After a six-month evaluation period, Midway Games decided to standardize on AI.implant as their artificial intelligence solution for all of their next-generation gaming titles. According to Paul LeFevre, Chief Technical Officer at Midway Games, "By leaving the artificial intelligence aspect of our game engines to experts who concentrate entirely on AI development, we will be able to focus our energies on our core competencies."

Cost-Effective, Flexible Solution

Approximately 20 people from across several teams at Midway Games were involved in the evaluation of AI.implant. According to LeFevre, "Our criteria for selecting an AI solution were that it must be cost effective, flexible, come with excellent support, and be fast and robust."

LeFevre explains that "The six month evaluation process involved determining the capability of AI.implant to serve as a base upon which we could add additional features or behaviors, evaluating its suitability for next-generation hardware, and assessing its ease of use and programming with respect to the games we produce. The final point was a cost/benefit analysis in which we compared the AI.implant solution with writing, maintaining, and modifying our own in-house system."

AI.implant on Stranglehold

One of the first titles that Midway Games is producing for next-generation consoles is Stranglehold, an action/adventure game directed by world-renowned director John Woo and starring Chow Yun-Fat. Given the high profile names involved with the production and the fact that it is being developed for more advanced consoles, there is a lot of pressure on Midway Games to deliver.

According to LeFevre, "The challenges on this project were getting up to speed on next-generation hardware, meeting our audience's expectations for radical advances in game technology, and managing such a complex project of this size."

AI.implant has helped Midway Games to manage the pressure by providing an easily integrated, extensible solution that offers them dynamic AI. As LeFevre explains, "With this seamless integration of AI.implant into our production pipelines, programmers are relieved of the burden of having to manually 'wire up' the AI behaviors and designers are able to tweak and tune performances."

He goes on to say that, "Because of its modular and extensible architecture, we are able to build extensive specialized AI behaviors on top of the AI.implant core." This allows Midway Game developers to customize their production pipelines for any game that may come their way.

History With AI.implant

Midway Games began its relationship with AI.implant in 2002 for the development of Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, an action/adventure title that allows the player to interact with their physics-driven environment. It was this earlier success with AI.implant that led Midway Games to consider standardizing on it as their AI middleware solution. During the development of Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, the Midway Games team witnessed what a successful AI middleware solution could be, and they were particularly impressed by the unique balance that AI.implant struck between engine functionality and flexible visual tools.

The decision to standardize on AI.implant as a middleware artificial intelligence solution is part of a larger plan for Midway Games' future. In order to deliver the immersive and complex games that next-generation platforms are built to offer, Midway Games has decided to standardize pipelines across the company. According to LeFevre, "Our next-gen development for PS3 and Xbox 360 was planned around a core technology based on the Unreal3 game engine from Epic and includes middleware solutions like AI.implant."

"With AI.implant," says LeFevre, "Midway Games now has a solid, standardized base upon which we can build custom behaviors for specific game genres. Having that standard AI base allows our developers to share programming expertise and code between studios and games across the company."

Full Service

One of the contributing factors in Midway Games' decision to standardize on the AI.implant solution was the support team behind the product. LeFevre explains that "The support has been outstanding and is one of the reasons we chose AI.implant. The Custom Help, particularly concerning the integration of the Unreal3 engine, is critical to our success."

With AI.implant becoming part of the product offerings from Presagis, the customer support is now even better. According to Dr. Paul Kruszewski, Chief Technology Officer at Presagis, "AI.implant is now able to draw on Presagis' 20 years of professional customer service and support experience. We have expanded and enhanced our support team so that we are now even better equipped to offer targeted, on-demand user and project-level assistance."

The support offered by the AI.implant team at Presagis means that Midway Games reduces both development time and resource allocation. As LeFevre explains, "The support from the AI.implant team is always readily available to us. They help us save time and money because we don't have to blunder our way through problems and challenges. Ultimately, the service and support we get with AI.implant is a top-ranking advantage in our work."