PATH-FINDING FOR LARGE SCALE MULTIPLAYER COMPUTER GAMES

Path-finding consumes a significant amount of resources, especially in movement-intensive games such as (massively) multiplayer games. We investigate several pathfinding techniques, and explore the impact on performance of workloads derived from real player movements in a multiplayer game. We find that a map-conforming, hierarchical path-finding strategy performs best, and in combination with caching optimizations can greatly reduce path-finding cost. Performance is dominated primarily by algorithm, and only to a lesser degree by workload variation. Understanding the real impact of path-finding techniques allows for refined testing and optimization of game design.

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