Deserted Island

MWr2 · 2005-11-06T01:11:38

A prehistoric humanoid has got deserted on a island. Your task is to help him/her stay alive. This is a idea I'm thinking about, as much to try some ideas for AI as to make a real game out of. First thing I would like opinions on, is would it be better to have some sort of direct control of him/her or would using a proto language be okay. Currently in the prototype I have made, the player uses a protolanguage to teach him new skills (plans). When the "game" first starts, he knows some simple actions like: picking objects up, putting one object on top of another, hitting one object with another, throwing objects, attaching one object to another, sleeping, eating, drinking. It is the players task to teach him how to combine these actions into plans which are usefull. He will then try to learn what the result of carrying out a plan is. So if he is taught to pick up a stone and throw it at a small animal, then he should learn that it will often (sometimes) lead to a dead animal which is food. Or if he puts pieces of wood together then he can build a shelter which will keep him warmer and dryer. Attaching a sharp flint to a stick can be used to cut things. Other things he would hopefully learn in time would be not to kill all the animals of one type and maybe farming techniques. I don't see the AI being too complex to start with. The only thing I see needing much work with regards to AI is getting him/her to learn the right results of carrying out the plans, and even here I think if at first he thought that the results of a plan were different to they actually were this might add to the challenge as long as in time he learns the right results. So what I'd like is any ideas people have about this, also if anyone has any ideas about how the gameplay could be improved or different tasks the humanoid needs to do to survive. And would using a protolanguage as the user interface be good enough or should it use some other system. Pie menus maybe (like the Sims). [Edited by - MWr2 on October 30, 2005 9:40:28 AM]