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Australian Game Developer Epiphany Games Chooses xaitment

Sydney-based developer uses xaitment’s AI game tools to create new title

Australian Game Developer Epiphany Games Chooses xaitment

Press Release from GamesBizWire

Sydney-based developer uses xaitment’s AI game tools to create new title

Saarbrücken/Quierschied, Germany (August 17, 2010) – xaitment GmbH / Inc., the leading artificial intelligence (AI) game tool provider for the video games and simulations industries, today announced a new licensing agreement with Epiphany Games, a game development studio based in Sydney, Australia. Epiphany will use xaitment’s five AI game tools to develop Frozen Hearth (working title), a fast-paced, real-time strategy game (RTS) set in a Celtic-inspired fantasy world. 

Epiphany will use xaitMap and xaitMove² for pathfinding, navigation mesh generation, movement and crowd simulations. xaitControl will be used for modeling character behaviors using hierarchical modeling structures, and for making live changes to behaviors while the game is being played using the tool’s integrated debugger. To model outstanding behavior in only a few steps, Epiphany will also use xaitment’s tools xaitKnow and xaitThink, which enable non-player characters (NPCs) to manage their own knowledge, as well as more flexibly adapt their behavior to the behavior of game players than ever seen before.

“Our project is an RTS game and we estimated that for us to build the AI ourselves, it would take quite a long time – time that we do not have,” said Morgan Lean, CEO of Epiphany Games. “By using xaitment’s AI tools, we can quickly and easily implement the AI elements we need into our game so we can concentrate on the story design. Using middleware will save us up to one year on development.”

“Epiphany Games is an example of the potential and success of modern game development,” said Andreas Gerber, Group CEO of xaitment. “Using xaitment’s AI tool set in combination with the middleware of our partners allows for faster development and allows developers to concentrate on the core questions of the game, like how their AI behaviors and gameplay should look – instead of wasting time with doing the basics themselves.”

About xaitment

xaitment GmbH/Inc. is the world leader in AI game tools for the games and simulations industries. Founded in Germany in 2004, xaitment offers AI middleware that goes beyond pathfinding. xaitment's AI game tools enable developers, through easy-to-use graphical user interfaces, to create automatic navigation mesh builds, movement behaviors, crowd simulations, hierarchical probabilistic finite state machines, world descriptions, autonomic behaviors, and experience-based and inference-based learning behaviors for computer generated characters. For more information, visit www.xaitment.com.

About Epiphany Games

Epiphany Games was established in late 2004. The company specializes in creating games with a unique story and setting. Currently, Epiphany Games has designed three games and has begun production on its first title: 'Frozen Hearth'. Epiphany Games is a partner of Emergent Game Technology and has licensed their products. All three of the Epiphany games are to be created using Emergent’s 'Lightspeed' Engine. To achieve some of its goals, Epiphany developed the terrain engine for Lightspeed to cater for its RPG and MMORPG titles. Epiphany intends to continue to develop new technologies to suit our narrative and game design goals. For more information, visit epiphanygames.net.

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