Kingdom Hearts III AI Engineer has been working since October 2014

[Sora96 17,256]

We've found an Al Engineer that has been working on Kingdom Hearts III since October 2014. Eric Johnson, now living in Tokyo, Japan has an impressive resume to his name. He summarizes himself as a "Software engineer with 6+ years of industry experience in gameplay systems, localization, tools, and artificial intelligence." on his LinkedIn profile.

 

Before Kingdom Hearts III he worked on worked on KIXEYE's War Commander as a Senior AI Engineer between July 2013 and August 2014. Before that he worked as an AI Engineer on Star Wars 1313, the final game in development at LucasArts when George Lucas sold his company to Disney. During this time he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

He has also worked on other video game titles including Turbine's Infinite Crisis along with CCP on EVE Online and World of Darkness.

 

He graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in May 2008 with his Master of Science, Computer Science; specialization in Artificial Intelligence.

 

You can view the Kingdom Hearts III listing on his LinkedIn profile below.

 

 

 

If we find out about any other new staff working on Kingdom Hearts III we'll let you know.

 

Click here to view the article

[Sorarocks93 678]

"Before Kingdom Hearts III he worked on worked on KIXEYE's War Commander as a Senior AI Engineer between July 2013 and August 2014. Before that he worked as an AI Engineer on Star Wars 1313, the final game in development at LucasArts when George Lucas sold his company to Disney. During this time he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area."

 

Well the first one doesn't seem too popular and the second one got cancelled so...

 

Well it's not like KH needs an awesome AI or something. Just bashing them Heartless with your keyblade is what makes it fun. And the bosses weren't that bad in the previous games.

[Kittenz 4,281]

cool he awesome tho bitch must live and be fluent in nippon

[RikuFangirl2008 1,368]

What if the AI is a bit tougher than the last Kingdom Hearts games? 

[Nero Kunivas 3,046]

"Before Kingdom Hearts III he worked on worked on KIXEYE's War Commander as a Senior AI Engineer between July 2013 and August 2014. Before that he worked as an AI Engineer on Star Wars 1313, the final game in development at LucasArts when George Lucas sold his company to Disney. During this time he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area."

 

Well the first one doesn't seem too popular and the second one got cancelled so...

 

Well it's not like KH needs an awesome AI or something. Just bashing them Heartless with your keyblade is what makes it fun. And the bosses weren't that bad in the previous games.

Personally, I would prefer a better AI for KH3. Not just for Bosses but for the normal enemies too.

 

It would be interesting to see the Heartless actually move as a pack or even a mass like in the E3 Reveal and perhaps show some semblance of Intelligence, especially for the tougher ones. Or at least have another thought other than Attack.

 

Anything better than previous games AI is good enough for me.  

[hatok 6,413]

you guys don't want better AI

[SoratheFallen 33]

He better not raise the enemy/boss AI like he did in Dream Drop Distance! That just made the game shitty all in itself! You better do it right this time, Eric Johnson!

 

 

you guys don't want better AI

I so agree!!! Edited April 20, 2015 by Shana09

[SoratheFallen 33]

Obviously you can't contact him without being a premium member LinkedIn! That's why he doesn't have a profile anywhere else! He doesn't want any hate mail! What a punk!

[Nero Kunivas 3,046]

So, you think we don't want AI that's competent? Or can think? Or can actually use good tactics?

 

And that wasn't an AI improvement in DDD. Just a change to a very cheap and/or aggressive AI, not improved.

 

And really, I'm just tired of recent games AI being really, really stupid.

[KeybladeLordCheeseCurd 1,542]

So, you think we don't want AI that's competent? Or can think? Or can actually use good tactics? And that wasn't an AI improvement in DDD. Just a change to a very cheap and/or aggressive AI, not improved. And really, I'm just tired of recent games AI being really, really stupid.

Maybe he learned from his mistakes

[Oishii 3,987]

You make it out like this one guy is going to program all the AI in the game

[Charles Matthews 24]

If they have a better group of people working on new and improved AI for KH3 compared to KH2... I'd be willing to wait a little longer. Don't need Donald and Goofy dying every 5 seconds on me or Donald wasting good magic spells on useless enemies and vice versa </3 

Edited April 21, 2015 by Charles Matthews

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Well this is interesting!  I'm assuming that in the coming months we'll keep receiving more info on who are the staff members that are working on certain aspects of the game!  I hope that they work extra hard to make Kingdom Hearts III the best game in the series yet!  I'm more than willing to wait for the game, because I know it'll be a polished, well developed experience!

[Xeorizar 22]

So, you think we don't want AI that's competent? Or can think? Or can actually use good tactics?

 

And that wasn't an AI improvement in DDD. Just a change to a very cheap and/or aggressive AI, not improved.

 

And really, I'm just tired of recent games AI being really, really stupid.

OH God what if there's a mystery figure or something along that lines. I can already see the deaths and hear soras scream. lol 

[Hero of Light XIV 2,381]

"Before Kingdom Hearts III he worked on worked on KIXEYE's War Commander as a Senior AI Engineer between July 2013 and August 2014. Before that he worked as an AI Engineer on Star Wars 1313, the final game in development at LucasArts when George Lucas sold his company to Disney. During this time he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area."

 

Well the first one doesn't seem too popular and the second one got cancelled so...

 

Well it's not like KH needs an awesome AI or something. Just bashing them Heartless with your keyblade is what makes it fun. And the bosses weren't that bad in the previous games.

You do know he's not the sole person working on the AI, right? There's hardly ever such thing as a one person job in the game industry anymore, especially when it comes to something as complicated as game AI. Also, the fact that he worked on those two games and they either got canceled or just weren't that popular doesn't say anything about his abilities, it's just stating that he worked on those games and has prior experience. Many other factors go into a game's fate, a game not being popular being due to the masses' general interest and how the game overall is handled, and a game being canceled being due to many, many, MANY technical and monetary issues, usually monetary ones (basically, the game didn't get canceled purely because of one guy's job on the AI). So the fact that he worked on the AI for those games doesn't guarantee that the AI for KH III will be terrible, considering the fact that he is experienced and there are more than just one person working on the AI for any game.

[o_hay_man 51]

lol everybody is now an expert on AI enginieering 

[King_Graham 135]

Contributing to the idea that KH is becoming even more of an international series.

[flaahgra012 32]

This could finally be the game where Donald won't heal Sora at the exact same time he heals himself!