Northstar Features
The Northstar SDK provides pathfinding, movement and dynamic collision handling in user customizable simulation space. The SDK is based on a grid representation of the simulation space and provides the infrastructure for such simulation. The SDK API contains over 100 functions that range from simple container like functionality to complex pathfinding queries and movement simulation updates.
The key features of the Northstar SDK are:
- Pathfinding, movement and dynamic collision handling that is capable of supporting thousands of AI agents simultaneously.
- Fully customizable AI agent movement attributes allowing for a wide range of movement abilities.
- Support for an unlimited number of simulation grids with the ability to dynamically switch between them. This feature allows for multiple stacked layers (for example flying-unit and underground layers) as well as levels with disjoint simulation grids.
- The movement code which uses internal fixed precision math for calculations and utilizes proprietary movement smoothing algorithms to hide the underlying grid structure.
- Container data structures with the functionality of STL containers.
- The SDK is ready to be integrated with lock-step simulation architectures frequently used in games that have a simulation intensive multiplayer mode. Internal fixed precision math ensures deterministic calculations on multiplayer clients.
- The SDK uses a C based API so no framework is forced upon the user.
- A modular API design allows the user to utilize any combination of features and supplement or customize the others.
- The SDK source code uses no templates, inheritance or other language features that might not be properly supported by non-compliant C++ compliers. The source code natively supports all common compilers and platforms with an ANSI C standard library.