4 replies to this topic

[Orithan]

The Keaton Journey is a project about self-achievement and using my design quirks to my advantage.
In this project, I plan to take one of my most intrusive quest design assets - high difficulty - and turn that into an attribute of this quest. But unlike my old quests, especially my cancelled Atonement of Time and completed Gale of Darkness dungeon, this difficulty will be largely based on your ability to fight the enemies and not the other way around.

 

This is where one of the main selling points of this quest comes into play - The enemies will have vastly superior AI to what they originally had, often above and beyond even that of the 3D Zelda games. With the exceptions of Gel and Keese, all enemies will show at least a basic level of AI. Even Octorocks and Ropes will have some basic knowledge of combat - Ropes, for example, will actively try to circle around you and strike somewhere where you are unprotected by your sword. The AI will get more sophisticated as you get to higher enemy tiers and more intelligent enemy types, culminating in the tactical masterminds that will be Darknuts and Wizzrobes with several different elaborate strategies depending on what other enemies they are paired with, the screen layout and even how you react to them.

 

This will all be accomplished by scripting. Every single enemy, right down to the last Gel, in the quest will be ghosted to give me a fine level of control over their behavior (amongst other things, like to use in cutscenes). Learning how to script AI is already shaping out to be an arduous process given that I don't understand all the key variables and functions, particularly the commonly used abs(); command - I have zero idea about what the "absolute" value of a number is. However, once I get the first enemy fully down (hopefully), I will have a much easier time with scripting the rest.

 

With these changes in mind; the player can't just expect to chug down a potion and then expect to tank the two Darknuts guarding that key over there. This will encourage smart play - to outwit your enemies in a battle of skill rather than defeat them by spamming top-tier items or just outright tanking them. You will need to use your inventory to your greatest effect.

 

There are other major selling points for this quest like the improved events system, but I felt like that addressing this one right now because it is arguably most game-changing of the lot and will affect how you play this quest.

 

Edit: Also, keep an eye out for Enemy of the Month 4 - The enemy I have submitted will be present in this quest in a different form... and a much better, quest-specific, AI.

Edited by Orithan, 14 May 2014 - 08:52 AM.

[Moosh]

Will there be save points in this quest? That's the one thing I remember about AoT more than the difficulty. It had infrequently scattered save points paired with branching paths in dungeons, two things that don't mix well at all.

 

The improved enemy AI sounds interesting although I wonder if it will become something that can be abused like Blind in ALttP. When creating difficult enemies you need to strike a balance between RNG and strategy, something I'm admittedly not that great at. The bonus boss of Isle of Rebirth is a good example of this, though. It's rolling dice, but it's rolling hateful dice based on your position and various other factors.

 

Also using Abs() just makes a number positive. It's really that simple.

[Orithan]

Will there be save points in this quest? That's the one thing I remember about AoT more than the difficulty. It had infrequently scattered save points paired with branching paths in dungeons, two things that don't mix well at all.

 

The improved enemy AI sounds interesting although I wonder if it will become something that can be abused like Blind in ALttP. When creating difficult enemies you need to strike a balance between RNG and strategy, something I'm admittedly not that great at. The bonus boss of Isle of Rebirth is a good example of this, though. It's rolling dice, but it's rolling hateful dice based on your position and various other factors.

 

Also using Abs() just makes a number positive. It's really that simple.

 

I will be using save points in a sense, as in F6 disabled. I am planning to script my own game over screen which will make use of these "save" points. It will emulate the original perfectly but with updated graphics. When you hit "Save", the quest will save your data and it will retain your continue point for when you enter the game next time (by exiting out of it and then back in or pressing "continue").

 

As for the enemy tactics, there will be three levels of strategy modification exhibited by enemies in this quest: Reaction to Player (High). Enemy Teamwork (Moderate) and Player Location (Low).

Reaction to player involves changing their strategy on the fly depending on the player's reactions - Wizzrobes may try to predict the player's movements and time their attacks accordingly if they are being particularly aggressive but become aggressive back if they are being particularly defensive and will relentlessly fire at the player if they try to camp in a corner (if they are capable of blocking their shots, that is). Enemy Teamwork involves changing their tactics based on what other enemies they are paired with - a pair of Moblins will try to restrict the player's movement by firing arrows in a manner that makes it difficult to pass through a certain point when paired with Ropes whereas they will charge the player directly if Blue Octorocks are present (Red Octorocks are incapable teamwork, so they can't do this). Player Location is just basic AI, just try to get the player safely.

There will be some form of RNG in these enemies, most notable in the enemies with lower AI. However Wizzrobes and Darknuts will change their tactics if they find out that they are failing to threaten the player as much as they should to add an element of unpredictability.

Edited by Orithan, 14 May 2014 - 11:04 AM.

[anikom15]

AI is freaking hard, or maybe I just hate doing it.

I think Strike is into AI. For once I don't have any books to recommend, but I do have an article:
https://software.int...or-games-part-1
Have fun!

P.S. Abs() is the same thing as absolute value in math. There are a few other math functions. You should learn how to use them as well (esp. the trig functions).

[strike]

This is really cool! I would definetly play this. Another game that had enemies with advanced AI was grayswander's soemthing or other (don't remember). It was pretty well executed, might want to check it out.

Yes I'm very interested in AI. I'm planning to learn as much as I possibly can about programming this summer.

-Strike