Quake AI Programming Book

I intend to write a follow-up book to the Nature-Inspired Clever Algorithms book on Machine Learning. I have a lot going on this year, so I was thinking of postponing it until 2012. If I do decided to go down this road, I was thinking of taking on a different project in 2011 that would be smaller in scope, less taxing, although still interesting and rewarding.

I have been thinking of writing a book about the AI in the Quake series of computer games. I was thinking of either writing a book that analysed the Artificial Intelligence architecture in each game in the series, or analyze the AI in the bot modifications. Perhaps both. The book would walk through monster or bot case studies and describe how they fit together, think, and behave. Perhaps with small experiments and demonstrations along the way. The kind of book that would have captured me as a game programming hacker 15 years ago.

In pondering this idea, I thought it prudent to explore other books written on or related to this idea. The following is a list of books that I found:

Quake Series Programming Books

• Focus On Mod Programming in Quake III Arena, 2002
• Quake 4 Mods For Dummies, 2006

Related Programming Books

• Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design, 2004
• UnrealScript Game Programming All in One, 2006
• Unreal Tournament Game Programming for Teens, 2006
• Mapping and Modding Half Life 2 Complete, 2006
• Half Life 2 Mods For Dummies, 2007
• Advanced Source Level Design, 2007
• Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3, 2009
• Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II: Advanced Level Design Concepts with Unreal Engine 3, 2009
• Unreal Game Development, 2010

These are by no means the cream of the crop of game AI programming, and there are in fact many level design books in there as well.

All of these books are focused on teaching some form of programming or game development using an existing game as a medium. The advantage of the Quake series is that the source code is released under the GPL. The Unreal series and the Half-Life (Source Engine) series are not released as open source, although do provide access to some aspects of the source under restricted licence for the modding community.

It is clear that there is interest/demand for books on game development based on the Unreal series, which makes a lot of sense given their general success in licencing the technology.

Some concerns about tackling such a project include:

• Interest: The games in the Quake series are old (10-15 years). The methods may be outdated, they may not be relevant to modern computer games, and it is more than likely that no one will care
• Low Barrier: It is more than likely that no one has undertaken such a project because the barrier is so low. One can simply read the code and understand what is happening, no analysis is necessary. 
• Copyright: Although the source code is released under the GPL, the game assets are not. One may have to acquire a licensed copy of the game to do any meaningful development. Additionally, my use of game screenshots may be restricted (fair use!?).

There is some effort required to produce such a work. Getting each project setup may be involved, especially across the three main platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux). The work would be primarily analysis: reading source code, experimenting and communicating what is happening with diagrams and descriptions. This tinker-write cycle is slightly more relaxed than the deep research needed for each algorithm in a machine learning text.

Is there interest in the market? Would you read or skim such a book?
Let me know what you think in a comment or email.