Implementation of a* algorithm within navigation mesh in an artificial intelligence based video games

Abstract

Pathfinding is one of the key components for Artificial Intelligence in video games, It addresses the problem to find the shortest path between starting point and destination point, before A* became a staple algorithm for pathfindings, many search algorithms were used including Djikstra, Depth, and Breadth-First searches, Pathfindings are known to be resource-intensive processes especially in a large world but it mostly depends on what algorithm the game is using and what method it is implemented, using A* combined with Navigation Mesh, a popular abstract data structure in video games, this paper reviews the overall system resources used during the pathfinding process with a destination point that is always moving in a realtime so that it will gives realistic results since, in video games, a Player is constantly moves around the world, the result that we have gathered, we have concluded that A* flawlessly works with Navigation Mesh, and the performance impacts of both A* and Navigation Mesh combined is non-existent.