jeff Vogel from Spiderwebsoftware, makers of such great shareware games like Avernum, has written his latest Grumpy Gamer column for CGO. In this article, he deals with AI problems in Baldur's Gate. And he has some very good points:
Problem II: Not caring about Joe
Even when all of the creatures in a room were visible and active, they did not always care about their friends. When a tons of beasties spawned in a room, the first thing I did was to evict my entire group. Then I inched one character up to the edge of the room until one creature gave chase. Pull that critter back to rest of group. Hack it. Repeat, pulling singles and doubles, until room is clear.
Monsters with brains should always care about Joe. If Joe is suddenly gone, those monsters should Wig Out. My favorite response would be for them to, in a tight group, leave their room and start wandering around until they found the party. Heck, I'd assume they could hear (or smell, or sense psionically) the party and could follow a path straight to it.
A boldfaced plea for fame and immortality: I've been writing this column for about two years. If once, just once, after reading this, some game designer somewhere says, "This isn't right. The monsters don't care about Joe," then my time here was well spent.
The moment a member of a group dies, everyone in that group should do something. What? That depends on circumstances. But something! |
Grumpy Gamer on Baldur's Gate 2
