We carbon-based units have kept laughing at AI for being stupid, repetitive, unable to adapt, etc. whereas we are the exact oposite. But how intelligent are we ? True, we tend to learn stuff like what units / build paths / weapons / order to solve quests / places to camp will be the best for achieving our game goals, but how much intelligence does that take ? Human actions in a lot of games are just as repetitive as the computer''s. It''s incredible how many times a player can only improve his performance by simply improving its mouse click rate and accuracy or storing in his head a big database of everything that can happen in that game. So, my question is : "what is the smartest, thought intensive thing you ever did whilst playing a game ?" I placed this question in the Game Design forum because I want to know what game design allows/requires human players thinking.

Interesting play on acronyms

Instead of concentrating on AI, we should, perhaps, concentrate on allowing the human players to make intelligent decisions within the game by finding interesting paths to goals and around obstacles. Basically, allow the players to use intuition and thought to aquire their goals.



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Edited by - Nazrix on March 18, 2001 7:55:21 PM

Adventure games require the most thought. Games like Space Quest, King''s Quest, ect. The cost of quality voice acting doesn''t it make it a popular genre for developers. The cost of video killed the FMV Adventure Game quite a few years ago.

Ben
http://therabbithole.redback.inficad.com

yes, but those adventure games generally made it it so that you could only chose the 1 option the game designers decided.

What would be better is allowing for many ways to achieve goals (preferrably using a strategy game approach as discussed here)




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Edited by - Nazrix on March 18, 2001 9:47:39 PM

What about Sim City?

A designer doesnt need to know everything about code, they just have to have an appreciation for its limitations and how those limitations affect features they may wish to include in their design. - Drew

Yeah, I think sim games in general give a good example of PI (player intelligence )


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I think the most interesting are non-linear adventure games (bladerunner for instance).

Hmmm the smartest? I dunno... games dont exactly encourage smart behaviour.... they just make you feel smart by rewarding the behaviour that takes you along the road to the inevitable outcome.

I think Thief rewarded the players'' brains...


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UrrrrrghghgkKK?

Adventure games? First person sneakers? Sims? Yeah, well, maybe.

But hands down, when you look at all the factors that have to be considered, ya gotta give it to strategy games.

Take a game like Starcraft. Incredibly complex. Many factors depend on other factors in a circular fashion. Who are you fighting? What are your strengths? What are their weaknesses? What is the terrain? When do you move? Scout? Defend, regroup, withdraw, feint, counter, build?

And where?!?!

And how!?!?!?!?!?

Even worse (omigod!!!!) why???? Every action creates a tumbling cascade of consequences. So much shifts and changes depending on this fluid and changing tree of possibilities. If this is static and you''re playing other people, either the ruleset is bad, or the players are unimaginative.

I don''t pull the same moves as when I first started playing. Just as I''ve learned not to send battlecruisers out by themselves, for example, I''ve learned not to bunch them up. But sometimes I still do, and why and when is a matter of creativity, risk assessment, and strategy.

So far, CPUs (in most games) don''t seem to know how to do this.

--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

hey, I gave credit to strategy games


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What a plight we who try to make a story-based game have...writers of conventional media have words, we have but binary numbers