Bigpoint’s new action game Poisonville leverages EKI One® artificial behavior design middleware by Artificial Technology GmbH

• Poisonville’s complete game AI designed with EKI One® middleware
• EKI One® Configurator helps create and test behavior of non-player characters

Puchheim / Hamburg, 12 August 2010: Bigpoint’s new browser based blockbuster Poisonville (www.poisonville.com) opens its virtual city to the public on August 18, 2010 at the Gamescom. Users can expect busy city streets filled with thousands of NPCs and ambulances as well as high-speed cop chases in a completely 3D environment with different levels, maps and battle zones. All this amazing action is made possible thanks to Artificial Technology GmbH’s EKI One® middleware for NPC behavior, which guarantees that NPCs and AI vehicles go where they should and controls their fight reactions and aggressiveness levels. In order to do this, EKI One® runs on its own dedicated server, rendering it unnecessary for the game server and AI logics to share the same hardware resources. This allows NPC calculation performance to increase dramatically.

Jan Wergin, Bigpoint CTO, comments: “One EKI One®-dedicated server can control thousands of NPCs. In Poisonville, we can run the entire game AI with this software and directly determine and test NPC behavior by way of the EKI One® Configurator. The expertise amassed by the people at Artificial Technology is vital to the game, especially when thousands of real players begin to fight for control of one of the four gangs.”

Frank Gwosdz, Manging Director of Artificial Technology, states: “Once again Bigpoint proves that, in terms of technological advancements and sophisticated gameplay, browser games such as Poisonville can hold their own against traditional console games. We’re very proud that EKI One® contributed to this project.”