Questions about unarmed AI

[RPGista]

You can't search for AI in the forums, sorry if this has been discussed before:

 

I was testing a portion of my map yesterday and I was able to observe a lot closer the behaviour of a defenseless AI when faced with the player. I had modeled a complete house with working doors and visportals, and placed a lady AI in there as a reference, but no path nodes whatsover. I was very surprised to see that sometimes after the lady would spot me, mostly after some time yelling for help, she would run around the house fleeing from me, opening doors and finding her way around the place even though there are no nodes at all, like I said. I thought that was pretty cleverly coded, but I have a few questions/suggestions:

 

- How exactly is the defenseless AI supposed to behave when faced with a chasing player? I've noticed that the decision of running around seems to be randomized, which is ok from a distance, but I would think that having the player touching you or very close would increase the odds of the AI fleeing (it doesnt seem to matter much, it mostly matters that they can see you)?

 

- In Aliens vs Predator 1 if you chased the civillians with any of the monsters for a while, they would go into a kind of shock state, showing that "desperation" pose (hands around the head, trembling, etc) that npcs in TDM also show. Is that reaction random too? Or is it cumulative? You would expect it to show after chasing and scaring the AI for too long (like a "fear meter"). I also noticed there doesnt seem to be any sounds associated with that reaction, its completely (very oddly) silent, unlike AvP, which is quite conving (kinda disturbing actually).

 

- Would it be possible/desirable to have the AI almost always facing you, keeping you on their sights ? - after all you are a ninja like thief armed to the teeth walking around their house, it looks a bit odd that they will mostly ignore your movements when in alert/yelling mode (= they will face you when you are discovered, but there are long periods of time when you are basicly ignored by the AI, while they are shouting mostly). Maybe they are like this to allow for easier aproach/blackjacking?

 

Summary:

a ) Could AI have a higher tendency to flee depending on how close the player is from them?;

b ) Could their "breakdown" reaction be a result of prolonged visual contact with the player (instead of random, if it is), and have appropriate sounds to it?;

c ) Could they have a higher tendency of facing the player and following his movements around them, just to keep the thief in sight?

[Springheel]

Unarmed AI will generally flee randomly when they spot you unless the mapper has established "flee points" where the AI should run to.

 

There is also some functionality for unarmed AI to get armed guards and lead them back to where they last saw you, though I forget whether that is automatic or whether also has to be set by a flee point.

 

We do have a "cower" animation like you described, but right now it isn't called by the code. I think there's already a tracker entry for that.

 

You raise a lot of valid points. The entire behaviour set of unarmed AI could certainly use some tightening up. I think grayman has some ideas he'd like to implement at some point.

[demagogue]

Worth adding the old desire for more variety with idle non-guard AI, like a "vocation" system to program idle stuff to do (cooks cook, maids go room to room cleaning), and more idle animations like reading a book, writing a letter, chopping wood, stuff like that, whatever else medieval people do.

[Sotha]

Worth adding the old desire for more variety with idle non-guard AI, like a "vocation" system to program idle stuff to do (cooks cook, maids go room to room cleaning), and more idle animations like reading a book, writing a letter, chopping wood, stuff like that, whatever else medieval people do.

 

The mapper can pretty much implement such a vocation system using RITs. See here:

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Path_Nodes#How_to_Make_AI_do_Random_Interesting_Things_.28RIT.29

 

Only the sky is the limit for mappers ingeniuty. Oh, okay, I admit it. The number of animations is the limit for mappers ingeniuty...

[RPGista]

@ Springheel - Glad to know Grayman is on it and we can expect even more sophjistication soon. I read on the wiki that indeed AI, when alerting other AI, will pass on the info on the last spotted location, so appearently just refering the fleeing AI to a friendly group should send them your way, thanks for that. Since in my case the couple live alone and there are no guards around that area, I think I'll probably just rely on the unarmed AI native mechanics instead of a direct point of escape, I like the way the lady scatters around the house avoiding the player. And thats mostly where I was focusing, on the native mechanics, whatever happens out of the flee point routine.

 

RITs are also a must, I'm beginning to realise, specifically for looping AI routines; that, coupled with linear, triggered AI actions could amount to great variety and an organic feel to maps. Yes, we are limited by animations though, just my little house already asked for two if I wanted to tell the story perfectly, a "carrying tray" (that could be dropped when scared by the player, causing a lot of noise) and a "sitting back reading book". I've seen a npc reading in Score to Settle (browsing pages on a book sitting on a table); is there a way of knowing about all the available animations in TDM?

[Springheel]

I've seen a npc reading in Score to Settle (browsing pages on a book sitting on a table); is there a way of knowing about all the available animations in TDM?

 

Greebo added an animation preview window to the latest version of DR.