Low CPU/Memory/Memory-bandwith Pathfinding (maybe like in Warcraft 1)

Posted by Valmond on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by Valmond
Published on 2012-09-14T12:11:19Z Indexed on 2012/09/14 21:49 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 222

Filed under:

algorithm

|

path-finding

|

warcraft

Dijkstra and A* are all nice and popular but what kind of algorithm was used in Warcraft 1 for pathfinding?

I remember that the enemy could get trapped in bowl-like caverns which means there were (most probably) no full-path calculations from "start to end". If I recall correctly, the algorithm could be something like this:

A) Move towards enemy until success or hitting a wall

B) If blocked by a wall, follow the wall until you can move towards the enemy without being blocked and then do A)

But I'd like to know, if someone knows :-)

[edit] As explained to Byte56, I'm searching for a low cpu/mem/mem-bandwidth algo and wanted to know if Warcraft had some special secrets to deliver (never seen that kind of pathfinding elsewhere), I hope that that is more concordant with the stackexchange rules.

© Game Development or respective owner

Related posts about algorithm

Jpeg Algorithm vs BMP Algorithm?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm just wonder, what the differences are between creating a BMP file algorithm and JPG file algorithm ? If you know the others images' format algorithm, please post them. Thanks. >>> More
word disambiguation algorithm (Lesk algorithm)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hii.. Can anybody help me to find an algorithm in Java code to find synonyms of a search word based on the context and I want to implement the algorithm with WordNet database. For example, "I am running a Java program". From the context, I want to find the synonyms for the word "running", but the… >>> More
Search algorithm (with a sort algorithm already implemented)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello, Im doing a Java application and Im facing some doubts in which concerns performance. I have a PriorityQueue which guarantees me the element removed is the one with greater priority. That PriorityQueue has instances of class Event (which implements Comparable interface). Each Event is associated… >>> More
Is there any algorithm for finding LINES by PIXEL COLORS on picture?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
So I have Image like this I want to get something like this (I hevent drawn all lines I want but I hope you can get my idea) I need algorithm for finding all straight lines on it by just reading colors of pixels. No hard math, no Haar, no Hough. Some algorithm which would be based on points… >>> More
collsion issues with quadtree [on hold]

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
So i implemented a Quad tree in Java for my 2D game and everything works fine except for when i run my collision detection algorithm, which checks if a object has hit another object and which side it hit.My problem is 80% of the time the collision algorithm works but sometimes the objects just go… >>> More

Related posts about path-finding

Do I need path finding to make AI avoid obstacles?

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
How do you know when a path-finding algorithm is really needed? There are contexts, where you just want to improve AI navigation to avoid an object, like a space -ship that won't crash on a planet or a car that already knows where to steer, but needs small corrections to avoid a road bump. As I've… >>> More
Why is Reinforcement Learning so rarely used in pathfinding?

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
The venerable shortest-path graph theoretic algorithm A* and subsequent improvements (e.g., Hierarchical Annotated A*) is clearly the technique of choice for pathfinding in game development. Instead, it just seems to me that RL is a more natural paradigm to move a character around a game space. And… >>> More
Pathfinding Algorithm For Pacman

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I wanted to implement the game Pacman. For the AI, I was thinking of using the A* algorithm, having seen it on numerous forums. However, I implemented the Breadth First Search for some simple pathfinding (going from point a to point b with certain obstacles in between) and found it gave the optimum… >>> More
Graphical sandbox for pathfinding

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
If you needed a clean and consistent sandbox for pathfinding what would you use? I want to experiment with different pathfinding algorithms by sending virtual units (robots) around obstacles on a geometric plane. But I don't need a feature overkill like a game engine or Flash might have, just an… >>> More
method for specialized pathfinding?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am working on a roguelike in my (very little) free time. Each level will basically be a few rectangular rooms connected together by paths. I want the paths between rooms to be natural-looking and windy, however. For example, I would not consider the following natural-looking: B … >>> More