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gmrkhan's Half-Life 2 (PC)
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| [October 13, 2006 01:39:56 PM]
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This post I would like to talk mostly about things that in the game are related to the AI. This post will be more along the lines of list.
- allied bots usually doing something else when user arrives, they look at you then continue doing something else while talking, and when you are to leave they go to doing something else. This is to not look as the characters merely standing around doing nothing.
- Most characters are very flat and always give a similar response after their initial speech.
- In the water route with the helicopter at the beginning very bad aim, but the more you drive the better the piloting and aiming, it seems that it now can anticipate where you are going and drops bombs in your path.
- Along the same line of the last one, the fact that if there are more than one guard and you send a grenade they will actually take cover and not shoot until they can see you. This works really good in illusion like the helicopter doing rounds at the exit and you can see that it acts like a real one, by not staying in one place to long and doing sweeps. The AI of searching for the player or the illusion of doing so is great. Along with the guard if they can they will try to intercept you in the route.
All of these post have been with the AI in the easiest level to see how credible the AI of the game would be at the lowest level it worked. As you play medium and hard the AI of the bots becomes more impressive.
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| [October 13, 2006 09:59:18 AM]
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The more I write this log the more I see myself analyzing not just the actions taking place in the game but rather more of the smaller actions taking place in the peripherals of the screen. Video games today have more space for creating detailed pictures in the screen along with textures and reflections in the water. All of those things that can be used to create more tensions and make the games become more realistic, even though you may be playing in space in a x-wing fighter jet. The fact that you you can see a sun or planets in the windshield of the other jets creates an awareness of the the worlds that you are in and also making the fact that you can die in this game more real than ever before.
All of these small details that I have never noticed are the ones that make AI more realistic. Things like when in the air boat and crossing the river the guards signaling each other by hand movement then the tanks fire. These small things that when playing the game for the first time you don't notice but they add to the effect of the game. I am sure that these signal are just programmed to happen when you reach a certain point, but as the game is played and the user is immersed into the game these small queues create a sense that the bots are communicating between each other. Once again I noticed that a key in this game to maintain a more realistic looking bots is the very short interaction between them and you. The couple of times that you have long interactions with them the difference is very noticeable since they seem to be on timer or when you reach certain point they move in a direction and if you get in the way of their path then they will push you out of the way even if they are your friends.
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| [October 13, 2006 09:50:03 AM]
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Today as I played more I began to notice things about the way the game was designed. The games does not have a particular good AI in the way that it interacts with the character since the character at no points says one word or makes sounds. All the character in the games create a sense that they have very advance AI by acting in a way that many people would act if they were busy.
What I mean is that HL2 does not have cinematic which are very common for first person shooting games. They rather have you in the game and the scenes of conversations between characters take place but you can choose to turn around and ignore those conversations, when you turn around so does the sounds which enhances the environment and gives the conversation a more real feeling rather than having the sounds come from all th speakers with no difference when you are looking different games. I realize that this is not very new since you may say that putting sounds in different speakers to create that illusion has been done before, but this takes on a whole new meaning when using a 5.1 system and is not only right or left but front and back. Along with the sound another technique use in making the AI seem more real is having the characters begin conversations with each other as you pass by. Something very common in the real world but not so much in gaming. A great couple of examples of this is when walking out of the train station and walking down the street there is a guard in front of a door and inside someone is getting a beating, when passing this you see for a very short period this and hear the screams. Usually in video games that means go and inspect, well when you get close the guard stops you tell you to move along and pushes you way, the second time he actually beats you using a night stick. The second example is after entering an apartment complex you see more of the situation that residents are in and pass by a women crying in her husbands shoulder, when you enter the room the husband looks up and tell you to keep moving and go back to his wife.
The more I see about the game the more I realize that character AI in games is more of what illusion can be created rather than how to make actual characters act on their own.
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| [October 12, 2006 09:23:11 PM]
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I started a new game of half life 2 again today. This game is my overall favorite game of all times.
The Half-Life series has had something that is very different than any game out on the market. The game does not tell the story by showing cinematic, but rather they have conversations in which if you choose you can walk away totally or just step farther and still her, but not as loud. This of course in HL2 where it is possible due to its physics engine which is what creates the sense of the character being more real than they actually are. To make a quick example in the first part upon arriving at the platform a guard knock down a can of soda and makes you pick it up. The real purpose in this to teach a key in the game of picking objects up, but since the can flips and when it lands bounces the can. This realism in the can makes the line by the guard more real since it link to all those prison movies or books that we know of and the expected attitude of guards, adding to this if you don’t do so the guards stand in your way of continuing your path forcing you to do as he says. In reality this part is rather simple, but how the game is using other factors to draw attention from the character to an event which in real life the guard would be expected to do nothing more leaves a sense that said character has intelligence and it real.
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gmrkhan's Half-Life 2 (PC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 11 October, 2006
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