Fast grid-based path finding for video games

Abstract

Grid-based path finding is required in many video games and virtual worlds to move agents. With both map sizes and the number of agents increasing, it is important to develop path finding algorithms that are efficient in memory and time. In this work, we present an algorithm called DBA* that uses a database of pre-computed paths to reduce the time to solve search problems. When evaluated using benchmark maps from Dragon Age™, DBA*requires less memory and time for search, and performs less pre-computation than comparable real-time search algorithms. Further, its suboptimality is less than 3%, which is better than the PRA* implementation used in Dragon Age™. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.