ACK!! Paul I''m so sorry I never even noticed I had anoither post here!! It was before I started using bookmarks, you see. Anyways, to answer your questions, yes, when you get caught the game is over. But it''s not that easy (or hard if you do it right) to get caught. Things you do (forget to wear gloves, call a tapped phone, not disguise your ID) will allow the police to better track you. All throughout the game the police will be trying to locate you. However, they start with nothing to go on themselves, because you just drop out of sight. It''s your job as part of the game to stay out of sight and not let the police get hot on your trail.

As for missions - no. The game is designed where you have to think. It provides clues along the way in the form of NPC interactions, recovered evidence, and so forth (think Dues Ex). You could, theoretically beat the game in few hours if you knew what to do. But you don''t and the game does randomize certain key features so you can never play the same way twice. I''m trying hard to fit in a dynamic storyline, but right now it''s static storyline with changing environment each new game.

Yes, you can fight, but nothing extensive like Oni or something. If you get into a fight, you aren''t doing a good enough job staying undercover.

Okay, I have to go now, hope this discussion can continue. And i hope Paladin takes a peek in to see what I''ve been up to - he kinda came up with sorta the same idea.

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\\// live long and prosper; \||/ die short and rot.
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Well, I read all your posts and thought I could make some notes

To my mind game design does mainly consist of finding the correct mixture of the different game "ingredients" (like "graphics", "complexity", "AI", etc.).
Well, I can imagine that programming AI is quite lavish. I mean, at least in the extent you were talking about.
And that''s the point: How much complexity, how much "real life" should I put into my NPCs, and how much value do all the other things have to me? I don''t think that clever NPCs make a bad game good, as well as no game with rotten controls will experience an improvement by excellent acting NPCs.
I think it''s quite clear that it''s not possible to implement everything in a short time (and if you''re working on a game for quite a long time, its very likely to get outdated).

I know that didn''t really foster your discussion, but I wanted to tell you what I''m thinking of. Personally, I''d lay emphasis on AI (enemies and NPCs), the next item on my "importance layer" would be the control, last the graphics. I guess you have set up your background story and wrote the design doc...so I don''t need to talk about all the things you have to do before starting with the coding work...

Anyways, I wish you good luck with your project! I''d be very interested in the development! Would be very nice of you if you could upload a small demo somewhere...

Yours,

Indeterminatus

--si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses--

"When the player nears the person''s vincinity, the computer checks the time, and guesses where the person would normally be or what he would normally be doing at that time. "

If it only guesses where the person would be (when you are near them), how does it know you are near them in the first place ie. they haven''t yet been placed?

Otherwise sounds like a cool idea.

Personally, I think that what you are trying to accomplish is a bit overboard. But that depends on a few things. first, how many NPCs do you wish to have in your game? I like your idea, but I personally believe that it should be used in limited situations and not necessarily for every NPC in the game. Even though computers are gaining tremendous grounds in technology and speed, why waste that on NPC AI that players may not ever interact with in the first place, or they will interact with them sometime in the near future of the game. like the 50th play hour.

If there is a game critical need that you need specific NPCs to have this level of advanced AI, then by all means, this should be your solution.

Could you imagine the impact on the system, say if you tried to process 100+ advanced AI as you describe...

Uh, just dropping my opinion:

Actually the best villain AI which I have ever seen, is in Outcast. Creators didn''t hype about nothing, but really created extremely nice villain AI, which makes villains to do their daily routines. When player comes close to them, they might look at player for a while, and then continue working. If player starts shooting, villains will take cover or runaway. If player kills villain, they will warn other villains about berserked player, and so everyone will be against player =)

nice

-Paladin

I hope you have played Grand Theft Auto (GTA). It''s just like your idea, but only simpler. The city is full of cars and people and you can steal cars, sell them, do missions for mafia, kill individuals, run away from cops... In GTA2 even the army starts attacking you if you''re really evil.

GTA lacks the time of day though, which is quite poor. And the NPCs don''t have any brains. And you can''t enter the buildings. And the whole game is too limited in every way.

Well, play GTA if you haven''t played it yet. It''s a great game

-Hans {home page} {e-mail}