Another reminder of informing the player…
Good to see this reminder again, over on LostGarden.com:
“One problem that is common to AI-driven systems is that most of the behaviors go on underneath the cover, away from the player’s eyes. It is very easy to fall into the trap of creating an intricate AI that ‘plays itself’ but is completely incomprehensible to the player.
Instead of asking how you might make the most realistic AI system, I prefer to steal a page from Nintendo’s playbook. Instead ask “What is the simplest system that drives forward the player experience?”
Peas climb. Peas fall. Peas get scored. All of these activities are very apparent to the user. Instead of complex internal logic, the design focuses on explicit external behaviors. Any internal logic such as the path finding system exists only to the minimum degree necessary to support the external behavior. We won’t build SkyNet using these sort of AI techniques, but we can make more enjoyable games.”
Well said! I believed it when the EA rep who came to Cornell said it, and I believe it now. I just hope that I can integrate that belief well into Stage IV!
