PathEngine

Last updated
PathEngine
IndustrySoftware
Founded2000
Website pathengine.com

PathEngine is a software company as well as an advanced path finding software development kit, created under the leadership of Thomas Young. The company was founded after Young left Infogrames Sheffield, and the first commercial version of the software was offered in 2002. [1] The software uses a technique called points of visibility path finding, where the agent takes into account dynamic obstacles and agent shape when navigating between points. Over time, the software has been optimized [2] with rapid bug-fixes, [1] and has been made to support platforms such as the Xbox 360. [3] PathEngine has been used in games such as Titan Quest, among others. [1] [4]

Contents

History

PathEngine was founded in 2000. [5] The first version of PathEngine SDK was released in early 2002. [6] By the end of 2005, over 50 finished products had been released that used PathEngine. [7]

In 2007, the 5.10 version was released. [8] Improvements included a new graph search core and several bugfixes. [8] In 2010, PathEngine released version 5.23. [5]

Features

PathEngine supports personal computers running the Microsoft Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, as well as the game consoles of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. [9]

PathEngine implements the search for the path and the movement of the agent in a three-dimensional medium with dynamic obstacles. There is a dynamic control overcoming obstacles and automation of content. Such a technology applied to some very large and detailed worlds includes special optimization for embossed surfaces (or other surfaces that combine detailed obstacles with a good overview and large open spaces). [9]

License terms

PathEngine is a commercial software product created solely for the purpose of being licensed by third parties. There are three types of licenses for PathEngine SDK, each of which differs in price and level of access to the source code. In addition, each license may differ depending on which and how many platforms the final product will be released on. [10]

Related Research Articles

In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.

Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. It is most well-known for its usage by Valve, but the engine has been used both by small teams and individuals to create modifications of Valve games, and other studios creating distinct games, notably Troika Games' title Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Valve continued to create incremental updates to the Source engine after its 2004 release, most of which coincided with games created by Valve. In the late 2010s, Valve created the Source 2 engine to replace Source, with it publicly debuting alongside Half-Life: Alyx. The Source engine is most well-known for its advancements in physics, AI, and graphics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havok (software)</span> Video game middleware

Havok is a middleware software suite developed by the Irish company Havok. Havok provides a physics engine component and related functions to video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torque (game engine)</span> 3D computer game engine

Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 first-person shooter Tribes 2. In September 2012, GarageGames released Torque 3D as open-source software under the MIT License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CryEngine</span> Game engine by Crytek

CryEngine is a game engine designed by the German game developer Crytek. It has been used in all of their titles with the initial version being used in Far Cry, and continues to be updated to support new consoles and hardware for their games. It has also been used for many third-party games under Crytek's licensing scheme, including Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 and SNOW. Warhorse Studios uses a modified version of the engine for their medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Ubisoft maintains an in-house, heavily modified version of CryEngine from the original Far Cry called the Dunia Engine, which is used in their later iterations of the Far Cry series.

jMonkeyEngine Open source Java game engine

jMonkeyEngine is an open-source and cross-platform game engine for developing 3D games written in Java. It can be used to write games for Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android, and iOS. It uses Lightweight Java Game Library as its default renderer, and also supports another renderer based on Java OpenGL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PhysX</span> Realtime physics engine software

PhysX is an open-source realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Nvidia as a part of Nvidia GameWorks software suite.

SpeedTree is a group of vegetation programming and modeling software products developed and sold by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (IDV) that generates virtual foliage for animations, architecture and in real time for video games and demanding real time simulations.

<i>Pinball FX</i> 2007 video game

Pinball FX is a pinball machine video game for the Xbox 360. It was developed by Zen Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on April 25, 2007 via the Xbox Live Arcade service. The game features three tables, with six more available as downloadable content, leaderboards and online multiplayer. A sequel to the game, Pinball FX 2 was released on October 27, 2010.

Euphoria is a game animation middleware created by NaturalMotion based on Dynamic Motion Synthesis, NaturalMotion's proprietary technology for animating 3D characters on-the-fly "based on a full simulation of the 3D character, including body, muscles and motor nervous system". Instead of using predefined animations, the characters' actions and reactions are synthesized in real-time; they are different every time, even when replaying the same scene. While it is common for current video games to use limp "ragdolls" for animations generated on the fly, Euphoria employed a more complex method to animate the entirety of physically bound objects within the game environment. The engine was to be used in an Indiana Jones game that was later cancelled. According to its web site, Euphoria ran on the Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS and Android platforms and was compatible with all commercial physics engines.

Umbra is a graphics software technology company founded 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. Umbra specializes in occlusion culling, visibility solution technology and provides middleware for video games running on Windows, Linux, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, handheld consoles, and other platforms. In 2021, Amazon acquired Umbra.

dtSearch Corp. is a software company which specializes in text retrieval software. It was founded in 1991, and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Its current range of software includes products for enterprise desktop search, Intranet/Internet spidering and search, and search engines for developers (SDK) to integrate into other software applications.

Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) is a set of tools that independent software vendors (ISVs) can use to build customization abilities into their applications for both automation and extensibility. Those customization abilities can be used by end-users to tailor the ISV's application within a managed extensibility environment just like Visual Basic for Applications.

ZeniMax Online Studios LLC is an American video game developer and a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, specializing in massively multiplayer online games. The company developed The Elder Scrolls Online and its downloadable content. ZeniMax Online Studios had around 250 employees in 2012. In addition to the main Hunt Valley, Maryland based office, ZeniMax Online also maintains a satellite studio in Budapest, Hungary as well as a customer support center in Galway, Ireland and an additional office in Austin, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega Studios San Francisco</span> American video game developer

Sega Studios San Francisco, formerly known as Secret Level, Inc., was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in December 1999 by Jeremy Gordon, Otavio Good, and Josh Adams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinect</span> Motion-sensing input device for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flight calculations, which can in turn be used to perform real-time gesture recognition and body skeletal detection, among other capabilities. They also contain microphones that can be used for speech recognition and voice control.

xaitment is a German-based company that develops and sells artificial intelligence (AI) software to video game developers and simulation developers. The company was founded in 2004 by Dr. Andreas Gerber, and is a spin-off of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, or DFKI. xaitment has its main office in Quierschied, Germany, and field offices in San Francisco and China.

Fork Particle is a computer graphics visual effects modeling and software development kit (SDK) developed and sold by Fork Particle, Inc. Fork Particle uses its real time particle system technology to simulate visual effects or particle effects such as CGI explosions, fire, rain, smoke, dust, etc. Fork Particle is used in video games and visual simulation software such as a flight simulator. It has been licensed to game developers for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Construct (game engine)</span> Visual HTML5-based 2D game editor

Construct is an HTML5-based 2D video game engine developed by Scirra Ltd. It is aimed primarily at non-programmers, allowing quick creation of games through visual programming. First released as a GPL-licensed DirectX 9 game engine for Microsoft Windows with Python programming on October 27, 2007, it later became proprietary software with Construct 2, as well as switching its API technology from DirectX to NW.js and HTML5, as well as removing Python and adding JavaScript support and its plugin SDK in 2012, and eventually switched to a subscription-based model as a web app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Geometric Kernel</span>

Digital Geometric Kernel, is a software development framework and a set of components for enabling 3D/CAD functionality in Windows applications, developed by DInsight.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dobson, Jason (2007-08-29). "Tooling Around: Pathfinding With The PathEngine SDK". Game Developer. GamaSutra. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  2. ↑ Dobson, Jason (2007-08-29). "PathEngine SDK 5.11 Released, Licenses Added" . Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  3. ↑ César A. Berardini (2005-11-15). "PathEngine Announces Full Support for Xbox 360". Team Xbox. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20.
  4. ↑ "Technology: PathEngine". MobyGames. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  5. 1 2 "PathEngine". GamesIndustry.biz. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  6. ↑ Wallis, Alistair (8 June 2007). "Tooling Around: Pathfinding With The PathEngine SDK". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  7. ↑ "PathEngine - Intelligent agent movement". www.pathengine.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  8. 1 2 Dobson, Jason (2007-05-10). "Product: PathEngine SDK 5.10 Released, Licenses Added". Game Developer. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  9. 1 2 "PathEngine - Intelligent agent movement". www.pathengine.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  10. ↑ "PathEngine - Intelligent agent movement". www.pathengine.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.


Factory icon.svg

This software company article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.