Development update AI (8th July)

Since my last entry 2 weeks ago I have done loads of development on my project. In this post I will be talking about the integration of AI and the challenges that I have faced with it.

AI:

Ai Behavior Tool Kit [1]

AI is crucial in this project, they will drive the player through the game and is the main challenge that the player will face. So it is critical that I have AI that will act in a believable manner and not distract the player in a negative way. This is why I recently purchased the AI behaviour toolkit [1], which allows me to create intelligent AI that will add to the players experience. I am really pleased with the results that I am seeing from this asset pack as there’s a much greater flow to my levels which now feel more believable. It did take a couple of days to get a basic understanding of how the AI system and behaviour trees worked, though after getting to grips with this I was able to create a couple of variations of AI that I was happy with. Currently I have: Ally AI, Enemy AI that will seek the player out, Enemy AI that will be defensive and take more cover and a currently working on potential boss AI that will be more challenging to defeat and Allies that will follow the player (like a squad).

Challenges with AI:

The main challenges that I am facing with the AI in terms of functionality is their navigation in some areas of my levels, for instance AI will take cover behind objects though still be in sight of the player. The way that I am planning on fixing this is to make certain objects not be seen as cover, this means changing their tags or collision properties so that the AI will not class them as cover and not try and hide behind them. I am also being careful on where I place AI, doing multiple test runs to make sure that the AI function properly and constantly provides an engaging challenge for the player.

The other challenge that I’m facing is using the AI effectively, making sure that they add to the experience of the game rather then being a distraction. So certain elements that I am focusing on at the moment is how many Enemies do I want in each section and where, how much damage do they do and how much health they have. Getting the sweet spot for these elements will be crucial for the experience that the player has. I have already done some of these changes, with a great example being in the last level I am having a big fight scene between Ally AI and Enemy AI, the issue that I was having was that the AI would kill each other too quickly and it would make the player feel a bit useless. So to change this I made the Ally AI have loads of health but do barely any damage, this way the AI can’t quickly kill each other and it allows for the player to get more involved and feel more powerful. This technique can be seen in a lot of action games for instance the Call of Duty Series[2] where if you just leave the AI to fight either no one dies or it takes ages for anyone to die, this is done so that the player is more involved with each fight scene and feels like more of a bad ass in the game.

Black Ops III [3]

Overall I am really happy with the AI from this pack and can see the implications it will offer this project

[1] Drix Studios 2016, AI Behavior ToolKit, [Access at]: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/ai-behavior-toolkit/questions?sessionInvalidated=true

[2] Infinity Ward et al, NA , [Access at]: https://www.callofduty.com/uk/en/home

[3] Treyarch et al 2015, Black Ops III, [Access at]: https://www.callofduty.com/uk/en/blackops3

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