Foundations of AI in Game Development

About this course

This course features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. In this course, you will dive deep into the foundational concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its application in game development. By exploring AI techniques in Unity, you’ll learn how to implement AI-driven characters, create realistic movement, and develop advanced pathfinding systems. As you progress, you will discover how mathematics, physics, and algorithms combine to form the backbone of AI development in games. The course begins by introducing the core principles of AI and how it can be applied to game development. You’ll then cover key topics like vector mathematics, the physics behind AI movements, and how AI predicts future object locations. From there, the course walks you through setting up the A* pathfinding algorithm, ensuring your AI characters can navigate complex environments. As you explore more advanced topics, you’ll integrate AI with waypoints, graphs, and projectiles, gaining an in-depth understanding of how to build a responsive, intelligent system for games. This course is ideal for aspiring game developers and those interested in learning AI programming concepts in a game development context. No prior AI knowledge is required, but a basic understanding of Unity and programming fundamentals is beneficial. The course will guide you through all the technical aspects, while also encouraging practical application to bring your AI systems to life.

Course objectives

• understand core principles of AI in game development
• explore AI techniques using Unity
• build and test AI systems for games