  Pathfinding is a very popular area in computer game development. While
two-dimensional (2D) pathfinding is widely applied in most of the popular game
engines, little implementation of real three-dimensional (3D) pathfinding can
be found. This research presents a dynamic search space optimization algorithm
which can be applied to tessellate 3D search space unevenly, significantly
reducing the total number of resulting nodes. The algorithm can be used with
popular pathfinding algorithms in 3D game engines. Furthermore, a simplified
standalone 3D pathfinding algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed
algorithm relies on ray-casting or line vision to generate a feasible path
during runtime without requiring division of the search space into a 3D grid.
Both of the proposed algorithms are simulated on Unreal Engine to show
innerworkings and resultant path comparison with A*. The advantages and
shortcomings of the proposed algorithms are also discussed along with future
directions.
