geo
Senior Member
Posts: 1655
Registered: 10-05 |
Didn't Doom 3 creators brag about the AI back before it came out... like they did with Rage too.
I think AI needs to be programmed based on trial and error from what players do. Like if a player stays hidden or pinned down. Throw some sort of explosive device to get the player to move. If you've got 3 enemies in 1 room have 1 distract while the other 2 flank. If there is cover around... take cover (but zombies aren't the smartest out there). Like how Trites will jump away from your fire.
If enemies could climb ladders it would just look weird unless they had some good animations, that's why stairs and elevators are good :-)
A big problem with the AI seems to be most of the time everything is stuck in a hallway.
Having an enemy run from you to find its friends would also be nice. Like a cherub that will hop away until it finds a pack of cherubs to attack you. Or having 1 Z-SEC run while firing or wait for you around a corner might be helpful. Or heck in the future a Z-ENG that sets up turrets and traps for you then runs to them. That might feel unDoom... so just make it an Arch Vile that will run from you, hide and spawn in enemies then you come running in and find a wall of bodies.
Testing AI
A good way to test AI first is to put a player vs enemy in an empty room. How do they react? Just shoot ala old Doom1 or strafe and shoot? Is there a game mechanic where kneeling means more accuracy?
Then put a box in the room. What happens with your AI do they stand shooting at you or do they take cover and shoot at you? In Uncharted 1 the enemies were great for finding cover and finding wacky and weird ways of coming out from it. They'd use blind fire, they'd peak out of the top and the side, they'd jump out, they'd do some jump and low crouching fire to react weirdly so you wouldn't be able to insta-kill them.
Perhaps put a better weapon in the room.... does the enemy try to go for the better weapon, pick it up and start using it?
Then put the player on a bunch of boxes with no gun and the player has no gun. Does the AI try to climb or jump to get on the boxes with you?
Next give the player a gun, but the enemy has no weapon? Does the AI have a sense of self sustainability where they hide from you with the gun ontop of boxes with the better vantage point?
After that... are the boxes destroyable? Give the player a gun, and the enemy a grenade, does the enemy try to blow up the boxes from beneath the player and hopefully the fall or explosion would stun the player and then the enemy can run in for the attack. Fire... can they burn down the boxes and the player on them?
Injury. Shoot someone in the leg, destroy a leg, can they zombie crawl? Do they limp. I think they solved this issue in Quake 2 I remember limping enemies. Then they talked so highly about it when Rage came out... they limp!
Threat assessment... The first Doom had infighting. Do Z-secs think imps are threats? Do demons attack lost souls? What's the bigger threat? Can they strafe to cover if getting attacked by a distant enemy so they can keep fighting the closer enemy without the distant one getting shots in.
Put the player on a platform with a ladder... can the AI even climb the ladder? Does the AI judge the distance the player with a gun is from the side of the platform, because if there's a risk of getting shot off the ladder, the AI shouldn't just rush in.
Can the enemy alert something to have a whole legion coming after you. Does gunfire draw attention from zombies?
More interestingly, since Doom is in space can they shoot windows out even if it means their own death just to make stuff tougher for you with 0 oxygen. What does a cacodemon care about air?
Last edited by geo on 02-08-13 at 19:48
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12-06-12 07:47 
