In a game where ranged weapons are everything, how should organized hostile AI react when the player is not visibly holding any weapons? To paint a picture, I'll use Half Life. Freeman walks into a Combine facility completely unarmed, and is quickly spotted by several soldiers. What should their reaction be? That sounded like it should end with a punchline [smile] I want it to be something other than just firing at him, since that's exactly what would happen with weapons drawn. This might be a good opportunity to add more balance to unarmed combat. If the player is unarmed, perhaps the enemies will close in before taking any action, giving them a chance to attack. But it's also giving the player power to manipulate the AI, so would that just be asking for trouble? The most realistic answer is probably to yell at the player, telling them to drop on the ground and surrender. But that's an odd action to give the player - to lay down, and it would be complicated to give the player options from that position. Anyone have any ideas?

For an AI that can Run, Negotiate, "Capture" (ie throw the player in prison or punish him in a nonlethal way), or Kill the player...

format Q?#:# if the answer to question Q is yes, go to the first line #, else go to second #

0 - Is player armed?1:2

1 - Is player too threatening (ie, am I outnumbered, is his gun bigger than mine, did he just kill 50,000 of my allies)?3:4

2 - Am I armed?6:5

3 - Run away

4 - Should I capture player?6:7

5 - Negotiate

6 - Does player let me capture him?8:7

7 - Kill player

8 - //send player to "prison" (perhaps less punishment than death, allows a break out or something), start cutscene, whatever

This depends on where they are, and if the player is known to these guards.

If they are guarding a front door to a building that is on a public street their reaction should be: Look at player, ignore player.

Guards inside building that commonly has people entering? Greet the player as they would anyone else. I would love to see some game offer the option of simply walking past guards if you appear non threatening, and maybe even have them offer directions to different locations in the building that they would assume the player wants to go. Warn them to stay away from secured doors with automatic defences, and that the HR department is down the hall and to the right and that they expect your Resume printed on standard paper in pt 12 font.


Guards armed with swords and player walks up with drawn sword. Guards spread out and demand the player drop the sword and put their hands up. Let a few seconds go by and repeat the warning. Few more go by increase the demand behind the warning. Base their warning and reactions on how much of a threat the player appears to be, have the threat rise with time and distance. So, if you are slowly walking toward the guard he'll slowly be more forceful with his demand that you comply before his shoots you. If you are sprinting out of the dark at him then he might not say more than a startled scream before drawing his weapon and shooting you.

If you stand there with a weapon drawn and don't advance then they'll go to a stand off mode, but only for so long. If you have a sword or something, then they'll eventually attempt a 'less than lethal' take down. Stun gun, baton, or simply having two or three armoured guards tackle you.

I'd play it out using a branching action tree, like the conversations in Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in EU). Perhaps when you've got no weapons (None currently wielded, or none in inventory?) you switch to a more passive gameplay model, where the buttons that usually reload and pistol-whip and shift to careful aiming stances are all bound to other sorts of interactions, like talking and using things in the environment.

So when your hands are empty and some bad guys see you, they'll start shouting at you, but their rules of engagement won't allow them to open up and perforate you. Now you get contextual options. Remember that scene in The Bourne Identity, where Bourne walks into the courthouse, and the guards swarm him, and he puts up his hands and waits for them to get close, then grapples with them? I'd like to see something like that become possible. For example:

*Player walks into enemy base, unarmed.
Sentry: Police! Hands in the air!
On-screen Prompt--[Press A to raise hands]; Player does nothing
Sentry: (Aims rifle) I said hands up! Comply!
*Player presses A, avatar's hands go up
Sentry: (Lowers rifle and approaches) Get on the ground!
[Press B to get on the ground]; No input
Sentry: (Slings rifle, brandishes flashlight) If you don't lie down, I'll lay you out!
*Player runs away, Sentry holsters light, readies rifle, fires at the fleeing player. Alarms wail, shit hits the fan.

Depending on where you want the gameplay to go, you could have the player surrender and be taken into custody, or wait until the guard gets right up close and try to get him with melee attacks, or just run around the base, diving through windows and behind barrels with [Press A to raise hands] blinking at the bottom of the screen the whole time.

Quote:

Original post by Zouflain 8 - //send player to "prison" (perhaps less punishment than death, allows a break out or something), start cutscene, whatever

This scenario is (hypothetically) intentional for the player. He walked into this facility unarmed to take advantage of ..whatever reaction he recieves. But that doesn't mean he plans to be taken without a fight.

Perhaps he wasn't even sure anyone would be there. But he had two options: (A) sneak/run around corners with a weapon, or (B) casually strut the halls without a weapon.

The player would almost always have more time to think with B than A. A player going with B might perplex the enemy, while A automatically answers all of the important questions for them. This would be especially true if the player was dressed as a civilian or other inconspicuous person, rather than wearing armor. Reference to an older thread.

Quote:

Original post by Talroth This depends on where they are, and if the player is known to these guards.

Either not known and the area is restricted, or known and marked as an enemy. In the specific case I'm referring to, the enemy doesn't want the player where the player is. He isn't dressed like an employee, and he doesn't look like he belongs there. But he also doesn't look like he's ready to fight.

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage None currently wielded, or none in inventory?

The player may be carrying concealed weapons. Clothing must come into the picture at some point. A trenchcoat being more alarming than a t-shirt. It may even need to completely diverge because of that clothing. Perhaps the enemy won't get very close to someone wearing clothing that can easily conceal weapons?

Quote:

Now you get contextual options. Remember that scene in The Bourne Identity, where Bourne walks into the courthouse, and the guards swarm him, and he puts up his hands and waits for them to get close, then grapples with them?

That's what I was picturing for unarmed combat. The player can also strip weapons from enemies and be shooting them with it a second later. That's if they can get the enemy close enough. But if I get too crazy with it, I'll end up making this the only sensible strategy. There needs to be some more cost or risk.

Quote:

*Player walks into enemy base, unarmed. Sentry: Police! Hands in the air! On-screen Prompt--[Press A to raise hands]; Player does nothing Sentry: (Aims rifle) I said hands up! Comply! *Player presses A, avatar's hands go up Sentry: (Lowers rifle and approaches) Get on the ground! [Press B to get on the ground]; No input Sentry: (Slings rifle, brandishes flashlight) If you don't lie down, I'll lay you out! *Player runs away, Sentry holsters light, readies rifle, fires at the fleeing player. Alarms wail, shit hits the fan.

That's fantastic [lol] That type of response could be the answer to my risk problem. It gives the player a way out of immediate danger, but totally screws up his inconspicuous plan.

Perhaps some AI will get closer to the player before they become so alarmed. And some may give more warnings than others. Like real people, the scenario can be interwoven with slight differences in reactions. With a few clues (like the first few reactions), the player may be able to determine what sort of person it is, and choose actions to take accordingly. I wonder if these sort of situations would get the heart pounding?

Keep in mind players run when in reality they'd be walking, this could warp the guards reaction somewhat.

That was addressed somewhat in Assassin's Creed. The default moving speed was a walk (more of a swagger, really, the animation was pretty macho) and you had to hold in a button to run. Running around town drew funny looks and scoffing from civilians, and would increase guard suspicion, so if they'd just found a body, and you were dashing around a corner, they'd chase you.

Ubisoft wasn't sadistic with it, though, and if there wasn't any specific reason for them to think you were a ninja badass, they'd leave you alone while you dashed and leaped and climbed. Kest's idea seems to be conducive to a more genuine brand of subtlety.

Running is handled similar to Hitman. You can run without much trouble. Normal walk increases your ability to blend in, but not by much. My game employs a deadly earth, where crap is hitting fans often. Lab experiments going bad, chemical spills, criminals shooting places up, things blowing up, etc. People run a lot.

However, in the situation before these scenarios, running would have no effect. To get into the situation, you would have already needed to draw attention. In other words, if you're in a situation where your movement speed makes any difference, the hostile NPCs wouldn't be hostile yet. They wouldn't be pointing weapons at you, or asking you to identify yourself.

Once they've already started questioning or yelling at the player, it would probably be best if I just measured by distance instead of speed. They could move around in a small area from where they were spotted, but exiting the radius would evoke some type of reaction. I'm not sure what reactions to use for all of these individual twists yet, but it's probably going to be fun to come up with them.