Suggestion regarding enemy/NPC behaviour

[Chainsaw man]

If I do remeber Gore is an optonal feature.
If thats the case tho, There must be a gore level where when people are hit on a killing blow they explode JK

[Hal1989]

You shall call that MK mode, lol XD

[Ozymandias]

my friend likes to makes skits. one of them was 'what if no matter how someone dies their head explodes"


people will be walking down the street, have a heart attack, then their head explodes.

person on his deathbed telling the kid his final wishes or whatever. Boom, his head explodes....

[Chainsaw man]

haha! Thats awsome!

[Glabbit]

Someone with a severe bleeding in the head, who mustn't move a muscle for the next hour or so for any hope of healing and living.
He sneezes.
His head explodes.

[Ekevoo]

Is there any way that NPCs can be programmed to fight each other? I think entering a fight that's already started without you would make the game seem much more dynamic, though I guess that would have to tie into the storyline.

Please play Half Life 2: Episode 1 with commentary track enabled.
Not only this game is full of interesting AI vs. AI fights (zombies vs. antlions vs. combine vs. you and your allies), the commentary tracks say a lot on the problems, solutions and ramifications of that kind of idea.
If you don't have the game, I suggest you to buy the whole Orange Box. It's a fantastic pack!

2. While searching for a concealed encampment of hostile rats, Turner is spotted by a couple of rat sentries. Once again, this is the point where in most games gratuitous violence would occur. However, why not instead have one of the sentries shadow Turner and keep out of sight while the other quietly double-times it back to the main camp in order to prepare an unpleasant surprise.

You've just created an insanely hard game here, pal. : ) I'm not saying this is a bad idea tho.

[Chainsaw man]

I think its the hard that makes you wanna play it.
I would rather a tricky game than a game you can walk though.
This was why I liked tomb raider (other than those huge bouncy knockers) how ever, monsters were WAY TOO EASY to kill. what made the game hard was puzzle, but thats not realy important.

My point is Hard AI is good.

[marmorek]

These are good ideas, and if you don't mind, I would like to add another suggestion, which is one I've made a long while ago:

Is there any way that NPCs can be programmed to fight each other? I think entering a fight that's already started without you would make the game seem much more dynamic, though I guess that would have to tie into the storyline.

I remember that Oni had the cheat code "reservoirdogs" (how appropriate!) that would make enemies fight each other.

[Ekevoo]

My point is Hard AI is good.

Hard AI is good.
Hard AI only is bad.

Myself, I always play games on easy mode, and only try the harder modes if the replay value is good enough (not very common). I hate trying the same thing over and over again -- if I have to work hard and excel on, may that be on something that pays me money and not something I pay money for.

[Chainsaw man]

Odd... I always play games on Medium or Hard depending on the game and my emotonal state.

[Ekevoo]

*shrug* It's a matter of personal taste. Otherwise games wouldn't have skill level selection.

[Ekevoo]

Sorry for the double post. This is just to add (the Closed Caption screen shots of) the commentary tracks I've mentioned, since obviously not everyone that is interested in this discussion is also interested in playing the HL2 series.

from Half-Life 2: Episode One (released 2006)

from Half-Life 2: Episode Two (released 2007)

[Chainsaw man]

Sorry for the double post. This is just to add (the Closed Caption screen shots of) the commentary tracks I've mentioned, since obviously not everyone that is interested in this discussion is also interested in playing the HL2 series.

ai vs ai.jpg

ai complexity.jpg

I never played HL1, but when I got a hold of HL2: The Lost Coast, I fell in love with the game.
It was interesting, and some what belivable, I felt like I was on some remote Ilse some where in europe. The game, although the desing is kinda liniar, it promotes a bit of exploreaton despite the leachs in the water (If I had made the game, I would make the Dock across the bay a part of game play and used a ship as a snipers nest, although HL2 from what I understand has not snipers rifle), it had a few physics tasks (like jamming the Head crab Shell launcher)it had a Boss (the Chopper) as well as a conclusion. I felt sad to leave the adventure on the Lost coast. So sad that I bough Gmod and CS:S and for a month I played with it, but I was later forced to leave the game due to moving to the states.

While playing the game, I saw allot of 'smart' AI. Than again, I probobly havent played allot of games, most of the FPS I played was the likes of Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, UT, Cube 1 - 2, and Quake 3. Most of the AI runs around in Circles or allong a predictable path.

[Zaphon]

I never played HL1, but when I got a hold of HL2: The Lost Coast, I fell in love with the game. (...)

Wait, maybe I just misunderstood you, but have you only played Lost Coast?
Lost Coast was a free Half-Life 2 level that was released to showcase the new HDR-technology in the Source engine. You need to play the whole game, man! It's great. You can get the Orange Box on Steam, it's a package that includes HL2, HL2: Episode 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.
(And, uh. Lost Coast xP) It's real cheap too!

Anyway, on topic, I like the original poster's ideas-- (Well, the scenario with the rats) But they're not very easy to implement.
I like err, "Hard AI", in terms of cleverness, not unfair accuracy and omnipotence (Seeing you when they obviously shouldn't be able to, etc.). I think F.E.A.R made its enemies appear pretty clever, they ran from cover to cover, kicking over tables and leaping over things and such. Crysis' enemies did the same, though in a less linear environment, and they would go into different alert states and carefully approach the area they think the threat was located in.
I liked the AI in Lugaru, it was good at manoeuvring the environment and putting up a fight.
Now, I'm not 100% certain where the team wants to take Overgrowth, I remember something about a Fallout 2 style map? So maybe a semi mission based structure?
The Overgrowth AI will probably be a bit advanced, at least in terms of navigating the environment, especially if everyone is as acrobatic as in Lugaru.
Anyway, I'm sure Wolfire going to create something amazing!

[Chainsaw man]

I never played HL1, but when I got a hold of HL2: The Lost Coast, I fell in love with the game. (...)

Wait, maybe I just misunderstood you, but have you only played Lost Coast?
Lost Coast was a free Half-Life 2 level that was released to showcase the new HDR-technology in the Source engine. You need to play the whole game, man! It's great. You can get the Orange Box on Steam, it's a package that includes HL2, HL2: Episode 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.
(And, uh. Lost Coast xP) It's real cheap too!

No you did not misunderstand me. I have only played HL2:LC, GMod, and CS:S.
I also heard that You NVIDIA Graphics card (depending if your have the right modle) will pay for some Eps of HL2. How ever, I wouldent try playing anything beyond y2k on my Dads computer. His computer is the result of a Salvage run upgrade.

Anyway, on topic, I like the original poster's ideas-- (Well, the scenario with the rats) But they're not very easy to implement.
I like err, "Hard AI", in terms of cleverness, not unfair accuracy and omnipotence (Seeing you when they obviously shouldn't be able to, etc.)

Oh, like Quake 3?

I think F.E.A.R made its enemies appear pretty clever, they ran from cover to cover, kicking over tables and leaping over things and such. Crysis' enemies did the same, though in a less linear environment, and they would go into different alert states and carefully approach the area they think the threat was located in.

I personaly played 10 minutes of some ones save of Crysis, the computer was not dated for its graphics level so I keeped dieing rather quickly. it did not take me long to segest overclocking his machine. then I found out the reason it was running like a bitch was because my mate had graphics set to maximum.

I liked the AI in Lugaru, it was good at manoeuvring the environment and putting up a fight.

Lugaru I was not sure on How much AI it really had. For instance, The Rabbits/wolves would mob up on you, rather than take turns at fighting, game ply wise it was a + making game play harder and challanging and not so 'stupid' but was it really AI that caused this? Or a Lack of AI?
That said, Lugaru is still one of my Fav games.

Now, I'm not 100% certain where the team wants to take Overgrowth, I remember something about a Fallout 2 style map? So maybe a semi mission based structure?
The Overgrowth AI will probably be a bit advanced, at least in terms of navigating the environment, especially if everyone is as acrobatic as in Lugaru.
Anyway, I'm sure Wolfire going to create something amazing!

I say some will have Gymiastics ability, while some AI will use good ol brute force with feet planted to the earth, and some will panic and run around trying to get away from the cross fire.