Friday 13 October, 2006

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.

This log was of tuesday, but i was using IE and the logs would not load.

I think I fixed most of the IE problems so now you shouldn't have any problems. Please let me know if you do!

thanks!

Oh! I forgot to mention that I think you raise a very good point about helping AI become more realistic. Well, not really realistic, but more credible. It's the little details that can make all the difference as well as the interaction times. Short times are easier to design for..

I always remember the G-Man in the original half-life as being one of the most interesting characters in the game despite there being no interaction with him. I guess he was the most interesting simply because so always felt you were never seeing him for long enough?