A.i. Q & A

[Renzatic]

I love a challenging game. If I'm dripping with sweat and tense as hell I'm having fun. But on the other hand I hate a frustrating game, one that's unfair, cheap, and relies on constant reloading as a gameplay feature. That's why I hate Splinter Cell so much, quick thinking alone can't get you through it, you have to be psychic and figure out the exact route the programmers want you to take to get anywhere.

[Pyrian]

AI that react appropriately (for me) brings atmosphere, because it means you can act as you would in real life, and get real-life feedback (a la getting guards to fight by pitching them against each other)

Except in extreme circumstances, getting guards to fight each other should be nearly impossible. I love AI that reacts appropriately at least as much as the last guy, but most of the more outlandish suggestions I've heard depart even more from reality.

[FishFace]

I guess that depends. In Thief, we have lots of drunk guards - they'd be very likely to pitch fights, I reckon.

I suppose it depends whether the guards are friends and what-have-you. I get the impression that in days-gone-by, brawls and suchlike were more common. Of course, if the guards are good friends, this wouldn't happen without the guards being dead due to having been smacked with so much stuff.

 

Oh, that's another thing - on TDS, I think lobbing a huge vase at someone wouldn't actually cause them harm. Be very good if you could make `accidental` deaths, by making stuff fall on people... Or just kill by chucking stuff

Yeah, I'm not a ghoster..

[Chi Haotian]

It would be great to have special abilities for AIs. For instance, if some (or all) AIs could revive the knocked-out bodies when they found them. Or if they could notice and disarm mines if they lie in a very visible spot.

 

This can be difficulty-dependent (only happens on Hard, Expert) or AI character-dependent (medic, engineer, advanced soldier/guard, etc).

[New Horizon]

It would be great to have special abilities for AIs. For instance, if some (or all) AIs could revive the knocked-out bodies when they found them. Or if they could notice and disarm mines if they lie in a very visible spot.

 

We do not with for AI to revive knocked-out bodies for gameplay reasons. The player is given the choice between using tools of stealth and tools to kill. When an AI is knocked out, it's to remove them from play. We talked about it for ages, and finally realized that it is not a favorable idea to essentially slap someone in the face for using stealth, which is really what it would be in gameplay terms. "Oh, you chose to be stealthy? Guess we'll wake this guy up and undo your stealthy gameplay." Reality 'might' allow someone to be awakened after being struck with a leather sock full of lead pellets, but chances are they're going to stay down for a few hours. In any case, this was one of the decisions where gameplay won over reality. Sorry.

 

Disarming mines is a bit of a toss up. How does the player know the mine has been disabled? What if the AI disables it while the player is out of the room? It's realistic, but it's also bad for gameplay.

 

Both suggestions change the balance of gameplay rather dramatically.

[Chi Haotian]

Awaking the ko'd body would more likely be a punishment for leaving it in the open, for not hiding it properly. If it's tucked away, then nobody will revive it.

 

As for the mines, i would think the guard would take it away and also raise the alarm because somebody is running around setting up deadly traps for people. And that would also apply only to mines that have been set in well-lit places where they're obvious. It always seemed odd how a guard would not notice a bulky metal thing lying right in the middle of a bright hallway.

 

Both of these situations could also be made very rare by assigning such abilities to special AIs, as i said, so it would not be an annoyance but would only on occasion add a surprise element.

[New Horizon]

Our team decisions put aside, we're not really in the position to be adding new features at the moment. Our goal right now is to finish features that weren't finished in time for Beta 1.0. The things you are suggesting are gameplay altering additions. We've gone over all the possibilities of how and when an AI could revive someone, and we still decided against it. No offense of course, but remember we've had over 5 years to discuss all of these ideas. Regardless of how one might spin it, re-awakening a KO'd AI would still make KO'ing less desirable. The moral choice between killing and ko'ing is currently equal, and really that's all it comes down to...a moral choice, and that's how we would like to keep it. We don't want to make people favor killing because it would keep the AI down permanently.

 

Awaking the ko'd body would more likely be a punishment for leaving it in the open, for not hiding it properly. If it's tucked away, then nobody will revive it.

 

As for the mines, i would think the guard would take it away and also raise the alarm because somebody is running around setting up deadly traps for people. And that would also apply only to mines that have been set in well-lit places where they're obvious. It always seemed odd how a guard would not notice a bulky metal thing lying right in the middle of a bright hallway.

 

Both of these situations could also be made very rare by assigning such abilities to special AIs, as i said, so it would not be an annoyance but would only on occasion add a surprise element.

[Springheel]

As for the mines, i would think the guard would take it away and also raise the alarm because somebody is running around setting up deadly traps for people. And that would also apply only to mines that have been set in well-lit places where they're obvious. It always seemed odd how a guard would not notice a bulky metal thing lying right in the middle of a bright hallway.

 

Yes, we'd talked about letting guards see mines that were out in the open, but it hasn't been a big priority at the moment. Letting them see the mines is easy. Coding them to react in a believable manner--not so much.

[Tels]

Awaking the ko'd body would more likely be a punishment for leaving it in the open, for not hiding it properly. If it's tucked away, then nobody will revive it.

 

But if you leave a KOed body in the open, someone will see it and raise an alarm (they will even raise the alarm if they literally stumble over a KOed body in the dark). So you already get the penalty from not hiding KOed bodies.

[Chi Haotian]

True.