Paul Roberts is a Senior Lecturer and Course Lead for BSc (Hons) Computer Games Programming at the University of Staffordshire. Prior to this he was Technical Director at his own independent game studio Grinning Cat. He has worked in a variety of Principal/Lead AI Programmer roles for a range of studios in the UK including Sumo Digital, Team17, Traveller’s Tales, Activision, and some smaller indie studios. Paul has a Master’s by Research in Computer Science (with Artificial Intelligence), which focused on pathfinding, the development of the DRS algorithm and ways to test the believability of generated paths. Paul setup the GameAI Discord channel that has brought together hundreds of game AI professionals, where approaches are shared and ideas are discussed. He has recently started the GameAIUncovered YouTube channel, which explains how different game AI concepts work, has written several books, some fiction, others academic, and is the editor for this Game AI Uncovered series.

• Chapter 1 Blood, Sweat, and Tiers: Driving Unique NPC Boxer BehaviourUsing Tiered Strategies in Steel City Interactive’s UndisputedSteven DaltonChapter 2 Under the Influence: Using Influence Maps to Drive RefereePositioning in Steel City Interactive’s UndisputedSteven DaltonChapter 3 Procedural Generation of DungeonsShaun ReevesChapter 4 Possibilistic Logic in GamesBraeden WarnickChapter 5 Teaching AI Agents to Lie at Social Deduction GamesMatt ElandChapter 6 Cooperative Planners in Real‑Time Strategy GamesBaptiste RimetzChapter 7 Simplifying Utility AI through Predefined Utility CurvesMateo SaldivarChapter 8 Flow Fields: Beyond a Single TargetPaul RobertsChapter 9 NPCs that Feel Alive: Achieving Variety and Complexitywith Limited ResourcesAlessia NigrettiChapter 10 An Analysis of Rapid Iteration vs Prototyping for Building AI SystemsDavid GuzmanChapter 11 The Corridor Map Method – A Different Approachto PathfindingTobias KarlssonChapter 12 AI Director Pitfalls and How to Climb Out of ThemYannick RicheuxChapter 13 Artificial Idiocy in Racing: The Mistake System of Codemasters’ Dirt and GridDr Nic MelderChapter 14 A Beginner’s Guide to AI Character DesignDr Tommy ThompsonChapter 15 Systemic vs ScriptedVincent Breton KochanowskiChapter 16 Beyond Basic Pathfinding: Natural NPC MovementMarc VassallucciChapter 17 Crafting Epic Boss Fights in Psychonauts 2Rebecca (Beca) VessalChapter 18 The Lurker: A Monster That Can Walk Upside DownVíctor PortabellaChapter 19 Using Roles to Control Combat PacingSlavomir KrbylaChapter 20 The Many Perils of Illal: Behind the Combat AI Architecture of Hawken Reborn’s EnemiesDr Nuno Vicente BarretoChapter 21 Stable Reaction SystemsAndrea Schiel