It not only HAS been done, it WILL be done in dungeonsiege.

www.dungeonsiege.org I believe.



Gyzmo
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Edited by - Gyzmo on August 18, 2000 8:39:11 AM

Make it hard to cast (remove it until REALLY needed) and make them have to have specified waypoints. That way, they could end up anywhere if they are in a hurry. Making them have to specify waypoints means that the portal point could have been infested by creatures again. Maybe you are thinking of the actual Diablo/II portal system? I am thinking of my own implementation of it... A lot harder to actually portal. Cost of energy (tiring), cost of mana, cost of concentration (due to tiring). It takes time to actually cast as well (cast times are important) so the character would be left vulnerable for some specified amount of time (longer than current casting takes).

Because they are trying to cast, they are unable to defend themselves... Do you see that there are now dangers that should be taken into account? This is why it was a weak design in Diablo/II. Is it such a weak design now? yes, but it is much better. I have some other methods, but it is much to late for me to be thinking

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

I kind of like the idea of your NPCs being able to carry inventory off because it makes you somewhat vulnerable. This gives you the option to strategize accordingly, as in do you want to have your guys help you out with this level and risk sending a party member off, or do you want to risk going it alone and have the rest of your party cover them.

I think this could really work if some things in th game world required you to be at two places at once: Say you''ve promised to help a city if it is attacked, but you''re in the middle of a time sensitive quest. Maybe you send your most powerful wizard to go defend the city while you complete the quest. Then maybe he''s captured, and this gives you a new quest.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

I like that thinking... I wouldn''t want portals if this is what you were trying to achieve. You may have to place ''markers'' around so that the wizard will be able to find his/her way back to the city. Or else, you could have a pathfinding algo that would estimate the time to travel, and then just have the wizard walk off and then appear in the city later... Just a thought

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

quote: Original post by dwarfsoft

I like that thinking... I wouldn''t want portals if this is what you were trying to achieve. You may have to place ''markers'' around so that the wizard will be able to find his/her way back to the city. Or else, you could have a pathfinding algo that would estimate the time to travel, and then just have the wizard walk off and then appear in the city later... Just a thought

I''m was thinking of just imbedding a bunch of weighted graphs in the map that have trave times, enemy positions, and such. Then the wizard could follow the smartest path. But if he''s a risk maybe your waypoint idea would be better. At least he should show you which route he''s gonna go, and you could adjust it as you like.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Dungeon Siege is going to allow you to send parties to different locations... the example that you gave would be possible in that game

Dungeon Siege

I like the looks of this game alot and can''t wait to see/play it



Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

The problem with my maps is that they are randomly generated. But they are randomly generated with roads. I should find it quite easy to ask an NPC to go HERE, and they could follow the roads. You just have the system place a waypoint at each intersection and it has a list of cities/towns/or waypoints and their distances away that it can directly be linked to. Then, when you ask your NPC to go somewhere, they follow the road... They are also interested in self preservation, and as such will return to a previous point on the road if they fell danger ahead. You could then also specify other waypoints for quick off-road journies

Just a thought. BTW. The waypoints are not the waypoints as seen in Diablo II. They are nodes that are there for pathfinding and pathfinding alone. They are invisible to you, but they are visible to NPC''s who are following them. I cannot think of a simpler system. I believe that this was discussed in another forum about Half Life and the nodes for pathfinding.

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

What about the case where you have 2 roads, equally good, but your past experience tells you that one road is better than the other. For instance, you could decide that enemies are near, but not likely to attack, and send the NPC the road that''s near them.

Or what about the case where you''re so paranoid that you want and enemy to take a super-safe road, even though it''s less optimal, no matter what?

I think a good solution here would be to have the NPC show you his route on the map, and you could adjust it if you like. Better yet, give the map''s regions names and have the NPC''s be smart enough to tell you his route by text. "I''m off to Egypt, by way of Medea" (or whatever).

I agree it should be kept in character. But we all hate it when AI does something stupid, and with the analysis required here it seems like stupidity is easy to come by.

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Just waiting for the mothership...