Hierarchical Pathfinding for Navigation Meshes (HNA*)

Path finding is a common problem in computer games. Most videogames require to simulate thousands or millions of agents who interact and navigate in a 3D world showing capabilities such as chasing, seeking or intercepting other agents. A new hierarchical path finding solution is proposed for large environments. Thus, a navigation mesh as abstract data structure is used in order to divide the 3D world. Then, a hierarchy of graphs is built to perform faster path finding calculations than a common A*. The benefits of this new approach are demonstrated on large world models.