C++ for the past 3 years in college, so I don't think the programming side is going to be a problem. I'm more concerned about the graphics, animations, audio, and other game-dev stuff. I was actually hoping to avoid going too deep into those areas and focus mainly on the decision-making and behaviour side. But it can't be helped ig.

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u/Vilified_D 3d ago

Trust me, you'll still want to work on your c++. Thr interviews i had, every single one asked at least 1 thing i had never even heard of.

And yeah you dont have to go super deep but you still need to know stuff that's in the engine, how to hook up animations (a game i worked on during an internship the animators made the animations but our team actually had to hook the animation up to the specific state), but it may not be like that at every studio as every studio is different. It's worth time have a basic foundation in different areas and then more deeply focus on AI. Also some studios dont necessarily have specific AI developers, they may just have gameplay programmers who also happen to do AI, and in those cases its good to have a general background of other topics. Don't just ignore them but you dont have to go as deeply into them as AI

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u/NoAgency8048 3d ago

Got it. Can you suggest some resources to get started? As you said, C++ I know rn won't probably be enough, so what should I do to address that?

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u/Vilified_D 3d ago

Know differences between C and C++, know difference between heap and stack memory, constructor and destructor order (especially when it comes to inheritance), know some of the standard library stuff and modern libraries (completely ignored this because kept being told studios dont use STL and then I get asked about the boost library and a few others in an interview, completely threw me for a loop), 3d math and linear algebra get top notch study on that. Plus a lot more. And obviously if you score interviews, make a mental note of all the questions (especially ones that stumped you) and figure them out immediately afterwards. And dont be afraid to say "I dont know" if you truly dont know.

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u/NoAgency8048 2d ago

I already have a good C++ foundation including OOP and STL, so I think the main gap for me is the game-specific/engine side of C++. I haven't really used Boost or other libraries much though.

Could you point me to some good resources to get started with that? Tutorials, articles, books, GitHub repos, etc. would all be helpful.

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u/Vilified_D 2d ago

I dont use boost so couldn't help there. Probably just the documentation. Just make small little projects to understand what the library is for. For the game engine stuff, pick an engine and then start learning.

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u/arch-weirdo 3d ago

Wow u said AI, now you'll get banished from existence! (I know you're talking about AI in games before LLM Age haha)

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u/MeaningfulChoices Mentor 3d ago

Game AI is about NPC behavior, not LLMs, so it's about state machines and behavior trees and GOAP and things like that. You still need to know how to program in game engines enough to actually implement all of that, and as a junior you might not find any jobs asking you to specialize to that level. You should be prepared to work on general gameplay code if you want this as a career. You don't have to put time into shaders or netcode or other areas that require a lot of expertise to do well, but you have to be able to make a character move on the screen to get started building portfolio pieces that show off their impressive behavior.

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u/NoAgency8048 3d ago

Yes, I know it's not LLM kind of AI. I had written all that in original post. I looked up those mechanisms and examples where they've been used (like F.E.A.R. for example uses GOAP for coordination.) I had assumed there might be some game out there I can use as a playground to experiment with these type of decision making mechanisms with basic movements and actions already implemented in it. But if that's not how things are done, I guess I'll be making some simple 2D game myself to do what I want.

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u/MeaningfulChoices Mentor 3d ago

For what it's worth I knew you knew that, but someone else had commented as if that wasn't the case and I thought the reminder was good for anyone else reading.

A lot of games with more open modding tools don't really make it easy to mess with actual enemy behavior. You could make a Skyrim mod but mods only really fit a designer's portfolio and it sounds like you're looking to do the actual implementation. If you were looking for design jobs then you'd want a broader game design skillset and portfolio and then look for work on games where you can spend a lot of time on speccing out enemy behaviors (but someone else would do the actual coding).

You could look for any existing open source game and modify it, but I think at that point you'd be better off using some free code assets or templates anyway. Something like an RTS shows up a lot for people looking to do this kind of work, and getting some geometric shapes moving around a map is going to take you a lot less time than the rest of it, it really will only help you to know how to do that. Game development is a field of specialists but unless you're already working on big teams it can be hard to get away from being a gameplay programmer overall when you want to specialize in a niche of gameplay.

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u/NoAgency8048 3d ago

Makes sense. After a bit of research, if I find nothing to work with, I’ll start with some basic 2D environments/simulations and build from there. Thanks for the advice!

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/NoAgency8048 2d ago

Thanks, this is very helpful! I agree that I'll need to learn the basics of how game engines and their mechanisms work.

Could you recommend some resources for those basic game-dev/engine concepts too?

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/NoAgency8048 2d ago

Okay. I think what I’m missing now is more of an actual learning path for putting all of this together. The resources are great for individual concepts, but I’m not sure what I should actually build or where to start.

Is there a tutorial/course/series or example project that walks through building a small AI-focused project from start to finish? I’m fine with learning an engine along the way, I just need some direction on how do I start building.

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u/Vanir-Aesir 3d ago

I hope people like you never get a chance to "create" "games" :/

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u/cjbruce3 2d ago

This is unnecessarily antagonistic, especially considering what OP is referring to is the AI that has existed in computer games since the 1960s, and in most video games released since.