Paul Tozour

Paul Tozour created the AI for the three Metroid Prime Trilogy games, including Helios. He no longer works in the game industry.

Resume
''July 2003-June 2008. Senior Engineer, Retro Studios / Nintendo. Extensive gameplay, AI, and tools development for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and two subsequent unannounced products. Responsibilities included custom AI development and tuning of dozens of creature AI systems and boss encounters. Designed and built an extensive real-time artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic and debugging toolset, a collision abstraction system and attachment management system, and refactored pathfinding systems for flying and jump-capable creatures. Rewrote the internal in-game debugging system to be fully hierarchical and make full use of the Wii remote pointer. Mentored several engineers involved in AI development.''

Links

 * [July 2003-June 2008. Senior Engineer, Retro Studios / Nintendo.  Extensive gameplay, AI, and tools development for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and two subsequent unannounced products. Responsibilities included custom AI development and tuning of dozens of creature AI systems and boss encounters.  Designed and built an extensive real-time artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic and debugging toolset, a collision abstraction system and attachment management system, and refactored pathfinding systems for flying and jump-capable creatures.  Rewrote the internal in-game debugging system to be fully hierarchical and make full use of the Wii remote pointer.  Mentored several engineers involved in AI development.Personal webpage]
 * Helios interview (Requires subscription)
 * "In this interview, Paul Tozour discusses his work on the AI of Metroid Prime 3, most notably the boss called Helios. He discusses the swarms in the game as the inspiration for Helios, and the various stages of the prototype. Paul also discusses the various levels of intelligence that goes into this multi-agent system, including the various forms of Helios: creature, shapes, swarm, multiple swarms, and particles system. You'll also learn about the various obstacles encountered, such as performance in collision or avoidance, and how they were resolved in practice."