don't know if this has been posted before. but im working on a soccer game, kinda like sensible soccer, and well i was wondering if anyone knew of any good books/websites/articles where i can read up on how best to implement the AI for making the players move around automatically (e.g. manager type game)/semi-automatically (you being one of the players). thanks, oneg out. :D

Have you played Sensible World of Soccer? I believe that you can customise your own tactics there, which effectively dictates the AI. The pitch is divided into an arbitrary number of areas (9, or 12, something like that), so at all times the ball is in one of those areas, and for each of those situations each player has a desired position. Therefore as the ball is moved around the pitch the players have an idea of where they're supposed to be. You can then apply a special case for the player nearest the ball at any given time, typically to move towards the ball, and a few heuristics for players on the ball, such as to move towards the opponent's goal but away from opponents, or to pass to another player.

(Edit -- nonsensical sentence reworded.)

[Edited by - Kylotan on May 31, 2005 4:59:49 PM]

It's propbably useful to find a book on soccer tactics too. Unless you are a coach already :)

thanks for the responses dudes. i'll check out what u've said. i'll check back here from time to time, so i'd appreciate some other responses on this. thanks.