Description: A continuation and recontextualization of my 2024 GDC AI Summit talk “How ‘Ara: History Untold’ Transformed AI in 4X Games”, I will summarize Ara: History Untold’s novel system, and dig into details around optimizing its performance, and usability in the final months leading up to ship.

Takeaways:

  • An introduction to semi-obscure but very useful AI topics (HGNs, Logical DSLs)
  • Insights into making performant data structures for complex game AI
  • Practical examples of how to make trades between effectiveness and complexity